The Dementia Queen Exploring the evidence, the anecdotes, & the hunches- a rehabilitation perspective

Sound Familiar? You are 50 years old and struggling with things that have always been easy.  You are pretty good at hiding your memory slip-ups: the names you can’t remember, the meeting action items you never followed through on, the ...

*** They told me Millie was “mean”.  They also used the words “aggressive”, “combative”, and “violent”. Millie was a tiny, older woman with a diagnosis of Dementia with Behavioral Disturbances.  The caregiving staff reported that she resisted self care and ...

*** “You’re not my husband.” “Huh?  Yes I am.” “No, you may look like my husband, but you’re not him.” “What are you talking about?  Of course I’m your husband.  See?  It’s me?” “Nope.  You’re not him.  Now get out ...

*** Depending on what you read, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s in the United States and other wealthy Western countries is declining.  However, due to the growing older adult population, the number of people living with Alzheimer’s is expected to ...

… Nobody likes hypotheticals, especially the real-life kind that play out beyond the laboratory microscopes and petri dishes. And I hate to be a Debbie-Downer, but after billions of dollars and hundreds of single-therapeutic drug failures, at some point you’ve ...