According to Dra. Rosa Carpio, it’s during the upcoming holiday season or Christmas time when calls for help on dealing with dementia spikes up. Relatives of patients with dementia come for help and asks for assistance. Unless you are living with an elderly who suffers from dementia, you would never fully understand how difficult it is to live with the person you care so much and who has Alzheimer’s.
Dementia Hits Close at Home
Until you are living with an elderly suffering Alzheimer’s Disease, you would not understand how difficult it is for the patient and the whole family living under one roof, 24/7.
I do.
My grandmother who is approaching her 95th birthday has been suffering dementia for many years already and it’s not just a simple case of forgetfulness.
My lola’s dementia includes her becoming very grumpy, rude, and always suspecting family members of stealing things from her.
She screams her lungs out and gives a wild stare whenever dementia is taking control of her and becomes angry even without no reasons at all.
She would call out neighbors and telling every people outside that her daughter steals her money and jewelries. She would even threaten to call the police. For sure, if our neighbors don’t know her condition, they might believe her and suspect the rest of the family of treating her bad.
It’s very difficult to care and understand patients with dementia. The only thing you can do is to exert more patience in taking care of people with this disease. But even a person who would undertsand them could also run out of patience, engage fight with the person with dementia.
But her condition has now worsened. She is now experiencing hallucinations for the past 4 days. She talks to imaginary people, see children playing inside her room and adults who wants to sleep in her bed. And all of those are all in her mind. She could go on for hours without sleep and just talk to these imaginary people.
As I am writing this piece, I hear her talking in the other room.
These are just experiences of mine that breaks our hearts. Aside from the noise she’s creating, we can hardly bear seeing her in that condition.
I am sharing this because I’m not sure if it’s right to think that her life is getting shorter because of this hallucinations.
There’s no cure for it and the only sane thing to do is to watch her closely and take care of her even more.
This experience mirrors the latest Alaska Milk Corporation’s latest TVC titled “Paalala” that raised awareness as the disease progresses as it hits 15 to 25 percent of our lolos and lolas.
Dra. Rosa Carpio, her 95-year old mom is also suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, put up Noli Alzheimer’s and Elderly Care Center and is now the partner of Alaska Milk for this awareness campaign.
The Paalala exhibit was also mounted in Ayala Malls Feliz in Marikina City which ended last November 30.
The interactive exhibit about dementia aimed to support families and encouraging people to be more patience to those who are afflicted with dementia.
With more than 2M views, “Paalala” is available on YouTube at the Alaska Milk channel.
