AN ALZHEIMER'S COMPARISON

Mrs. H was sitting in the chair with a baby doll in her hand. She focused on the baby doll smiling. Then she picked it up and started to repeatedly kiss it all over the face. She once again put it on her lap and started smiling. Mrs. H did not respond to other residents or stimuli around her. She picked the baby doll up again towards her mouth and repeatedly kissed it. This was what Mrs. H did most of her day in the dementia unit.

Mrs. R sat across from Mrs. H in a wheelchair about two feet away. She watched Mrs. H kiss the baby doll. In disgust Mrs. R yelled, “Stop kissing that dead baby doll. Why are you doing that? Stop it!” Mrs. H continued to kiss her baby doll. This caused Mrs. R to become more agitated yelling again for her to stop kissing the doll. One of the aides needed to move Mrs. R to another location in the room so she would not injure Mrs. H.

Mrs. L was sitting on the couch by herself with a book in her hand. She was not reading it but holding it. It was her book and she liked to hold it throughout the day. Mrs. K slowly walked towards Mrs. L and tried to grab her book. Mrs. L yelled, “Get out of here! Leave me alone,” as she pulled the book closer towards her body. Mrs. K once again tried to grab the book out of Mrs. L’s hands. Mrs. L then slapped Mrs. K. Mrs. K responded by starting to hit Mrs. L. This started a fight where the nurses and aides had to put them on opposite sides of the room. This also was a common occurrence in the dementia unit.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The risk of Alzheimer’s disease increases with every decade of life and can reach over 40% of the population over the age of 85. I have seen the disease affect people differently. The scenarios above are just a few of my patients who have the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, dementia, or Alzheimer’s dementia. I recently went to a talk and was showed pictures of a normal PET scan, one of an Alzheimer’s patient, and one of a healthy two-year-old child. I could not find a picture on the internet of a child’s PET scan but can tell you it looked very similar to the Alzheimer’s picture. Below I have found pictures of a normal PET scan and one of an Alzheimer’s patient. Now imagine another one below them looking similar to the Alzheimer’s patient with the caption healthy 2-year-old. The oranges and yellows in the PET scan are healthy brain tissue and the darker areas show atrophy. Now think of the scenarios above and then think of how a normal 2-year-old acts. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. Look at this website for more information, how it is managed, and current research. It also has other PET scan pictures if you are interested.  

Healthy 20-year-old PET scan

PET scan of Alzheimer's Patient