now mother in law - Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Message Board

debbie g · 03-04-2009, 04:55 PM

my mom is in a nursing home with vascular dementia. i am having such a hard time with this. now my mother in law fell at home. she is in the hospital and now they have to send her to a nursing home. she has vascular dementia. what is happening to our world? i am so scared.

caringsister54 · 03-04-2009, 06:28 PM

Oh Deb, I am so sorry honey. Yes, what is happening in the world. And you notice its not just one part of the country either. Its all over.

I do think its all the by-products they add to get more milk out of the cow. More beef out of the cow as well. Plus the stuff they given chickens for more plump chickens and fatter pigs. Also its the stuff they add to made red meat more red.

The stuff they spray on the crops to keep the bugs off. The stuff on the fruit, etc.

I do think all our problems are man-made. If you notice, there's not much of it in China. Why is that, I wonder.

I also think that sometimes it becomes a little more of a label that is affixed without it being a proper diagnosis. Just an easy out for the doctors.

Please don't be too scared. We have you love and you are getting all the towels for a good cry.

Take care and love always

Diane (your caringsister54)

Gabriel · 03-05-2009, 01:43 AM

It has become epidemic. What we don't know is what the cause of it is. It could be any of the things Diane mention or a litany of other reasons. It culd be a side effect of medication that we take now. Or a litany of other reasons. They just don't know at this point. Or it could be that we are living longer. In our parents time how many lived to be 80 or 90.... not many.

We have made better progress at treating the body than the mind. We are living longer but are we living better?

I look at Dad. Non of his brothers had Vascular Dementia. Non of them lived to be 65 years old. Dad was not diagnosed until he was in his late 70's. He is now 88. So it is the meds that have kept him alive or is it the fact that his body has out lived his mind?

Mom's ALZ defnitely has a genetic component. My grandmother and 3 of her sisters were all diagnosed. Two others were showing signs when the died. Now Mom... and her sister is younger.

Both my inlaws are showing signs as well. My MIL forgets when hubby was there and Pops had been having problems since he broke his neck almost 3 years ago. But they are both also in their 80's.

So there is genetics, there are environmental triggers, there is the aging population. They probably all combine to give us what we have today. But it is not going to do any good to be fearful or to worry. Just stay physically and mentally active. That is all you can do.....

I am so sorry about your MIL. I do hope your Mom is doing as well as she can also.

Love, deb

mary09 · 03-05-2009, 08:20 AM

Dear Debbie,
So sorry to hear you may now be dealing with another loved one with this illness.....it is just so hard.

When I read Deb's response, I thought the exact same thing. Up here in Canada, I've seen documentaries, and newscasts, where they are actually saying "Is Canada ready for this?" because the statistics are showing a tremendous rise in the number of people being diagnosed with this illness. It is so true that we are concentrating on treating the body rather than the mind. It's almost as though just now they are starting to realize this.

I sense boards like this will become very busy. I have been coming here for well over a year now, and I've seen a huge increase in the number of posters on this particular one. As we can all tell, it's a very busy board, and I think there are a lot of people who "read" and dont even post, so there are alot of people out there dealing with this. I hope and pray for them that they find the kind of support we have here, because although we cant change the path of this illness for our loved ones, places like this and people like this, just sometimes can really get you through the hard moments, and there are plenty of them.

Keep posting...and we all have the towels ready for you.....

Love, Caroline xo

ibake&pray · 03-05-2009, 09:17 AM

Debbie,

My father had vascular dementia. My mother had Alzheimers. My father died from an anuerism. My mother followed daddy five weeks after he died. Even with the dementia, she didn't want to be without him. They had been married for 64 and a half years.

I think that this has been around for years, but we are just starting "label" it. People used to keep grandma and grandpa at home and they were just forgetful..The doctors didn't slap the labels on it as we do now. That and our older generations didn't have the life expectancy that we have now. My daddy was the longest living of his 10 siblings and he was 3 days shy of his 88 birthday. There are alot of contributing factors these days.

The best thing you can do is to take one day at a time. Keep yourself active and healthy. Do mind games to stimulate your brain. And as hard as it is, there is no sense worrying about what you can't change. There is no guarantee that you will get it, or that you won't. It's a crap shoot. Come back and read alot and post often, and welcome....