Posted on

10 tips to remember better (blog version)

What were we talking about again?

I say that sometimes. As someone who has dementia, I am quickly learning what it’s like to forget.

Now where was I?

Oh yes, what we were talking about.  Asking that question is 9 times out of 10 helpful to jog the memory and get the conversation renewed in my experience.

I have Lewy body dementia, the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s. The disease presents with both memory and other cognitive problems as well as physical complications like tremors.

As people live longer, the number of people with diagnosed dementia is growing. Even if it’s not diagnosed dementia, forgetfulness increases as we age.

Here’s my Top 10 tips to remember better.

  1. Inventory. Before I go to work I take an inventory with my wife and caregiver Catherine. Cell phones? Check. Wallet? Check. Backpack with computer and accessories? Check. Shoes match? Check.
  2. Exercise. Get healthy. Exercise like you never have before. You’ll feel better, look better, and it may help you live longer. Cut back or quit alcohol and sweets and bad carbs in general.
  3. Play back.  Re-trace your steps literally and mentally. For example, if you find yourself in a room and are unsure why you  went there, go back in your mind and retrace your thought process. You can do that while going back to the room you started and see if that jogs your memory.
  4. Push back. Don’t be satisfied with your brain’s feeble attempt to block your memory. In my case, there are clumps of proteins called Lewy bodies after the doctor who discovered them, that are not supposed to be there. I know this sounds strange, but think about your brain. Ask it to improve. Ask your brain to fight back and remove the Lewy bodies. (See earlier piece ‘How to Hang on to a Memory.’)
  5. Writing I have found that I am not reading as much, especially books because I’ll often forget parts and have to go back and re-read. I’ve had  better luck with writing, which is what I do for a living, so that’s good. But just before I wrote that last sentence, I accidentally pushed ‘publish.’  And so now the story is live with only 5 of my 10 tips. The rest  are coming, hold on. <done>
  6. Visualize Recognize the face but can’t remember the name? Visualize when you met. Think back and  see if you can remember where you met and what was said.
  7. Disclose  When  you forget what you are saying or feeling embarrassed about not being able to remember, don’t hide your impairment. Tell folks that you have dementia and struggle with forgetfulness.  If you have Lewy body dementia, please share and explain as it is not well known, and often misdiagnosed. Hiding or trying to pretend your mind is still whip-smart takes too much energy.
  8. Same place. Keep your daily stuff, cell phones. wallets, purses in the same place every time. Where I  get in trouble is putting something down for a ‘second’ to attend to something else.  That ‘second’ expands to an hour or a day with lots of other thoughts and wanderings. Now you don’t remember where you put your cell phone.
  9. Keep cool.  Many years ago our daughters’ had a pre-school teacher who said “Nothing’s ever lost on God’s green earth.” It would settle a panicky kid or that kid’s parents. And it’s true in many ways. I have gone from being frantic to agitated to mellow about losing things. It will be found in time, I say. Stress, anxiety and depression are the enemies of good brain function, not a lost cell phone.
  10.  Doctor. If memory issues dominate your days or more than occasionally disrupt your day, go see a doctor. It may be serious like Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia or the memory loss may be normal aging. There are medications created for Alzheimer’s treatment that are used for Lewy body dementia as well.

 

Posted on

How can I hang on to a memory?

This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver who writes about his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and other health and life issues, here on AL.com and his blog.
This morning I had a memory from my childhood.
That, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy. But it did make me think how my brain is working.
I have a degenerative brain disease called Lewy body dementia, and I think my experiences can be useful to the medical community and the care-giving community – or anyone interested in what it feels like inside the head of a dementia patient.
Mike and Catherine Oliver help each other remember.
My memory this morning was this:
I was looking at some pants getting for work, realized the pants were — unlike most of my pants – too loose in the waist. The pants would be literally pants on the ground after about five or six steps.
This triggered a memory: it was a sunny day in Auburn, AL,. I was a 5 or 6-year-old kid going out to play on Rudd Avenue (which I don’t think exists anymore. The road’s there, but the name changed for some reason.)
In my memory I am running to get to the creek we used to play in and then we’d likely walk in the creek to Prather’s Lake.
As I run, I realize I‘m having to hold my pants up. With both hands.
I only had two things on like every Auburn boy on my street in the 1960s: Underwear and short pants. And my short pants kept sliding down. Not cool.
Luckily. I had belt loops on my shorts.
My memory only lasted a split second, but it was very visual. I remembered I found a piece of skinny rope. It was only about 5 or 6 inches long. Not enough to go all the way around my waist. So. I couldn’t use it like a regular belt because it was too short.
I guess the idea just spontaneously erupted in my 5 or 6-year-old brain. I tied two front belt loops together with that little rope. Tailor made! The britches held up nice and tight now.
I don’t remember anybody ever teaching me that trick or ‘hack’ as it would be called using current nomenclature. But, indeed, it was a real ‘necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention’ moment.
I think of this, not because there is anything unusual or profound about it.
But it made me stop and wonder why my brain chose to furnish me this quite vivid memory of a past event with no relevance to anything, other than it was triggered by me looking at some pants.
Is it my brain saying: ‘Hey, here’s some info you used before in a separate waist-fitting pants escapade. Here, see if this will help you,’ my brain seems to be saying. Pretty dang complicated for a brain awash in clumps of protein named after Dr.Lewy, who discovered them.
Or maybe it’s a symbolic lesson about how the answer, the cure, is right in front of you, like the piece of twine.
I’ve got my brain sitting here right now — and at all times — inside my head.
What if thinking alone can literally change the brain?
Wonder where that thought came from?
I’ll try it.
-=-=-=-=–=-=-=-=-=-=
Here are five essential facts about Lewy body dementia from the Lewy Body Dementia Association.
  • LBD is a relentlessly progressive disorder affecting thinking, movement, behavior and sleep. On average people with LBD live 5-7 years after diagnosis, though it can progress as quickly as 2 years or as slowly as 20 years.
  • Despite its low public awareness, LBD is not a rare disorder and affects an estimated 1.4 million Americans along with their families and caregivers.
  • People living with LBD and their family caregivers need a high level of support from family members and healthcare professionals from the early stage of the disorder, due to early and unpredictable frequent changes in thinking, attention and alertness, as well as psychiatric symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.
  • LBD is the most misdiagnosed form of dementia. Getting a diagnosis of LBD typically takes 3 or more doctors over 12 to 18 months. The LBDA Research Centers of Excellence network includes 25 preeminent academic centers with expertise in LBD diagnosis and management.
  • Early diagnosis of LBD is extremely important, due to severe sensitivities to certain medications sometimes used in disorders that mimic LBD, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other medical and psychiatric illnesses. An early diagnosis also empowers the person with LBD to review, pursue and fulfill their personal life priorities before the illness progresses too far, review their legal and financial plans, and discuss their care preferences with their physician and family.
  • Contact Mike Oliver at moliver@al.com Also follow his stories, including his quest to dunk at 58 years old on AL.com or myvinylcountdown.com