Home Forums Salem Place: The Main Board Too much, too soon.

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  • #3676
    Bonbon
    Participant

    I liked the scene with Caroline and Bo yesterday but I wonder if they aren’t going too fast too soon with the dementia story.  I’m not sure someone would get so angry and irrational as Caroline did.  It’s my understanding that they become more "removed" for the situation.  I know they can eventually become testy but Caroline was full-blown confrontational with Bo.  I wonder if she’s been drinking the water at Jen’s house???

    #35865
    Patti
    Participant

    to her, it’s frustrating her and she just doesn’t want to face it.  Now that others are also starting to notice her forgetfulness, she is forced to come to grips with her situation and it’s like a smack in the face to her.  Instead of dealing with it, it’s angering her.  Now, she finally has to accept her own realization that something is wrong.  I like the way the story is moving and think Peggy is doing a terrific job with it so far.

    #35890
    DeeLan
    Participant

    Before my uncle was diagnosed with Alzheimers he would often get angry and blow his stack over little things.  This was a man who I’ve never heard raise his voice and was always laughing and smiling.  After the diagnosis everything fell into place and we could see the personality change that had taken place. 

    #35891
    powerpaw2
    Participant

    My dad was diagnosed with a more aggressive form of Alzheimer’s 3 years ago.  He’s in stage 5 with signs of stage 6, but is still at home.  Thankfully he’s very cooperative with my step mom and has not been combative in any way.  Dad never realized that he was forgetting things and to this day he doesn’t have a clue that anything is wrong.

    My neighbor John behaved more along the lines of Caroline though he didn’t get as angry.  He had dementia that was caused by severe diabetes.

    Someone explained to me that dementia is a symptom while Alzheimer’s is a disease.  Has anyone else heard this?

     

     

    #35893
    Bonbon
    Participant

    yes, they get angry and get combative but not the way Caroline did.  When you have Alzheimer’s or dimentia, supposedly you don’t know that you are forgetting things or are being confused and Caroline definitely knew.  I think they kind of missed the boat there and are showing her awareness only for dramatic purposes…so it gives Peggy a storyline to sink her teeth into.  A friend’s father had it and would argue with her because she’d try to tell him he’d done something and he’d insist he hadn’t.

    I’ve read that anger mostly comes from the confusion of not remembering how to do a task, get somewhere, know someone, understand directions, know what day it is, etc.  You only know you are forgetting things in the early stages.

    Dementia is an all encompasing term while Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia.  According to some sources, the terms can be interchangable.  One difference is that Alzheimer’s is treated differently medically than dementia.  Either way, it is something wrong in the brain.

    #35904
    DeeLan
    Participant

    Right.  Dementia is the Umbrella term for several types of dementia where alzheimers is one.  Sort of like fracture is umbrella term that includes stress, compound, open, etc…

    I know with my uncle at the beginning he’d argue or get upset because he’d make a wrong turn or forget how to get somewhere.  He’d of course take the anger out on everyone around him and raise his voice which is something he never did before except in excitement.  Later he’d get violent if in a large group but I do blame the family there as they’d have huge family gatherings and insist he stay and be a part of everything.  One year at a birthday party for 2 of his adult kids when they started singing he was in another room with my aunt and grabbed her by the arm and was twisting it using both hands. She called for help and all the kids ganged up on him and yelling at him which made it worse and he got more insistent with the twisting until she was crying in pain. 

    He didn’t know there was anything wrong and the family knew there was a problem but ignored it and let him continue his life as normal because they couldn’t bear taking it away from him.  He was retired but working part time as a crossing guard and one Sunday evening he looked at the clock, got up from the dinner table and was suddenly out the door.  We found him on his street corner in uniform with his STOP sign waiting for the kids.  That was when the family realized there was a serious problem and couldn’t continue ignoring it.  When he was diagnosed the docs said he’d probably had Alzheimer’s for 5 years. 

     

    #35915
    powerpaw2
    Participant

    I wish they’d spend more money on trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s than spend it on research so some guy can get a woody.

    #35916
    Bonbon
    Participant

    that can’t be cured.  It’s deterioration of the brain and, as we know, the brain cannot regenerate.  Now maybe they could find something to keep it from progressing but from what I read yesterday, that’s what they treat people for now.

    I’m just so afraid this storyline is going to move lickity-split and in a couple of weeks Caroline won’t be recognizing anybody.  I hope not.  Unless Peggy is planning on leaving the show at some not-so-distant point, they should take it slowly.

    #35917
    casey
    Participant

    that’s what she’ll have? Because once they go down that road there’s no turning back. Maybe Peggy has decided on a retirement date – even if it’s still a ways off – and this would be a tour de force way to exit. I see her popping up in old black and white flicks so I figure she’s got to be around 80.

    #35918
    Bonbon
    Participant

    on November 3rd.  Amazing, huh?  You’d never guess she’s that old.  But then, look how long Frances Reed (Alice Horton) lasted on the show, into her 90s.  Victor is 79 and Stefano will be 84 next March.  Whew!  Doug Williams is 84 and Maggie is 69 (just a youngster!).  Lots of "old folks" on the show.

    #35922
    casey
    Participant

    in that “Salem Tea!”

    #35923
    Blondie-1
    Participant

    Viagara was origionally used as a heart pill, the woody’s were a side effect… and there is medication out there to help slow the prgression of AD, but there are no cure.  Some people take years for the disease to progress where as others can take months, depends on the person.  I have worked with Dementia for the last 15 years and it is a very sad disease…

    #35925
    justwondering
    Participant

     Not neccesarily. remember Theo was diagnosed with Autism. Yet he nows seems to be doing well. Also, she could stay steady for some time.  

    #35928
    DeeLan
    Participant

    Right. No cure but there are treatments that slow down the progression. 

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