easy methods to react to the reminiscence lack of a liked one? | EUROtoday

On May 2, 2024

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“IIt was 2 a.m. My husband abruptly will get up and begins unmaking his mattress, throwing the sheets and blankets round, transferring round in all instructions. This had by no means occurred earlier than. » At the second, Colette Roumanoff doesn't know what to do. Her husband, Daniel, who died in 2015, suffered from Alzheimer's illness on the time. And, if he turns into so agitated in the course of the night time, it’s as a result of he suffers from a toothache. A ache that he’s unable to put or title.

“Alzheimer's is not just a story of memory, it's also a loss of reference points, both external and internal,” explains the girl who has written quite a few works on the topic and runs the weblog Living effectively with Alzheimer's. She may also be current on the 5^e version of the Estivales of the Partage et vie Foundation, devoted to reminiscence and arranged in partnership with Pointon June 19 in Paris.

“The sick person may have pain somewhere without being able to say it, because their brain no longer provides them with information about what is happening in their body,” she explains. Instead, there’s a commotion that has nothing to do with the issue. Outside, she will be able to confuse issues that look comparable, like a sponge with a slice of bread, whereas her setting appears an increasing number of sophisticated and illegible. »

A illness of knowledge administration

“When we talk about memory disorders, we must remember the importance of encoding, which is, with storage and retrieval, one of the three stages of the memorization process,” explains Claude Jeandel, professor of inner drugs and geriatrics, medical advisor to the Fondation Partage et vie, additionally talking on the Estivales. “The person with a neuro-cognitive disorder is no longer able to encode new information, to fix it and, consequently, to restore it,” he provides.

Neurocognitive issues can, relying on the stage of the illness, have an effect on all cognitive features: reminiscence(s), written and oral language, orientation, reasoning, judgment, coordination. gestures (praxes) and gnosies or recognitions. “They are associated, more or less early and depending on the disease, with psychological and/or behavioral disorders,” continues the geriatrician. It is particularly the latter that are tough to just accept by these round them and have an effect on the caregiver's burden. »

Maintain belief

Staying calm, not getting offended or being restrictive are all attitudes to undertake when coping with a sick individual. With confusion and lack of route comes a rising feeling of insecurity. And it’s by maintaining insecurity and stress as little as attainable that we decelerate the development of the illness.

“We often interpret the behavior of these people through our own prism. For example, we tell ourselves that if he leaves, he will run away, when not at all! He is looking for the toilet or something else, analyzes Colette Roumanoff. Getting angry will make the situation worse. The person will feel bad and that's when they will forget your first name or become aggressive. »

All behavior has meaning

What helped Colette Roumanoff to support her husband during the ten years of his illness was to observe him, to understand how he worked: “There is a method of use which is ultimately very simple. Each situation has its remedy and, if we don't know where the problem is, we can always try to divert attention, to cling to our habits and routine. »

A way of doing things that Claude Jeandel fully approves of: “The key word is understanding. Before resorting to drug treatments, it is necessary to analyze the behavior, identify changes and try to find explanations, whether medical or linked to the person's life history. » And it is perhaps on this last point that the geriatrician insists the most.

Finding an appropriate response requires in-depth knowledge of the person, as the doctor further notes: “You cannot understand someone or their behavior if you do not have a minimum of information about what they have been, the profession he has exercised, his life experiences, his relationships with others, his state of mind… These are diseases with plural clinical expressions which imply a careful analysis, case by case, of the determinants. »

Change your outlook

Regardless, Alzheimer's disease, like other neuro-progressive pathologies, continues to be scary. “As long as you think this disease is horrible, you cannot manage it,” says Colette Roumanoff. The drawback is that nobody actually understands it, together with typically in hospitals. »

If Claude Jeandel has famous an evolution within the representations of this situation throughout his profession, he however acknowledges that “the objective has not been completely achieved”. “The fact that these illnesses affect the personality creates a form of filter, a difficulty in communicating with the person. » But, he adds, “we must nevertheless have the humility to recognize that certain behaviors are disconcerting and that the patient himself suffers from them”.

Putting a reputation to those issues, higher understanding their mechanisms, explaining them to caregivers, that is what Colette Roumanoff has targeted on, who has been touring all through France since 2009, from workshops to conferences, to share his expertise and produce a brand new perspective on the illness.

Because it was in the end ten quite completely satisfied years, “with difficult moments”, that she spent together with her husband. “I don’t stay in recollections. You need to embrace change, as a result of life modifications each day. For me, Alzheimer's illness was an invite to kindness, to persistence, to talking the language of others. I realized to be in temper each day and stay within the current. »

https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/alzheimer-et-troubles-de-la-memoire-comment-reagir-face-a-la-perte-de-memoire-d-un-proche-02-05-2024-2559256_40.php