Alzheimer’s can be managed

Neurologists and caregivers in Hyderabad maintain that involvement of family members in understanding the ailment is vital in the management of AD patients.

July 05, 2015 12:00 am | Updated November 16, 2021 07:55 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

The recent demise of Ghazal legend pundit Vithal Rao and his struggle with Alzheimer’s Diseases (AD), the common kind of dementia among elderly, has brought to the focus the difficulties that the patients and their family members face with the debilitating ailment.

While acknowledging that AD patients are tough to handle, experts point out that family and society support, and awareness about the ailment will make AD ‘manageable’.

Neurologists and caregivers in Hyderabad maintain that involvement of family members in understanding the ailment is vital in the management of AD patients. The uniqueness of dementia-related ailments like AD is that quite often even the caregivers are at health risk as they tend to develop blood pressure and eventually even become diabetic because of huge stress they undergo while handling AD patients.

“AD is purely an age related ailment and some awareness about it is needed among caregivers who are close to patients. They can attend counselling and awareness sessions to learn more about the ailment. The idea is to keep persons with AD active mentally, socially and physically,” says psychological counsellor, Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI), Hyderabad, Dr. R. Amulya. AD is often characterised by loss of short-term memory among patients. It starts as minor forgetfulness and progresses into a disorder in which persons can’t even identify their near and dear ones. Patients lose both visual and verbal memories like forgetting telephonic conversations, names of recent acquaintances, misplacing objects and losing their way.

“The vital aspect is to make efforts to identify signs of AD early. While it can’t be cured, its progression can be slowed down. Here, society, healthcare workers and family play a vital role in management,” says Professor, Neurology, NIMS and president, ARDSI, Dr. Suvarna Alladi.

With the disease progressing gradually, patients find themselves more and more dependent on their immediate family members. “At ARDSI, we do provide hired attendants who can take care of the AD patients. Through counselling and training, we also have educated a large number of family members of AD patients. Such patients should not be isolated and have to remain socially active. It’s more of a social problem than a health issue,” says Dr. Amulya.

Senior Neurologist Dr. Jaydeep Ray Choudhary advocates patience on part of caregivers. “AD directly impacts brain tissues, causing memory loss. Sometimes, they can’t judge, function and behave normally. Often they recollect past memories vividly, which may confuse close relatives,” advises Head, Neurology, Yashoda Hospitals, Dr. Choudhary. For support on AD, contact ARDSI at 040-6610-3413.

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