So incredibly sad...

[DeepIron]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7123460.stm

I can't imagine the pain and sorrow this man must of felt... To live and love someone most of your life and then watch them suffer with Alzheimers... :cry:

So, so sad... :cry:

[Kapitan]

To be honest if i was the woman laying in the bed there id be thanking him right now, i wouldnt want to suffer.

[Letum]

Strange, I have a Aunt with severe Alzheimer's disease and althow she isn't far from
death, she is enjoying life very much.
She lives very much from moment to moment beliveing she is 25 again. For her the care-home
is the classroom of pupils she used to teach.

Apart from occasional confusion, she certinaly isn't suffering.

Perhaps other cases are diffrent or perhaps it will get worse for her. I really don't know.
I hope not.

[XabbaRus]

I think it is different for every sufferer. I knew an old woman who had Alzheimers and in the later stages it was quite bad. Couldn't remember her son's name. Funy thing is she always recognised me and my mother even though we had only known her a little while.

[Kapitan]

My mother works in a nursing home there is one resident there who suffers from it there, and she only trusts her yet her own family cannot come and visit cause it causes her to be distressed.

She shouts at them saying get away and your attacking me i dont know who you are ect, it must be really sad for the lot of them.

[Skybird]

Imagine this. An Alzheimer patient has forgotten that someone he loved has died long ago. He/she is calling for that person, and then being told that that person has died. Tragedy. Drama. Despair. Suffering. like on day one when the message arrived, years back.

And next day it all starts again, for over night it all has been forgotten again.

Death can be a friend in some situations.

[STEED]

Another Grey area for Doctor's and a legal mine field in the court's. Some people here who have assisted there partner to die have been lock up or a lesser sentence depending on the judge they faced. I feel it's time this area was bought up to date but as we all know it will take many years to look at.

[August]

I recently read a very interesting article on this subject and that of memory in general in National Geographic magazine. Here is a link to the online version:

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-11/memory/foer-text.html

As sad a situation as the patient "EP" that they mention in the article sounds to us it looks like he at least does not suffer.

[porphy]

A sad story indeed. Killed by a stranger...

Memory is fascinating. I read a few good essays on the subject in Oliver Sacks classic "The man who misstook his wife for a hat". I liked his way to find something positive even in some very severe cases of amnesia he described. Also different delusions is a subject similar in character.

cheers Porphy

[kiwi_2005]

We need to build memory chips & embedd them into the brains of ALZ patients with basic memory programmed, in the chip is stored images of the patients identiy and identy of others like family members, friends etc,. then whenever the patient meets one the image & name will trigger her real memory. She/He will never forget the basics so to say. Then later on when we figure it out we move to the heavy stuff like the chips replaces the sick part of the brain. Your not going to cure ALZ so lets instead replace the sick area of the brain with a Chip!

We have the technology learning new things everyday our scientist can figure this out :yep:


"Ok beam me up Scotty"

[porphy]

We need to build memory chips & embedd them into the brains of ALZ patients with basic memory programmed, in the chip is stored images of the patients identiy and identy of others like family members, friends etc,. then whenever the patient meets one the image & name will trigger her real memory. She/He will never forget the basics so to say....


See the movie Memento for some complications with solving amnesia with pictures and written words. It doesn't matter if they are in a chip in yor brain or photos in your hand, or written info on paper. If you lack all memories of your friends and can't form new memories, what is the picture of them supposed to do? At least it can't remind me of something. ;)

[kiwi_2005]

We need to build memory chips & embedd them into the brains of ALZ patients with basic memory programmed, in the chip is stored images of the patients identiy and identy of others like family members, friends etc,. then whenever the patient meets one the image & name will trigger her real memory. She/He will never forget the basics so to say....

See the movie Memento for some complications with solving amnesia with pictures and written words. It doesn't matter if they are in a chip in yor brain or photos in your hand, or written info on paper. If you lack all memories of your friends and can't form new memories, what is the picture of them supposed to do? At least it can't remind me of something. ;)

The picture triggers her memory. Patient looks at her son that image of her son is already in the chip - which then tells her brain who he is which then jogs her real memory and bang she knows who he is. This is all done in a milli second.


If you lack all memories of your friends and can't form new memories, what is the picture of them supposed to do?

Ah well maybe the Chip will store new memories as well. :) Ya see the chip is working with her vision what she/he sees the chip logs it into memory!

Far fetch of course but will have something like this (with a way better method than my caveman design) in the near future.


Yes ive seen Memento, cool movie. :)

[TteFAboB]

This will help alot of people who think that they're selfish put themselves in a proper perspective.

[Fish]

Imagine this. An Alzheimer patient has forgotten that someone he loved has died long ago. He/she is calling for that person, and then being told that that person has died. Tragedy. Drama. Despair. Suffering. like on day one when the message arrived, years back.

And next day it all starts again, for over night it all has been forgotten again.

Death can be a friend in some situations.
Alzheimer is only good when you promised yourself only one drink a day. :up:

[seafarer]

I had long time old friends of the family where the husband developed alzheimers. Eventually, one day his wife came home, and he attacked her with a kitchen knife, suddenly surprised to find a "stranger" in his house, and someone who he assumed was there to rob him or do other bad things. She got out, and went to a neighbor's and called 911.

Her husband then went into a managed care facility. He never recognized her, nor his kids or friends again. And, he became more violent and paranoid over time, as everyone was a stranger to him, he was always in a strange place and an unknown situation. He died after months of heavy sedation, as that was the only way to keep him from hurting himself and everyone else who came near him.

I think not having a memory can be one of the most horrifying things to happen to anyone - the entire world would become a strange and not so wonderful place all the time.

While it sounds surreal to say it, I was not sad when he finally died (I miss my friend, but was glad to see his ordeal finally over). I know all the joy had long gone out of his life and there had been nothing in this world for him for a long time.

[DeepIron]

This will help alot of people who think that they're selfish put themselves in a proper perspective.

I know stories such as this one cause me to think and rethink my own faith and moral guides. My wife and I are very close, what we consider "soul mates" and now that we've crossed over the 50 yard line of life, decisions like the one made in the news story have more relevance.

Could I end her suffering at the cost of her life? I hope I never have to make the choice...

[Skybird]

We need to build memory chips & embedd them into the brains of ALZ patients with basic memory programmed, in the chip is stored images of the patients identiy and identy of others like family members, friends etc,. then whenever the patient meets one the image & name will trigger her real memory. She/He will never forget the basics so to say. Then later on when we figure it out we move to the heavy stuff like the chips replaces the sick part of the brain. Your not going to cure ALZ so lets instead replace the sick area of the brain with a Chip!

We have the technology learning new things everyday our scientist can figure this out :yep:


"Ok beam me up Scotty"

You forget that memory is more than hard fact-oriented information. It is Sentiment. Mood. Atmopshere. A network of attached attitudes. Judgings. Considerations. Smells. sensations. Colours. Lights. Sounds. If that is missing, and does not come to life so intensely that it does not form my own emotions and reactions, and make me feel love and hate, I could call any person "Dad" - and still would see him as a stranger, and would give that person the feeling of seeing in him nothing more than a stranger.

[Letum]

We need to build memory chips & embedd them into the brains of ALZ patients with basic memory programmed, in the chip is stored images of the patients identiy and identy of others like family members, friends etc,. then whenever the patient meets one the image & name will trigger her real memory. She/He will never forget the basics so to say. Then later on when we figure it out we move to the heavy stuff like the chips replaces the sick part of the brain. Your not going to cure ALZ so lets instead replace the sick area of the brain with a Chip!

We have the technology learning new things everyday our scientist can figure this out :yep:


"Ok beam me up Scotty"
You forget that memory is more than hard fact-oriented information. It is Sentiment. Mood. Atmosphere. A network of attached attitudes. Judgments. Considerations. Smells. sensations. Colours. Lights. Sounds. If that is missing, and does not come to life so intensely that it does not form my own emotions and reactions, and make me feel love and hate, I could call any person "Dad" - and still would see him as a stranger, and would give that person the feeling of seeing in him nothing more than a stranger.

Indeed. You know of the stroke patients who lose their brain's connection between
visual processing and emotion?
Upon seeing someone they have known all their life, they do not get a emotional
response. They react by claiming the person they see is not their wife(etc), but a
impost er who looks exactly like their wife. Likewise their homes are just houses that
look like their homes, but are not.
This isn't a problem if they talk to their friends on the phone without seeing them.

Memory, like all experience, is unified only in its point of view, not within it's self.




btw SB, I have not forgotten to reply to your pm, I am just doing a little reading first.

[TteFAboB]

This will help alot of people who think that they're selfish put themselves in a proper perspective.

I know stories such as this one cause me to think and rethink my own faith and moral guides. My wife and I are very close, what we consider "soul mates" and now that we've crossed over the 50 yard line of life, decisions like the one made in the news story have more relevance.

Could I end her suffering at the cost of her life? I hope I never have to make the choice...

As long as it's her suffering and not uniquely yours...

[DeepIron]

As long as it's her suffering and not uniquely yours...
Well, I imagine that's the rub... And I don't think it would be possible to separate the two entirely. When you love and care so deeply for another, their pain is your pain too...