Living with a Family Member that Has Alzheimer's

It can be difficult living with anyone that has Alzheimer's or Dementia and it can be very sad to see. Within the last year or so my grandmother has gotten some for of Alzheimer's or Dementia. She doesn't have either one for certain but doctors say she is kind of between the two. I don't really understand that but it's painfully obvious that she does.

I could notice about a year or so ago that she was getting worse. She's not even 60 years old yet but it can strike at earlier ages as well. Just her driving performance was taking a big hit. She was always slowing down when you would talk to her, or she was always fearful of people hitting her. The big thing was she was forgetting where she was going and was easily getting lost. At some point in the past year, she finally had license removed and she can no longer drive. It was devastating on her and she is very upset to this date and I can fully understand that. She had a brand new vehicle that she had just paid off like six months prior to this and she can't even drive it anymore.

Other obvious things were starting to happen like when we would go camping, she would forget where the campsite was and we would have to go look for her. Now we have to escort her to the bathroom and back. She's starting to forget who later family members are and even my cousins she's starting to forget how they are related to us. She likes to say really random things sometimes or make up random statements about what's happening. Despite how far off the statements are, you should always just agree with them since trying to correct them just makes it worse on them. Just puts more confusion in their minds as her doctor has stated.

The big thing to do for anyone with Alzheimer's or Dementia is to just be there for him or her. My grandma is getting to the point now where she thinks she's just a problem on everyone and it's sad to hear her talk like that. Always spend as much time with them as possible because at some point they will probably forget who you are as sad as that is to say. My great-grandmother has Alzheimer's and she's around 96 years old now. She doesn't know who any of my family is anymore and she can hardly talk most the time. I never got a chance to know her since this happened once I was around five years old.

Out of all the diseases in the world, I would have to say that Alzheimer's is one of the saddest diseases I've ever seen. Once I've seen it affect someone really close to me, it's a very sad thing to see. My grandma was a very active person in my life as I was a kid. She was always helping us out when we needed something and she was always there. So now it's my turn to return the favor since I spend so much time with her now and I drive her around if she wants to get out. It's just crazy to see how quickly something like this can really turn your life around. These is why you should always respect your elders and take care of them because one day it can all go away without warning.