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Take our Mighty survey on Alzheimer’s disease!

Are you a caregiver to someone with Alzheimer’s? Do you have a caregiver in the family instead? Are you diagnosed with Alzheimer’s yourself?

This survey is being conducted by The Mighty on behalf of a pharmaceutical partner who is developing a story about caregiving for patients with Alzheimer’s. We are looking for perspectives from caregivers themselves as well as patients and other loved ones. We will begin by asking you for some background information followed by questions about your experiences being cared for as a person with Alzheimer’s or with caregiving.

✏️ Take the survey here: survey.alchemer.com/s3/7533484/Caregiver-Survey

⏰ P.S. This survey will take about 5 minutes to complete and can only be taken once. Those who qualify and fully complete the survey will have a chance to be entered into a raffle for 1 of 4 Amazon gift cards in the amount of $25 USD!

#AlzheimersDisease #Dementia #Caregiving #Parenting #MentalHealth #CheckInWithMe #ParkinsonsDisease

Caregiver Survey

Caregiver Survey.
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Hey

I’ve just seen this group from @kaden_mc other posts and this seems really interesting
I’ve got a number of issues which get really frustrating at times especially with my brain fog and I’ve now taken the strength to tell people to talk slower to give me time to write it down and to understand it fully as I can’t retain the information
My emails I have learnt to reread before sending as they sound not quite right Lol 😆 but I can laugh a bit now but before I’d be soo upset and distraught with myself.
I don’t work not by choice but due to my chronic health conditions but then I do work to a degree to the detriment to my own health as I’m A Deputy (similar to Power of Attorney) to 2 of My Uncles with Moderate Learning Disabilities and one has Austim and the other one has Challenging Behaviours and Dementia and the last Uncle I was the Primary Carer until he went into Residential Care on 25/9/22 but it’s been never ending problems there.

But hey that’s me saying Hi and Thanks 😊

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Alzheimer's/ Dementia

I spend 8 hours a day with 22 residents who have Alzheimer's.
I hear the residents talk about wanting to go home https://everyday.My job is to be a caregiver. I show them respect
My mom also has Alzheimer's but I am having a very hard time accepting the obvious fact.
She is still my mom . I know she knows me. She is not going to get better.
I need a break.
#AlzheimersDisease
🥺

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Poll

Select all that apply
14 days left
I've been formally diagnosed with Alzheimer's
I think I have Alzheimer's but have not been diagnosed
I currently care for someone with Alzheimer's
I cared for someone w/ Alzheimer's who no longer needs care
I am a medical professional who specializes in Alzheimer's
I am a patient advocate or educator for Alzheimer's
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We are in need of a new co-leader for MHC to encourage, empower, & support our members. I make a APPEAL to current members - PLEASE read below!

We are currently looking for a new Co-Leader for the Multiple Health Challenges group. We are growning fast and just passed 2,200 members. This is really exciting to me, however to be honest, I have been very frustrated that there is less activity recently and as our membership grows steadily the number of comments & replies has actually diminished. Our old co-leader Chris is no longer with the group and we need to have others step up and make up for her commitment to regularly respond to posts and comments. This means a collective effort from everyone in the group! I have had numerous layers of serious physical & mental health challenges recently and not been as active as I would like in order to step back and focus on self-care. This is a time having another co-leader to pick up the slack is essential!

My last post about hobbies was actually first posted 16 months ago (when we had at least 1,000 less members) and it got over 200 ❤️ & 👍and 100 comments then! It got only ONE this time. And Laura made a great post about disability after that and it got only two responses as well. When new members open up and post to introduce themselves and then get very little response that is even worse. I fear that new members will see this and not be active moving forward. This is OUR group everybody and it functions best when members support other members. We all have our varied health histories and with them the knowledge and wisdom we’ve garnered along the way! PLEASE let’s share these with each other. Without this empathy and understanding this group is falling short of what I first envisioned when I started the group and what it’s capable of.

For a co-leader I am looking for someone to welcome new members, comment or respond to posts and other comments & replies, and make new posts to the group. It is important for the group to have distinctly different voices to support people because people might relate more to either of us. What is a really good situation is if we both respond to the same posts, welcome new members from different perspectives and provide voices for people that are accessible and relatable. There is a commitment needed that you monitor activities on the group regularly and can respond pretty quickly.

Offering your own posts provides more content for the group. I can assist and support by offering to look at your new posts for feedback and editing before you post if you would like, will comment on your posts to get the responses going to best support your efforts, and I can help finding memes or images.

I look at potential leaders' history of posts and/or comments that have helped and supported others in the past. Willingness to be honest and open about your own health challenges is crucial to best support people.

You will get access to the Community Leaders group and your name will have a “Group Leader” tab next to it up top on your comments and responses so I think people pay attention especially to your activity and wisdom shared from your personal experience. Would you consider joining me on this journey? Let’s have a DM chat to discuss this! Thanks for considering taking on this role!

In service,
Moshe
@moshemhc

#Depression #Anxiety #MentalHealth #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #Chronicpainwarrior #Disability #BipolarDisorder #BipolarDepression #BipolarIIDisorder #Bipolar1Disorder
#ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #ADHD #Schizophrenia #AspergersSyndrome #Autism #Dementia #Concussion #Addiction #AddictionRecovery #Cancers #TraumaticBrainInjury #BrainInjury #LossOfAParent #Grief #Suicide #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #DistractMe #HIVAIDS #MightyQuestions #DownSyndrome #IfYouFeelHopeless #Hope #Deafness #neckpain #BackPain #CongestiveHeartFailure #Migraine #COVID19 #PeripheralNeuropathy #LymeDisease #Diabetes #EatingDisorder #Headache #Stroke #Cancer #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Fibromyalgia #Disability #thankful #grateful #CocaineDependence #drugaddiction #Alcoholism #PTSD #EmotionalHealth #physicalhealth #PainAcceptance #Acceptance #relief #Selflove #Selfcare #MentalHealthHero #TheMighty #RareDisease #MightyTogether #RareDisease

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Depressed, Sad, scared and feeling unlovable #BipolarDepression #Grief #Abuse

Right now I'm going through a lot. I've recently lost my good friend and mentor to cancer. I was devastated when her diagnosis came but even more so because less than 30 days of the diagnosis she died. I miss her SO much. She was a very loving, wise and compassionate woman. I'm currently in an emotionally abusive relationship of 11 years. It's destroying me and I so wish I could talk to her. She's the one that could help me leave. I feel so unlovable and unworthy. Today I came close to engaging in #Selfharm . It's been over 9 months since I last engaged in such behavior.

Not only have I lost my friend, I lost my aunt to dementia and old age. She died at 91. We were so close, like best friends. I learned what unconditional love is from her.

And now I found out that my childhood BFF is facing a possible cancer diagnosis. Her doctor found a tumor on her kidney and suspects it to be cancerous. We're waiting for one more test to be ran. I'm so scared of losing her. She's a beautiful loving soul. We've been friends since I was 8. I am now 46 years old. I am trying to stay strong for her but truly I'm struggling to keep my shit together. I've cried so much.

I don't mention my abusive relationship much these days except to a close friend and my therapist. Even my friend I don't share a lot. I can't imagine life without him. I know that sounds crazy...maybe it is, but I'm scared to live life alone. I'm at a low point. I'm drowning in #Depression and #Grief
#Anxiety #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder

I could use a lot of support. Thank you.

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Alzheimer's and repressed memories

Does anyone know if people who develop Alzheimer's or dementia can have repressed memories resurface?

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Model of Depression

If there is a TOP Ten list of unpopular topics, I believe mental illnesses would qualify.

To quote an answer in Quora: Illness and disease both cause the same feelings of discomfort, pain or unease in people. However, an illness is more of a subjective feeling. This means that there is really no identifiable reason behind the condition. If the condition behind the illness is identified, it is more often referred to as a disease. However, in more generalized terms, we can define an illness as a state where the person has feelings of pain or discomfort that does not have an identifiable reason.

Thus it is not easy to categorize depression as either illness or disease. If it is a subjective feeling that one does not feel well, then that is probably what it is; not feeling OK.

Sometimes one might not feel like walking up from bed but if it is due to tiredness from work and then one recovers the next day, that does not qualify as depression, isn't it?

Then if one were to feel sad for more than two weeks, it is likely a symptom of depression. So sadness itself is not depression, it is the duration and intensity of it that counts. It is more of persistent of several symptoms like anguish, anhedonia and even memory loss.

Till now, scientist have hypothesized several theories of depression like lack of neurotransmitter, genetics and environment. There is no one ultimate cause. So instead of looking for causes, I suggest a Model of Depression (Mode).

In the Mode, we can see how one condition lead to another without pinpointing any single cause as the beginning. Although rumination is not necessary the cause, we have some researches that point to it as major factor for symptoms of depression.

In another we are looking at all factors that could play together towards the experience of depression. When we look at the Mode, it gives a map of possible reasons and conditions that lead to depression.

Thus a depressed person could make an educated guess that his back pain could be a factor and then the person could work on healing the pain. So instead of over-thinking about why he has serious back pain and merely takes painkiller, he could explore possible solutions like acupucture.

The Model helps the person to better understand his own erratic thought and negative emotions like anger and anguish that could have serious long-term consequences if it is not dealt with proper interventions.

By looking at the Mode, the intervention for depression is not always talk therapy or medicines, it could be healing the physical pains too. Then we could also learn to relax the tensed body through massage or yoga as a form of interventions.

In the end we are looking at a holistic way of dealing with depression rather than just talk therapy and medicines.

Although we have problems in life, it is the way we look at the problems that is the problem too. So when we keep looking at depression as strictly mental illness, then we have limited options about how we can deal with the problem. In fact cognitive behavioral therapy is premised on the cognition, the way we think. Nonetheless negative thoughts seep into our minds unconciously and we keep replaying the thoughts and then we feel the negative emotions and back to the same thoughts like a broken record called rumination.

Then we might have narrow perspective on the problem: I am the problem or I cannot handle the problem.

The Mode offers us a different lens of looking at the same problem: I see the problems and find different ways for interventions. Then you must affirm that you have the power over the problem.

The Model of Depression is not a model of cause and effect. Rather it is acausal in looking how one type of condition could possibly affect other conditions based on widely available researches. In the model, a patient with stroke could feel bodily pains and discomfort leading to disturbed and insecure minds. The stroke patient could ruminate about her/his condition and that propagates mental anguish and bodily pains. Then the person could ruminate over his or her stroke. Thus depression could be seen a manifestation of mind-body conditions.

Researches have shown that rumination is prevalent in patients with clinical depression. Thus the repetitive negative thoughts been linked with symptoms of depression such as sadness, low mood and tiredness. Certainly it is linked with anxiety disorder. In the long run it could also lead to dementia and even Parkinson's Disease.

The model could help patients and anyone to be aware of how one bodily pains could also lead to mental disturbance to depression and the whole circle could continue until an intervention in implemeted.

The model also help us to understand why certain intervention like taking medications could reduce the symptoms of depression. If we were to look at the biological aspect of our bodies, medicines could affect neurotransmitter and thus the functionality of our synapes in the brain.

By now, we know that bodily pain could lead to depression and vice versa. Thus it might be helpful to reduce or massage away our bodily discomfort. Personally I am fully aware of that and I have gone for acupuncture to heal my stiff muscles and numbness in my fingers.

Since research points to strong link between depression and rumination and it is bi-directional; that means one could lead to another; we could also reduce rumination as an invervention.

Could one feel down due to lack of stimulation from hormones like oxytonin. Therefore exercise could release the hormone into the bloodstream and lead to less symptoms of depression.

This model helps us to pinpoint all possible interventions at our disposal in dealing with depression.

We know some depressed people suffer from memory loss. Is rumination or the state of depression itself contributes to the loss?

In a 2012 study, researchers tested sick and healthy people’s decision-making on a driving simulator and found that sick participants demonstrated significantly slower reaction time. This is in line with prior research showing that just feeling ill is associated with slowed memory and worsened mood.

So, our memory, reaction time, and mental health all appear to suffer when we’re ill and have higher levels of inflammation. In fact, when it comes to mood, the scientific connection between inflammation and depression has become quite robust.

Although we could not ascertain the exact causes of depression, the Mode provides us an overall view or map of all possible conditions that would present within our mind-body system for someone to show the symptoms of depression.

In terms of emotions regulation, it is interesting that Identifying was linked both to years in treatment as well as modalities in psychological treatment, but Processing (not Identifying) was linked to well-being across the general population.

Various modalities of treatment, including CBT and psychotherapy have a long history of enabling patients to identify emotions and understand their meaning within present and prior contexts. Expressing emotions and being able to communicate them is also a valued concept. However, Identifying was not linked to life-satisfaction scores, and Expressing was not a significant predictor after controlling for prior trauma variables.

This suggests that psychological treatments may want to focus more on processing emotions than only identifying them. There may be false beliefs, where the goal of treatment is simply to identify emotions and understand their meaning. However, these results suggest that without the capacity to modulate and refine them, well-being will not be increased.

Thus there has been a research and development of a digital therapeutic app (Nuowave) to fill the gap in treatment that is based on emotion processing, neuroplascity and music/sound therapy (proven to reduce symptoms of depression).

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I'm new here!

Hi, my name is Jerseyjoseph. I'm here because
I need to know more about dementia etc.. mind games?

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#Depression didn't kill Robin Williams

Part 1 of 2

Depression didn’t kill Robin Williams. Mental illness in general, alcohol, and drugs didn’t either. If you were like me when the news hit that Robin Williams had ended his own life, you were devastated. I grew up with Robin Williams’ career- from Mork and Mindy to Dead Poet’s Society to Aladdin to As Good as It Gets to Boulevard.  I watched it all.  I loved Robin. 

I’m not sure how to describe the feeling I got when watching him, but it was breathtaking.  Watching him pour himself into every character he made up and take himself out of every character he imitated was amazing.  He was truly a gift to the world of acting.

But it wasn’t just that gift that spoke to me.  There was an underlying something that I can’t quite articulate that drew me to him as someone who suffers from mental illness.  It was the moments just before the character kicked in.  The flashes in his eyes as he let himself go.  The reckless abandon that he had a hard time recovering from and allowing his own personality back into the room.  Robin was “on” all the time.  He had a hard time turning it off according to what I’ve read and seen since his death (and before).

It is common knowledge that Robin suffered from depression and was an addict in recovery and when he died that was the information that flew across the internet- depression had finally taken Robin Williams.  I remember thinking once that in my lifetime Robin Williams would die and it blew my mind.  I couldn’t imagine a life without him in the media or the world.  I couldn’t imagine him as a very old man, decrepit and slow.  I cried at the time about how I would bear witness to that aging and then that death.  Never did it occur to me it would happen so soon.  I often thought that when Robin passed, I would want to die too.

I have long suffered from depression and mental illness and suicidal ideation has been a part of my life if I can remember.  It was easier to think of dying with Robin than living without him.

When news hit the media that Robin had succumbed to mental illness, I was devastated and numb.  I wasn’t ready to go with him.  I’d told myself that I would go with him that I would be old enough and it would be ok.

But it happened so soon.  I wasn’t ready yet.  And that’s when news that Robin had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease hit the air waves.  Aha!

Well, now it made sense to me why he had taken his own life.

Parkinson’s attacked my grandmother, and I watched as she shook and turned into the opposite of the strong woman, I had grown up knowing her to be.  In that moment I could see how mental illness distorted Robin’s mind into thinking Parkinson’s had been a death sentence.  I

understood why he wouldn’t want to live that way and figured he had been hiding it and that fear for quite a while and had, in a moment of particularly poor thinking, given in.  It didn’t make the reality that Robin was gone any better, it just gave some perspective to the situation that made it sit that much easier.

Parkinson’s disease did not kill Robin Williams.  Robin didn’t have Parkinson’s.  That was a misdiagnosis.  Robin didn’t have Parkinson’s, Robin had Lewy Body Dementia.

Lewy Body Dementia killed Robin Williams.  Lewy Body Dementia is almost as if the brain is eating itself.  It is a progressive form of dementia that causes the person suffering from it to have symptoms very similar to Parkinson’s.   “Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control).” – according to the Mayo Clinic.  This form of dementia includes a progressive decline in mental abilities, visual hallucinations, changes in alertness, Parkinson’s like symptoms (rigid muscles and tremors), confusion, dizziness, bowel issues, sleep difficulties, depression, and apathy.  Lewy Body dementia can make you aggressive and uncoordinated.  It usually causes death- on average about 8 years after onset, but it takes every bit of you with it before it does.  And this form of dementia can only be 100% diagnosed after death.

When Robin chose to end his life, he may have had several things on his mind.  He may have been confused by the way his body was reacting.  He may have been thinking he didn’t want to live with the way he felt.  He may have been thinking he was gone and didn’t want to live as a person that didn’t include his spark.  He may have wanted to save the world from what he was going through and the media circus that would follow him in his decline.  He may have had all those things in his mind, true, but more than likely, Robin wasn’t there.

Robin Williams was human, and he probably was mortified by how his body was acting and his inability to control it.  Doctors have now said that they are surprised he

(edited)
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