Written by: Floating Cannon | Editor-in-charge: Floating Cannon | Image: Huang Zai
A question for you: What do you think is the most terrible disease?
Cancer? AIDS? Or is it the new crown that is raging now?
The floating cannon felt that the most terrible disease for me was Alzheimer's. This disease, which is difficult to detect at first, is like a hateful thief, quietly lurking around you, stealing your knowledge, the information you know best, the face of the person you love the most, all your past memories and loves... Until, completely lose yourself.
It's hard to imagine how painful it is to wake up every morning and forget where you are, where you are, or even how to get dressed and go to the bathroom.
So, what should we do in the face of such a terrible disease that loses itself, has an unknown cause, and is still unable to be effectively treated? The movie "Still Alice" gives us the answer.
She, still Alice
Alice is a learned and successful woman, a professor at Columbia University and a well-known linguist. At the same time, her life is also happy, loving with her husband, and has three children.
But one day, in an important speech, Alice suddenly forgot what she was going to talk about next. Then, during a morning run, she actually ran and ran without knowing where she was...
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
In "forgetting" again and again, Alice decides to go to the doctor. After a series of evaluations and tests, doctors found that Alice was unfortunate to have early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
And Alice's early-onset Alzheimer's disease is familial Alzheimer's disease, that is, she carries the disease gene, and her children may also suffer from the disease.
Under the fatal blow, Alice began to collapse.
She felt ashamed. In the past, I was well-behaved, intelligent and humorous, and successful in my career. And now, life is sloppy, memory is chaotic, and it is everywhere causing trouble for others.
In the face of the career she loves, she can't take a complete class, the disappointment of the students, the pity of colleagues after knowing the truth, all make the proud Alice very painful.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
At the same time, she also felt guilty. The daughter, who was pregnant with twins, underwent genetic testing and found that she also carried a disease-causing gene.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
Alice gradually loses everything that is important in life: abundant feelings, precious memories, wise thoughts... Eventually, agonizing Alice made a suicide plan. She asked herself to answer 3 questions on her phone every day:
What month is your birthday?
What's your eldest daughter's name?
Where do you live?
When one day all the questions can't be answered, there will be a line under the question reminding her to open the video on the computer, the video will guide her to find a bottle of medicine, and swallow it all...
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
Fortunately, Alice's husband and three children were by her side from beginning to end. They also hired someone to accompany them, but Alice did not succeed in carrying out her "suicide plan".
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
With the support of her family, she slowly began to face it bravely, and gave a touching speech at the Alzheimer's Association to inspire people who also suffered from this terrible disease.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
In the face of Alice's confused memory, the family members also have emotional breakdowns, but in the end they will still be full of patience and understanding, and have been with Alice.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
At the end of the film, Alice loses many, many memories, but she still remembers " love" - " .
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
"Still Alice", the floating cannon has always felt that the name of this movie is particularly good, and the loss of talent, achievement, and memory does not affect her still Alice, she is still the person who deserves to be loved!
When all external factors are stripped away from life, love occupies everything, ignoring life, old age, illness and death...
Indeed, Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that is currently incurable. But the movie still gives the answer: for Alzheimer's patients, the love and companionship of those around them is the most effective medicine.
Alzheimer's disease is more common in older women, and because of this, we should pay more attention to the elders around us. Usually talk to your mother (relatives and friends) more, urge them to enrich social activities, improve mood, and help their health.
Next, the floating cannon prepared dry goods on how to prevent, detect and deal with Alzheimer's disease, hoping to help more small partners in need.
How is Alzheimer's disease prevented?
Since the current cause of Alzheimer's disease is unknown, there is no very clear way to prevent it, the following are the twelve methods of prevention of Alzheimer's patients released by CCTV news:
In general, there are 3 principles:
Do more brain-building activities;
Improve mental health and sleep;
Prevention of chronic diseases.
How can Alzheimer's disease be detected as early as possible?
Here we must pay attention! Alzheimer's disease is not simply forgetfulness, if you find that the elderly and elders around you have these symptoms:
Repeat statements and questions over and over again;
Forget a conversation, appointment, or event;
Often littering with objects, often putting them in illogical places;
Get lost in familiar places;
Forget the names of family members and everyday items;
Difficulty finding appropriate words to identify objects, express thoughts, or engage in conversations;
Difficulty thinking and reasoning, especially for abstract concepts such as numbers;
Difficulty concentrating.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
It is best to go to the hospital in time for examination!!!
Doctors perform a series of tests, such as assessing a person's memory and other thinking skills, vision and hearing, physical coordination, body balance, and neural reflexes.
And blood tests are used to rule out other possible factors, such as thyroid disease or vitamin deficiency.
Finally, brain-related tests such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) are needed to determine whether the cause is Alzheimer's disease or stroke, head trauma, or tumor.
What do Alzheimer's patients face?
After watching the movie, I found that my understanding of Alzheimer's disease was too shallow, it was far more terrifying than we thought!
Patients will not only forget the way home or what others say, but even the basic life behaviors will be difficult to complete when severe, and it will also have a serious impact on emotions and psychology.
People with Alzheimer's face the following serious problems:
Memory continues to deteriorate and affect normal work and life;
Difficulty concentrating and thinking, especially with regard to abstract concepts such as numbers, and in severe cases, inability to recognize and process numbers;
Decreased judgment and difficulty in making reasonable decisions;
Difficulty in performing routine activities that need to be completed in order, such as cooking, going out, etc., and difficult to dress and bathe in severe cases;
Dramatic changes in personality and behavior, leading to depression, apathy, withdrawal, large mood swings, distrust of others, irritability and aggression, insomnia, running away from home, loss of control, delusions (feeling that something has been stolen).
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
As people around us, how can we help them?
If you have a relative or friend who is unfortunate enough to have Alzheimer's disease, please put away this "care guide":
Exercise regularly
Activities such as daily walks can help improve mood and protect joint, muscle and heart health, while promoting sleep and preventing constipation.
If people with Alzheimer's have difficulty walking, there are also some assistive tools that can also be used to help them exercise.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
Guaranteed nutrition
People with Alzheimer's may forget to eat or not want to eat, and are likely to forget to drink enough water, leading to dehydration and constipation.
So try to prepare healthy and nutritious foods while encouraging them to drink more water every day, but avoid caffeinated beverages, which can make people emotionally irritable, interfere with sleep, and trigger frequent urination.
Do more enjoyable activities
Increasing socializing and doing more fun activities can improve the health of People with Alzheimer's disease, and the following activities to try are:
Listen to music or dance;
Reading or listening to books;
Gardening or doing crafts;
Social activities in the elderly;
Parent-child activities.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
Emotional support
People with Alzheimer's disease experience a variety of emotions – confusion, frustration, anger, fear, sadness, and depression.
For example, the heroine Alice in the movie has changed from a successful and glamorous successful woman to a patient who stumbles and cannot take care of herself. The huge gap in this is easy to make people depressed.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
At this time, we can listen patiently, take good care of them, pay attention to their emotions, and prevent patients from falling into depression.
Most importantly, in order not to shame the patient, be sure to maintain respect, even if the patient does not do the small things of the day, because it is also very difficult for them.
Calm environment
Try to keep the patient in a calm and stable family environment, noisy, large flow of people, and the need to do complex tasks, which will cause anxiety in the patient and lead to a further decline in thinking ability.
Life tips
In addition to the above general directional advice, there are some life tips that can help Alzheimer's patients.
The general principle is: establish and strengthen daily habits, reduce the burden of memory, reduce complex activities, and make the patient's life easier.
Keep keys, wallets, cell phones, and other valuables in the same place at home to avoid loss;
Store the drug in a safe place, arrange the amount to be eaten each day, and check whether the patient is taking it in the same amount every day;
Set up automatic payments in a secure manner;
Let the patient carry a mobile phone with a positioning function and save important phone numbers into the mobile phone;
Installation of alarm sensors on doors and windows;
Patients and caregivers meet as much as possible at the same time of the day;
Prepare some calendars, project lists, and chalkboards at home to keep track of your daily itinerary;
Remove excess furniture, debris, and throw away carpets;
Installation of sturdy handrails in stairs and bathrooms;
Make sure shoes and slippers are comfortable and non-slip;
Reduce the number of mirrors, where images may confuse or fear the patient;
Make sure that the patient carries an identification or a bracelet with contact information.
▲ Image source: Screenshot of "Still Alice"
Today's Hall Six is screened here.
Alzheimer's disease is indeed a terrible disease, as children, all we can do is to care more about our mothers (relatives and friends), often go home to see, make a phone call, so that they do not feel lonely, and seek medical attention in time when similar symptoms occur.
Retired elders do not need to work, coupled with the mental state is not as good as young people, it is likely to stay at home for a long time without talking to people, which is easy to fall into a depressed mood, which is not conducive to health.
At this time, we should encourage them to dance square dance, visit parks and markets, rub mahjong, or go out with "old sisters" of the same age
Finally, if someone around you is unfortunate enough to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, I believe that after reading the article, you will definitely understand their pain, have more patience and respect, take better care of them, and face the disease together!
I sincerely hope that today's content can help you, and welcome to share it with friends in need!
I hope that friends will continue to pay attention to the "Eleventh Clinic", and we will also send you more hard-core science that is helpful to women in the next few days!
I love the world!
bibliography
[1] Mayoclinic.Alzheimer's disease-Diagnosis＆Treatment[EB/OL]. [2022-05-06].https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20350453
[2] Mayoclinic.Alzheimer's disease-Symptoms＆causesTreatment[EB/OL]. [2022-05-06].https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447
![It's not that my tears are low, Julian Moore's "Still Alice" really makes people cry[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)