WOULD YOU WANT TO BE KEPT ALIVE AS AN END STAGE ALZHEIMER'S VICTIM?

What you say makes me doubt what you say simply because people with Alzheimer's do suffer


https://www.quora.com/Are-people-suffering-from-Alzheimers-really-suffering-or-are-they-just-as-happy-as-anyone-else

Also quoted from various internet searches I did but due too the many links so I will just put the comments in quote form

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"If you divide the disease process of Alzheimer's and related dementia s into thirds- early, middle and late stages- what I have observed in over fifteen years of working with such folks is that the first stage- early dementia- is difficult for the person; one of the answers here describes it as hell, and that's probably close. There is something wrong, you know there is something wrong, you may even guess or be told what it is, over and over, but you cannot stop it, fix it or mitigate it. There is often denial among flashes of acceptance, "Oh, I forget things". This stage is hardest on the victim."

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"Edited on Sun Jun-06-04 07:56 PM by Argumentus
They know THE ENTIRE TIME that something is wrong with them, but they've lost the mental faculty to know exactly what or even to express themselves. In the latter days they scream because they cannot remember how to speak, or wipe their ass, or chew their own food. They do not know when a wife is speaking to soothe them (who the f___ is this lady touching me?) or know when their own child is speaking to them (why the f____ are these kids touching me?)."

"Mere words cannot express the horror I have seen in a grown man's eyes."
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"It is, without doubt, the most horrible way a person can die."work with Alzheimer's patients and it's the cruelest disease I have ever witnessed.”

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“In the beginning of the disease, they know what's going on and what's happening to them. "They are terrified." To watch a person slip into oblivion is just tragic.
In the end they lose their ability to walk, talk, and eat. They die. It's a slow death.”

“How did we feel?” they ask. “We remember the feeling of our collar tightening, voice faltering, palms sweating, and face blushing.” Then they call to our attention that “The person with Alzheimer’s disease is in a giant classroom every day, one in which he or she never has the exact answer.”

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“A lot of what we think about death and dying is based on the cancer model," says Dr. Stephen Post, professor in the department of bio-ethics at Case Western University School of Medicine. "Alzheimer's is a complicated and difficult disease." Late-stage AD is characterized by the inability to communicate by speech or recognize family members, the inability to move about without assistance, incontinence, loss of appetite, and loss of the ability to swallow, with death usually resulting from aspiration pneumonia, infection, or coronary arrest. On the average, the advanced stage of AD lasts 1.5 to 2 years, according to Dr. Post, though 20-30% of patients will "linger" 4, 5, 6, or even as long as 10 years, he says.”
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“Despite our best research efforts, Alzheimer's disease remains incurable. Researchers are using sophisticated technologies to pinpoint how AD progressively steals memories and destroys personality; and yet, AD remains irreversible. Although one does not die of Alzheimer's disease, during the course of the disease, the body's defense mechanisms ultimately weaken, increasing susceptibility to catastrophic infection and other causes of death related to frailty. At some point after the mind has been lost to this devastating disease, the body will be lost as well”.
artificial Feeding and Hydration

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https://www.quora.com/Are-people-suffering-from-Alzheimers-really-suffering-or-are-they-just-as-happy-as-anyone-else


“I was sitting with Grandma B. when she suddenly grabbed my arm in total, abject terror and said in a voice that just chilled me, "I don't know who any of these people are." The look on her face could have broken any heart”.

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“As far as I can know from the outside, my mother seemed to be in great pain most of times... She looked like she was conscious enough to know she was off kilter and not conscious enough to stop it... Fits my definition of hell”...

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“First, to answer your question: people with Alz have good times, but the overwhelming majority of the time they are confused, upset and angry. So, Alz patients are not "just as happy as anyone else”

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“As noted, it depends. My MNL was quite happy following the little animals and talking to childhood friends for several years. Later, her thoughts turned dark and frightening. It was a blessing for her when she died”.

“After caring for my mother in her last month and watching the fear and uncertainty on her face, I cannot imagine anyone thinking that these poor souls could be happy.”

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How does all of this feel? Terrifying! I fear that I will lose my livelihood given that my career is one of being able to recall facts and figures and information. I fear losing memories of my life and the details of the years I have had with my son. Losing that which IS my life. To become utterly and hopelessly dependent on others when I have been the strong one, the one in charge for all these years.

“I promise you, I will not suffer this disease?”.

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“A close relative has this disease. Now while I can't speak for her personally, I can tell you my opinion based on experience seeing what she goes through. Confusion, frustration, feeling scared and lost... I can't imagine categorizing those things into "happiness"... although some people do feel these things who DON'T have Alzheimer's”.
Written Apr 8, 2015
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“This is the final stage of the disease when individuals lose the ability to respond to their environment, the ability to speak, and, ultimately, the ability to control movement.”

“Individuals lose the ability to walk without assistance, then the ability to sit without support, the ability to smile, and the ability to hold their head up. Reflexes become abnormal and muscles grow rigid. Swallowing is impaired.”
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“At the end of Alzheimer's the brain forgets how to make the body function. At first the voluntary functions go, and eventually the body "forgets" how to make the lungs or heart work.”

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“It doesn't happen overnight, and the process of slipping into the memory loss can be extremely depressing and demoralizing. Plus, most cases are not "TV happy" cases of "absent mindedness", but rather result in acute paranoia, or violent rage, or severe depression. In many cases, the body outlives the brain, so the patient must be restrained to prevent violence against family and caretakers”.

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“My dad's father had it, and he was something of a mix, but it was painful to see this brilliant man reduced to a shell of himself. He lasted a couple years with full-on Alzheimer's, but some (like Reagan) live much longer in a hellish limbo. My dad has said if he starts showing signs, to just leave a gun out where he can find it -- he'll know what to do.”
I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

They exist in a Kafkaesque nightmare.

“ Then as it gets worse there's confusion and fear much of the time. Every situation is unfamiliar and only the people that you're with literally all the time are familiar at all. By the end my uncle went into panic every time my aunt left the room.

He didn't recognize his own kids by sight but was so dismayed when he was told who they were. He lost control of his bodily functions because he couldn't remember what you're supposed to do about those things. He had to ask what to do with dinner when it was served to him.

He didn't remember how to eat or that he was supposed to eat, but through all that he was sentient. He was not a vegetable. He simply had lost every cognitive ability that's required to function. He knew it, too. He was deeply depressed through most of it.”

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“Some have horrible hallucinations, terrible fear, though a few lucky ones are happily demented. My mother died a year ago from it (and her mother and my FIL shortly before) and she was completely frozen and unable to move the last year. I am sure every time we moved her it probably hurt a great deal. Finally became unable to swallow and that is when she died. They suffer a lot of falls and when they are in pain they are unable to tell you if they are pretty far along. I would notice my mother's jaw swelling and know a tooth had abscessed or notice inflammation but she could not tell me or point it out. It's a hell of a way to go.”

I do not want to be kept alive as a dependent vegetable

Alan