Going Home (A short film on Dementia)

A very touching video about Alzheimer's. This video made me think about how we Filipino's sometimes treat the elderly. When an older person starts to become forgetful, we tend to get very impatient with them or make fun of them. We say that "lola" or "lolo" or in the case of the video if you're Chinese "Amah" or "Angkong" is getting "ulyanin".

We either laugh at them for being forgetful or get angry or impatient. I used to think like this until I learned more about dementia and Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's is not a very well discussed topic in the Philippines since there tends to be a lot of discrimination against the more senior of our citizens. We mostly associate forgetfulness with age and as I mentioned earlier, the elderly become "ulyanin".

Before I dwell more into this, let's understand what Alzheimer's disease and Dementia is first.

First of all, Alzheimer's is an age-expressed, irreversible, progressive disease in which the brain undergoes specific changes. The neurons that transmit information in the brain becomes tangled and coated in plaque so that information is not accurately processed.

Dementia is a pervasive deterioration of intellectual ability that occurs over and extended period of time.

There are two types of Dementias: Treatable and Irreversible.

Treatable dementias are those from toxic (alcohol, drug or heavy metal exposure), metabolic (thyroid disease), depression or medication induced. These usually can be reversed with proper treatment.

Irreversible dementias are those that are degenerative (Alzheimer's) vascular (strokes), infectious (may be caused by AIDS) and others such as head injury, brain tumor or subdural hematoma.

So Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia.

Now why did I go into details of this disease? Mainly because I believe that our reaction to the elderly when they start becoming "ulyanin" is due to the fact that we are uninformed.

Once we understand the why they become "ulyanin", I hope that we become more patient and understanding towards them. Alzheimer's is not a hereditary disease. This means it can strike anyone.

The main problem with a person who is suffering from Alzheimer's is the burden to the caregiver. A person suffering from Alzheimer's may become aggressive and becomes difficult to communicate with. The psychological, mental, social and economic cost can become a huge burden to the caregiver. It may even come to a point where the caregiver becomes abusive to the person suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

While there is no cure for Alzheimer's, there are drugs to slow down the progression of the disease if detected early.

Here are the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer's from the Alzheimer's Association

1. Memory loss that affects job skills
2. Difficulty performing familiar tasks
3. Problems with language
4. Disorientation to time and place (getting lost)
5. Poor or decreased judgment
6. Problems with abstract thinking
7. Changes in mood or behavior
8. Misplacing things
9. Changes in personality
10. Loss of initiative.

Alzheimer's wasn't really that well known until a few famous people developed it and become popular in the media.

Notable people who suffered from Alzheimer's were former President Ronald Reagan and actor Charlton Heston.

If you watched the movie "The Notebook". The woman in the story suffered from Alzheimer's as well.

I hope this little information has given you some insights to Alzheimer's disease so that we can all learn to be more understanding to our seniors and treat them with the respect they deserve. Because one day, we're all going to be seniors too. We might as well show the younger generation how to treat them well so they can learn from us and treat us well when we get older.