My husband died less than two years after being diagnosed with LBD. His deteriorating was I quick and no-one ever discussed the condition with us. Everything I learned I had to research for myself. When things started to be obvious it was if a bomb struck . It's the only way I can describe it. Everything that happens with LBD, happened all at the same time. The hardest thing was the fact that he was aware of the things that were happening to him. He would looked his hands and say " I can't do anything" He just couldn't figure out how to do the thing he wanted or needed to do. But with the help of the family we managed to keep him at home and he died peacefully surrounded by family and friends, just as he would have wanted. No more suffering, now safely in the arms of God
That was my MIL to a T. We lost her three weeks ago. It was so rapid at the end. The neuro psychiatric symptoms began years ago. And she was so stubborn she refused to be diagnosed, no matter what my FIL tried. And the delusions. The anger. When it got really bad at the end, the doctors put it together for them, but she almost immediately went on hospice at that point. She had been shuffling everywhere, all that you describe. I’m so very sorry. And we think the same thing about my MIl. Of the 28 years I’ve been married, I had a wonderful mother in law and close friend for around 23, and that’s how I think of her. With love to you and prayers ♥️🙏🏻
My dad has been stolen also! Some days he just sleeps when I am visiting. So I sit there and think about what a wonderful father and honorable man he is. I appreciate those moments, although his caregivers don't understand why I sit there and watch him sleep. I know the day will come when that blessing will be gone and I will wish I could sit and look at him, uninterrupted... Thank you for your video.
I’m sooo sorry! 😢 I’m so sad right now because this is happening with my dad right now.. it’s so sad and I’m so overwhelmed and scared about the future. And I’m also a single dad to a 3 year old little boy
I am currently going through the same thing with my grandmother 👵🏿, it hurts ! But. I am beyond hopeful for current gene 🧬 therapy treatment to not only treat but cure it
@@OhDatsJaVion I'm right here with you friend. My father was officially diagnosed a little over a year ago but he was diagnosed late due to his commitment to working. He's had the REM sleeping combative nightmares for several years, though he finally got it checked out when he woke everyone up telling us there was someone outside with a gun and that one or two had already broken in. He also frequently sees "little people" prior/during sleep + while waking up. I'll never forget the first time he had a memory lapse in public. We were at a restaurant, he went to the restroom but I saw him come out confused, he walked outside as I was going to ask if he was okay. When I tapped on his shoulder he turned and looked at me with the blank face/eyes glazed over. He didn't know where he was, who I was, or even what his name was. He sleeps the majority of everyday now, mainly because of how bad/frequent his falls have gotten. He also has Hemiplegic migraines that mimic strokes.
My husband had LBD with Parkinson’s for seven years before death: at least after diagnosis. We know now he had symptoms years before. Hallucinations at the beginning were terrible. My husband called the local police a couple times while I was asleep because he saw people behind trees and bushes on our property. Thankfully we live in a small community and they were so kind and understanding. Loss of smell and taste and therefore not wanting to eat another big problem. The paranoia is so very real. He didn’t trust anyone. He has been gone six years now and as much as I loved him and miss him after fifty years of marriage I am so thankful God took him out of his confusion. What hell that sweet, loving, brilliant man went through those last years of his life. Sending prayers for those of you going through this horrible disease and loving caregivers. 🙏💕
I hear you Patricia...sorry for the loss of hubby.. And for your gallant effort going thru what must have been the most trying time in your life. Stay well friend.
Very much the same with my father. As a psychologist, I suggested LBD to the doctors after I had read a couple of studies about it. His neurologist wouldn't have it. For him it was Parkinson's only, and he explained everything away that didn't fit. Seeing this video, reading comments, I am 100% sure he had LBD. Don't know if the diagnosis would have helped in any way, though. My dad passed away 10 years ago ...
@@brettspieleiq2384 John ‘s doctor was so knowledgeable and kind. He also cared about me as well. He now is teaching at a university in Cincinnati and no longer practicing because of health reasons.
@@muttleysmith726 Thank you. I pray every day that with all the research some day this disease will be gone. My youngest daughter’s husband found out about three years ago that his mother has dementia. They live in London. I was worried about her because I began seeing signs the last couple years. I think I saw what they ignored because they passed off as just “oh well , just getting older”. But since I visit once or twice a year I could tell the difference in her. My heart breaks for my son-in-law and his brothers.
My dear lady friend was sliding quickly into grumbling communication, in the senior's home. I held her hand, and she squeezed my hand. I knew she was still there, inside her body. In short, in one night, she came to me in my dream. She showed me her arms, her skin was like porcelain with a gray undertone. I woke up immediately and phoned the senior's home. They told me she had passed away four day prior. No one else would have told me this news. She was always there, in her heart and I knew that. I felt simply honoured to be contacted by her of her passing. Love you Pearl.
My mother passed away from Lewy Body Dementia. She wasn't diagnosed until 6 months before she died. The stories I could tell... when she fell and broke her hip seems like she really went downhill very fast. She thought 2 men lived in her attic and had a computer that when pushed a button bad things happened. Another was she seen little kids playing that weren't there. So many more. Thank you for sharing your story. So sad this happens. Last time I had my mom visit me she was adamant that I was trying to poison her so she wouldn't eat or drink anything. I had to take her home. Before she was bedridden she eventually couldn't hold her head up. Had to strap her head to wheelchair to feed her. She pretty much starved to death. Last day before coma she had one tablespoon of baby food. That's it. Well won't go on and on but there is so much more. Thank you again for sharing a part of your life with us.
Thank you for sharing bits of YOUR story! And you're right ... the stories we could tell. Seeing children is a common hallucination for people with LBD ... I don't know why really. I'm just grateful that the hallucinations he has now aren't stressful. I'm so sorry you had to go through it with your mom. So very, very hard.
My mother was very much the same. Her first symptoms showed up about a year and a half before she fell and broke her hip. I noticed that she could not understand numbers, and she was developing the Parkinson shuffle when she walked. After she fell and broke her hip she drastically declined. Fortunately, her delusions and hallucinations were merciful. She believed she was daily talking to her parents, both of whom had died thirty five years earlier. And she believed she was living in the house she grew up in. Occasionally she told me that she had seen my dad. He passed away ten years earlier. Every now and then she would accuse her caregiver of stealing things, but for the most part she had retreated back into her childhood. At the end, she was comatose for two days before she passed away. When I went to see her for the final time and tell her goodbye I thought she couldn’t hear me. But she moved the fingers on her right and and tried to open her eyes.
@@frazzledude There were/are times when his hallucinations weren't scary. But he often accused caregivers of stealing and then accused me of not knowing what was "really" going on. He is starting to talk about his father and it seems comforting to him. While he lost all numerical concepts, he still counts like he's measuring and talks about things being even. I'm glad you had that gift at the end ... something you can hold in your heart and memory for the rest of your life. Thank you for sharing your story.
My mother suffers from dementia and until just yesterday, I had no idea that it is so likely to be Lewy Body... it was an eye-opener to start watching videos about this form of dementia and in some ways a relief to know more specifically what it is (most likely). I too question - who is this person? Are we still a person if we don't have memories? Good question. I think about this a lot as I look after my poor old mother with the same advanced stage dementia as the man suffers with in the last few minutes of the video. When I see her trying so hard to find a word, help with a small easy chore, make her way onto the toilet seat with so much difficulty etc. I see a human being who is struggling and fighting to prove herself as a worthwhile, functioning and valid being and the great compassion I feel tells me that she is really more human and valid thank when life was easy..
My father died last year of vascular dementia at age 95. The father I knew growing up was a different, more competent man than my father at the end of his life.
My Father in Law is 80 years old and currently in The Veteran's Administration Hospital for evaluation - they are leaning towards a diagnosis of LBD. Interestingly, we hadn't noticed any alarming decline until very soon after he received his Covid vaccine - that is when his extreme insomnia began. He struggled with that and extreme agitation for about 6 months and then had shoulder surgery which seemed to make his condition even worse (I have read of others who feel exposure to anesthesia often is a trigger or worsens such conditions). His condition has deteriorated rapidly over the last 3 months or so, often involving wild mood swings from day to day or even within the same day. He now suffers at times from delusions, paranoia, occasional hallucinations and has begun threatening care givers during bad episodes. Hoping the physicians can hit upon an effective medication regimen which will improve things without too many negative side effects. Thank You for sharing your and your Father's experiences in this video.
Thank you so much for the ìnformation, I watched the video, put it on pause, rewound it, and replay it so many times, because my English is not so well. I am on my way to visit my oldest brother in France from USA next month. I found out he had just started to have dementia. Now, I understand the future of my brother. and I am more prepared. All I can do right now is accept and pray to God. I wish you well and may God Bless all of your loved ones. Goodbye.
Just breaks my heart what people have to go through before finally dying….we should all be able to cut the cord when this happens. Once you are far along with dementia you can no longer do anything. We should be allowed to make a living will that we can be euthanized before it gets to this. I am 80 this year and fear this for my family. I would hate it for them to have to go through something like this and also for me to be afflicted and live in fear or disbelief until the end…..thank you for making this video and explaining every step of this awful disease or condition…..may this wonderful man finally rest in peace….
I absolutely agree with you. I wouldn't be able to live with the reminders of how a loved one suffered so much towards the end. It is inhumane to allow such suffering when we are expected to care about people's welfare. Nothing short of cruel.
Thank you for sharing. I’m suffering with the same condition and am somewhere around Phase 3-4. My heart goes out to you and am very happy he has such a supportive daughter. I’m very concerned for what my kids will go through caring for me as this progresses.
Oh Todd, it's so wonderful that you are thinking ahead about that and that you are aware of your condition. This was not the case with my father. Of course, family dynamics are complicated and influenced by many things, but while I wish this hadn't been our journey, it has given me the opportunity to really become the daughter I want to me. At the end of it all, I can look in the mirror and feel good about my choices. Perhaps your children, or even one (statictically, daughters are twice a likely as sons to step up) will grow, learn and become a better person as a result of this journey. Best to you and your family!
@@pebroproductions Thank you for the kind words. As I’m sure you’d agree, I wish nobody has to go down the dementia journey at all. Someday I pray there will be a cure and families won’t feel the pain and anguish it causes. I still miss the Old Pueblo. Coming back in October for my 40th class reunion.
@@ToddLuvsGolf I do agree whole-heartedly. Glad you'll be here in Oct. when temps come down. I wish you and your loved ones as easy of a journey as possible.
Todd Brodsky...you are so brave for announcing Your sickness like you have, my hubby is going thru the same only mild at present 23 out of 30. We have said nothing at the moment to him But it is a little confusing for me as I don't know what to expect, as yet I can see some obvious changes, but what next?? Stay as well as you can Dear friend.
He is indeed first and forever your dad and what an incredible daughter he has in you. My heart goes out to you and all others who have to face the cruel consequences of LBD.
Wow, great video. This is the reality of LBD. I’m going thru this with my older sister. She calls me multiple times a day every day with one crisis after another and wants me to come over to her assisted living facility. She’s a hoarder, very paranoid, thinks people are stealing from her and trying to poison her. Loses things constantly. Some days I don’t know how I can keep doing this. Thank god she can afford assisted living. It’s very stressful for the caregiver. Thanks for sharing your journey!
I know how it feels to not know if you can do it one more day. I got to that point several times. And yes, the blessing of assisted living is tremendous. I knew he was cared for .. and I knew I didn't have to be the only one. And LBD is so hard!!! Unpredictable, scary, behavioral, etc. I wish you ease as you go through it. ❤️
My father suffers from hallucinations EVERYDAY!!! They are awful. He sees people in the house every day and argues with them for hours at a time... who are you, what are you doing in my house? This is my house, get out. Than he turns on me...you are stupid, you are gonna lose everything you let these people in. They dont care about you. It just goes on and on. You got two minutes to get out of here and then I'm gonna hit you until the blood comes out. Everyday I wish him dead. Can you imagine wishing your own father dead? It is an awful awful disease To suffer like this? 40 percent of all caregivers die before the dementia patient. Sometimes I text a friend and ask them to text me in the morning and if I dont respond to call the police because I am dead. This disease takes 8 years off your life. I wonder if I will live another year? 10 million people a year will be diagnosed with dementia. And, the way dementia is treated is the same way it has been treated over 100 years ago. I feel like crawling in bed and staying there for a week... but i can't. I work full time and then come home and have to deal with all of this. Today before I even left for work at 730 I changed 2 beds, washed 3 loads of clothes, made him breakfast, changed him, fed 5 cats, got myself together and a ton of other things. My stress level is out of this world along with my blood pressure.
My dad had a stroke in 2017 and seemed to begin The symptoms of LBD. He has Seizures/hallucinations/anxiety/suspicion/anger/mischievous. I have been with him taking care of him since his stroke. I just called in hospice for him because he has really turned to a distant place. And it’s just too hard to try to get him to doctors anymore. I’m blessed the Lord has made a way for me to be able to care for my dad, as he cared for me in my life. My heart goes out to all the caregivers out there. No one really knows how much strength it takes to be you. May the Lord bless you all❤
Your descriptions and explanations are spot on. My husband passed away from LBD in 2014. He was 62. His symptoms began in his mid forties. He was misdiagnosed for 8 years. I was blessed to be able to stay home with him as his caregiver until the end. Hospice helped me his last 6 months.
My wife and I both worked in health care until our retirements. We both worked with Alzheimers patients and those with other forms of dementia. My wife retired 5 years before me, to care for her mother, who had Alzheimers Syndrome. Mom's doctor refused to listen to us when we told her about Mom's symptoms of paranoia and memory loss, and inability to clean house, because Mom would deny it and the MD did not do any cognitive tests. After we moved Mom out of her home, to ours, we got our MD to take her as a patient, and the correct diagnosis was then made. She lived with us until her death here at home with us by her side one morning, quite suddenly and unexpected. She needed assistance with cares, constant encouragement to take a bite, to chew and to swallow. She never became combative, but she could be extremely argumentative at times. We are grateful that we had training and experience with Alzheimers, but it can really be wearing on the main caregiver. We had Mom in a twice weekly daycare, so that my wife could get a break. Now, 10 years later, I am seeing the early signs of dementia in my wife, who is 5 years younger than me. As a retired nurse, at least I am not unaware of what is happening, and how to deal with it. Bless all those folks who are caregivers for their aging and demented parents or spouses - you are all secret angels.
I’ve been in the hospital for 4 days with my grandmother, watching the saddest thing i’ve ever seen😭 we are pretty sure it’s LBD/parkinsons. I thank God for videos like this to help me understand more during all this.💔 thank you
what’s even crazier is i didn’t even search for this. we’ve just been talking about it so much, i guess my phone heard and put this video on my suggested. Or God. idk.
My mom is in late stage Alzheimer’s. She is home and hospice is with us for support. I left my job to care for mom during this time. It’s a cruel and unforgiving disease. I love you Mom ❤️ TY for sharing this video and your expertise. It helps.
Like you I did the same,quit my job four years ago and I have been taking care of her since then. My dad at 93 cannot help her as she doesn't like a man she doesn't recognize giving her any aid. We shall never put our mum in a home as we want her showered with lots of love all the time.
This was a very helpful video, thank you for sharing your story. I’ve been caring for my mother who’s 65 years old, she was misdiagnosed with altimeters 4 years ago and was recently diagnosed with LEWY body dementia in January 2023. Altimeters never made sense to us because it originally presented as a movement disorder with delusions, mood changes and hallucinations. She’s had symptoms for about 7-8 years now and I’ve been fortunate to be able to live with and care for her. Thank you for spreading awareness about this disease.
I'm so glad if it was helpful at all. The lack of accurate diagnosis adds one more layer to the challenges. I hope this will improve in coming years. 💜
It's my hope that it will be useful to families and caregivers. There's so little information that is easy to understand and isn't an hour long video. I share this with my dad's caregivers and found out that they didn't know anything at all about LBD. It would have helped them, I think, if they had known more. 💜
I wish I had see this video four years ago. Our late mother was suffering with dementia.....it took four of us to care for her that we didn't have to put her in a facility. She passed away in her own bedroom surrounded by her things, and her loved ones. Obviously, you have done an excellent job sharing this information, but I would like to contribute one thing.... As moms situation worsened....we found out that CBD oil was helpful (we live in California), we checked with her treating physician, and he agreed it could be helpful.....it was. If you live in a state where CBD is legal, you may wish to speak with your loved ones treating physician in regards to that "medication", and find out if it could be beneficial to your loved one.
Thank you so much for sharing this journey. This described my dad so perfectly. sadly he passed on August 18th 2020 and due to covid, we could not be with him. He was in a lovely care home and although it was difficult to see such a strong competent man decline we just rolled with it .one day we visited he told us that they (the staff) would not allow him breakfast and he was upset and said I'm going get me out of here. when we spoke to staff they told us that dad would come for breakfast at 6 am as a lifelong early riser he was hungry. The kitchen staff would give him as much toast he could eat with a pot of tea as it was too early for a cooked breakfast, dad would then go back to bed for an hour and then show up at 7 am for breakfast again he was served toast and tea .8am again dad shows up I want the porridge to which he was given porridge tea and toast 9 am again he turns up and is served cooked breakfast. He was upset that he couldn't get his cooked breakfast at 6 am and this was the part that he remembers.so sad but the staff were so good to him and really cared so much 💔
My father died four years ago with Parkinson’s and LBD. I do not think he forgot anything until the very end, he just couldn’t recall when he wanted to. I believe he was able to comprehend more than he was given credit for at times but many thoughts were lost between his brain and his mouth. Also, he was partially deaf so he was attempting to hear and comprehend simultaneously. His quality of life changed but was not lost. He never lost his love of music, the outdoors, the great grandchildren, and the pets. Once we went for a walk in the woods on the farm where he was raised and we had hunted. His whole demeanor changed, his gait changed. This was a serious activity for him. At times he could explain different aspects of music to me that I didn’t understand. He was able to recite a specific Bible verse he learned in school as a boy, but at times not recall my name. He still enjoyed eating at places like IHOPE and Waffle House, where the patrons are more likely to overlook suspensions in dining etiquette. We had to plan our outings, take a change of everything. Dementia is an awful disease but it is not the end of the world. The more family there is to help the better, and friends. If the afflicted becomes mean and hard to live with steps must be taken to deal with that. But that wasn’t our experience. We must deal with life the best we can. We take it as it comes and helping out a loved one for a little while isn’t too much to ask.
Well done and very informative. My brother has LBD and was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s from 2016-23. He was recently diagnosed with LBD when he was admitted to a care center. He is only 67. His case seems rather severe as he has extreme anger and anxiety. The disease has taken away my sweet brother.
My husband has been living with LBD for the last 5 yrs. and this video has been so similar to what he has been going through. He has been sliding into later stage for the last year and it’s has been quite comforting to watch this.
Wow. I needed this. My mom was just diagnosed with LBD and you have no idea how this helped me to listen to this. It has been a nightmare and I can relate to every single thing you said and showed. God bless you and your father and thank you for sharing this.
until I found your channel as well as others...I would not have known about Dementia/Alheizmer etc. I couldn't get my darling husband to see a Specialist...He showed Parkinson motor and non motor signs for about 20 yrs. I was resentful and sometimes frustrated and thought he had no common sense ...and all the host of other symptoms...I am ashamed and asked for his forgiveness each time...He has been diagnosed after rushing him to emergency...my heart goes out to my husband...a very brilliant Scientist...He denies he is ill and it's ok...He is now in a Care center...I see him daily so we can have beautiful moments still...He was fearful, I would leave him...I assured him...I would not! He is grateful...he still remembers me but no other family or colleagues and friends...I will forever love him!!! Before Dementia and all other illness under that umbrella...I heard but never knew...I pray, he will NOT Suffer till the end...He is such a beautiful HUMAN...
Thank you for your video. My mom was bipolar, which later in her life had a medication reaction which brought on Lewy body and Parkinsonism (the specialist did nuclear brain scans and many other tests for the diagnosis) with practically over night body function shutdowns. Hers was bad, bad, bad. My heart broke and shattered so many times, especially getting a call in the middle of the night from nursing that my mom called 911 because someone was coming through the window to kill her. I won’t say who, but it was a family member she was frightened of. I’d talk her down from the ether for many hours, more than I can tell you all the while having my dad here living with me having vascular dementia. I was alone, no support or help and ran on no sleep for several years. There wasn’t help offered, not any to get. Anyhow, your video was interesting and I’m so happy your dad doesn’t have the really scary bad moments that some have. It’s so hard on them and us.
Thank you for sharing a small part of your story ... the details are so similar to my journey including that overwhelming experience of being in an endless, high level crisis (every day for years) and alone in my effort so save him from himself. It was one of the most isolate experiences of my life. And while he was always healthy in terms of mental health prior to dementia, when the was first being assessed, I had to tell the experts over and over that he had never been depressed, never been bipolar in his life. We also experienced some of those more violent hallucinations and paranoia. He would call the police because someone was trying to break into his house with a gun. His behavior is stable now but he functioned as a person with psychosis for several years. Again, thank you for sharing a part of your experience. It helps to connect with others who understand. ❤
I was the sole caretaker of my partner of 44 years, I kept him home until the end of stage 6, it was the hardest thing I've ever done; the incontinence, the hallucinations, the falls, the sundowner episodes every night. I didn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't leave the house for fear of what might happen. When he finally got violent, I had to call 911 and they said they couldn't leave him in the house with me because he might hurt me. He was admitted to the hospital for evaluation and moved to a care facility three weeks after his meds were stabilized, the progression of the dementia in four weeks was mind boggling, he lost his ability to walk, speak, eat unassisted, and at the end he could no long swallow. Death was a blessing; I'd lost my loving partner three years before his death.
@@AZHITW it shows what a wonderful and selfless person you are. You did what so many couldn’t or wouldn’t. I don’t know about you, I have reflected back to the many years i was doing similar for my folks and there isn’t anything I would have done differently. It was the right thing to do. I hope you find solace, comfort and happiness.
@@AZHITW What you've gone through is so much like what I'm going thru now.Mine was Diagnosed with Early Onset 3yrs ago...Just sad😢 I'm so sorry that you went through all of that.Prayers❤
Currently going through this with my father in law- he’s skipped straight through to stage 6 in about 10 weeks :( the hospital treatment is awful and we’re still fighting to get him moved to somewhere secure. Thank you for this
The hospitals/doctors were often barriers, not supports. The decisions are impossible ones ... how do I save a man from himself so he can live a life he no longer wants or even understands? Impossible. And good memory care places are hard to find. I wish you success in finding a place for him to be.
Thank you a million times. My husband and I moved in with my mother 4 years ago . She has Lewy body dementia and it is the most insane and heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen. You are right that my mother is no longer there save a few lucid moments. She was the most logical human I’ve ever known and not being able to reason with her has been the hardest struggle. The hallucinations are mostly terrible as well as the delusions. I love what you said at the end- it’s the disease- not my mother and I hold dear the lifetime of memories I have of her being her.
I so share your description of this experience being the most insane and heartbreaking thing you've ever seen. Me too! And not being able to reason with person who was previously logical, was definitely one of the hardest parts. It didn't help us that he had been very stubborn throughout his life. That personality trait made it hard for us to see it as the disease instead of his personality. And doctors were of no help at all. The memory loss and repetitive conversations were so easy compared to the "behavioral disturbances". I applaud the courage I know it takes every single day to be your mom's caregiver. I've told so many people that this has been my opportunity to really define who I am as a daughter. Perhaps this applies to you too. I wish you comfort along the path. Thank you for sharing some of your story. 💜
@@pebroproductions Thank you so much. When I was dealing with mom hallucinating that she was being “told” she could not use her bathroom this morning I just remembered that I’m not alone and that someone somewhere was dealing with something similar. It gave me strength.
@@suzymoon2067 thanks for the advice. Sadly my mama passed one month ago. Hospice allowed her to have a peaceful, pain free transition from this world to the next. Dementia sucks.
Thank you for your last comment...he is not his disease. Your video was like watching my own Dad, still trying to figure out how to best help him...thanks.
Thank you for sharing your journey. I had to fight the system so hard to finally get my dad diagnosed with his frontal temporal lobe with Lewy Body dementia . He passed in 1999 . It was a rollercoaster of a journey for us all . The Rare Dementia Support group based in UK has excellent information available on line and they also hold conferences too. They are a very good resource to be aware of. Sending love to all of you travelling this journey. Be gentle with yourselves. Take one day at a time. Reach out for support . 💜
You did a lovely job compiling this video. I noticed three years ago that my husband had dementia and balance issues. It took another 2-1/2 years to get a diagnosis of Dementia with Lew Bodies with Parkinsonism. It is so frustrating for loved ones who want to help, and do not get any help from the medical field. I learned a lot of what you mentioned in your video from support groups. And yet there is so much more to this disease that is still unknown. I wish you the best on the journey with your father.
Not having a diagnosis or understanding that what was happening was a disease was in many ways the worst part. We couldn't stop him from self-destruction until we could step in legally ... and that took way too long. I wish you the very best with your husband. It is a horrible disease. 😢
I'm so sorry. I imagine it was even harder in 2014 as it was even less known. It's a hard journey, isn't it? Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. That touches my heart! 💜
So sorry you are going through this with your dad. My grandmother had Parkinson's induced Alzheimer's. She passed away many years ago. It's horrible to see someone you love in the throes of this disease. Thank you for sharing. I try to just remember the good old days, too.
Thank you for this video. My dad was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in 2014. His second wife had Parkinson's and he was her caregiver. I started going to his house every Saturday in early 2015 to help. She passed away within a year. By 2017, my dad was really having issues and was diagnosed by a geriatric psychologist as having Lew Body. I became his conservator and guardian in 2018 and have been managing his care ever since. He is now 98 years old and has been in memory care since 2021 (he should have gone sooner but spent some time in assisted living and then skilled nursing during Covid). So much of what you say here has been a part of our journey. He has been in a wheelchair for 5 years now. The agitation has really diminished from what it used to be. He is diabetic and his facility has managed this and any other medical issue really well. He is a much calmer person now and we recently reduced some medication so he doesn't sleep so much. I noticed this past weekend that really, compared to others there, his verbal skills are still pretty good. But the confusion, oh my. He talks a lot about his childhood and his time in WWII so we tend to focus on that. Sometimes we think that he has dreams and then believes they are real. What I have really noticed these last few months his his lack of empathy (is that the right term?). He doesn't seem to understand why I'm there. He knows I am his daughter but sometimes I'm not so sure. We've had times where my husband and I show up and 10 minutes later, he's telling me 'thank you for stopping by!' like I'm a visitor off the street and he rolls off in his wheelchair so we end up leaving. I did realize last week that he doesn't remember being married to my mom (they were married for 35 years before divorcing and he got married again). Very sad. So far, he's not going anywhere. He always told me he was going to live to be 100 and he might just make it but not a quality of life I would want.
Your video has given my husband and I better understanding of this dementia. His mother passed away a few weeks ago from this horrible disease. The different stages you describe are exactly the ones she exhibited. My mother-in-law was a nurse and extremely intelligent making this almost unbelievable to us. She went through every stage you covered in this video. She passed away just 3 months after diagnosis. I was very concerned about my husband's almost stoic reaction to her death. He in my mind was not not grieving as deeply as I thought he would be at her sudden death. When out of concern I asked him about his grief he quietly told me that he had been grieving for 3 months. He said “my mother died 3 months ago”.
Your vlog has helped me more than any other. My father is 95 years old and is in the same stage as your father. It is challenging for the caregiver and distressing for the person suffering from it. There is no rationality to what my father is going through. He has days where he is very angry and accusatory with me. His world only involves him now with no concept of the needs of others. I am his sole caregiver and I can say that I am lucky to have a very supportive husband although my husband doesn't really fully understand my father's condition. He still thinks that because my father is able to hold a conversation, although the conversation is full of delusions, that he is still able to understand and comprehend concepts. I have to continually remind him that my father doesn't have the ability to comprehend simple things anymore. My father will argue that things haven't been done when they in fact have and when I ask him to come and see that they have been done, he still tries to say that they haven't been done. He has no appreciation, no gratitude, no happiness in his life and everyday is a day that I have to be stronger than I have ever been in order to deal with him. Thank you so much for making this vlog, it is greatly appreciated.
I’m in Gilbert right now. Curious to chat .. I think my email might be in my page or I can leave it here if you are interested ❤ I really appreciate the way you speak your perspective and questions you pose ❤
Thank you for posting this excellent video. My grandma had Alzheimer’s, and my father’s doctor doesn’t believe me when I tell him that this disease is so very different from what my grandma had. My dad has a lot of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, the Parkinsonian rigidity, and the cognitive fluctuations. The caregiver fatigue is suffocating at times. I look forward to more videos if you feel so inclined to share.
Thank you for sharing a bit of your story. Yes, trying to tell others, especially family members from a distance, that this is NOT like other forms of dementia can be very hard. And your description of caregiver fatigue being suffocating is a perfect choice of words. I am still documenting my father's decline and will likely share more. 💜💜💜
Mom was diagnosed as early onset at age 95 with LBD. She lives with me and we now have hospice coming in several times a week. The other day I didn't know if it was a UTI or another hallucination. The roller coaster ride breaks my heart but I keep a brave face for her even if she doesn't know who I am at times. The most heartbreaking part was her depression when she realized something was wrong
Yes! The depression! He used to say that he was going to kill himself if he could find a way out of his memory care facility. And I understand the ups/downs related to UTI's. Those cause falls and hallucinations so it's difficult to recognize. And I know that brave face all to well. It must be hard to keep it for so long while she lives with you. Thank you for sharing this part of your story. 💜
God bless everyone that’s living with this disease and the families who are heartbroken helping their loved ones through it. I always wonder when the last time I actually saw my mom aside from her disease. Just like this video says, like they were taken from you over night. This video along with all the comments, do give a true description of what it’s like. My mom was diagnosed with Corticobasal Syndrome, with an overlap of LBD. She’s in her 60s and it’s taking her so fast. For what we see in her it’s a cross between Dementia and Schizophrenia with her major symptom being Aphasia. More attention needs to be focused on these neurological diseases in order to find something to slow it down, and maybe one day cure. Thank you for sharing your journey. God bless your Dad, he’s a strong man for enduring this disease. Prayers to you and your family 🙏🏻
Thank you for this video from a daughter's perspective. My dad had his first hallucination about 20 years ago (that was his only symptom for about 12 years and they were rare)...he was not officially diagnosed until 6 years ago. The part where your dad is playing the piano and he says a nonsensical question and then you answer him so quickly trying to appease him. I do this with my dad all the time. Trying to figure out what answer he wants or what to say back sometimes is very challenging. My dad knows me but does not always understand my role in his life. He knows I am "one of the most important ones" so really that is all that matters! It has been so hard to watch him dissolve away! God bless you and your dad!
Thank you for this post. Your description of your experience is so similar to mine. In the future, I hope to work with families and loved ones around that communication part. It can be so challenging but it's everything. Best to you!💜
Thank you so much for helping make sense of such a horrible disease. As a fellow family member, you feel stuck on the side-lines, not knowing what to expect next or what is the new normal each day.
My dad’s journey started 9 yrs ago after he suffered a heart attack and had to have a quintuple bypass. During the first year following his surgery, he began shuffling his feet. A year afterward they mentioned it to the cardiologist who referred him to a neurologist and he was diagnosed with Parkinsonism. Similar to others here, my dad was an electrical engineer until his forties when he left that career and went into the ministry. He pastored for almost 3 decades until he retired 4 years ago and since then he has declined so rapidly. His mobility is almost nonexistent. He has to use a rollator to walk but that is becoming difficult too. He has had hallucinations for a few years. My mom recently ran across LBD and thinks he has it as well, but it’s symptoms mirror Parkinsonism so much. One thing he has been experiencing lately that I’ve not read linked to either is that he starts his day good, but his condition worsens as it gets evening time and now when he stands to move from his lift chair to his rollator (my mom rolls him to bed) he has been having blackout seizure type episodes. Smelling salts or just comforting him until it passes is all we can do. We have checked his blood pressure during those episodes and it’s normal. He has an appointment with his neurologist in a few weeks and it has also been mentioned to his home health nurse, so hopefully we’ll have answers soon. Just sad to hear so many enduring this terrible disease with loved ones. Prayers for each of you.
The diagnosis should help. My wife's father passed away from LBD on 8 April, 2023. He had it for about nine years. He was diagnosed in 2015, and was put on Carbidopa/Levodopa and that helped his cognition a great deal. I hope the visit with the neurologist is fruitful. Good luck!
what a wonderfully kind person you are for making this video. my mother in law was diagnosed with mild cognitive decline (MCD) and it has been one of the most difficult, soul-ripping diseases I have had to experience. I struggle all the time about how to best support my wife in how to best support her mom, but I feel like I just fail all the time. Again, what a wonderfully kind person you are, for helping me to understand it all.
What an honest video this is, showing such love for your father. It is such an awful disease. Sufferers need as much support and love as possible. It could happen to anyone and no one asks for it. Thank you for educating me on LB dementia.
Thank you for the video. It highlights what so many go through but those who suffer from it and their family. My dad has Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. He lost his ability to speak quite early. Before then he would horde keys as people were breaking in and stealing them. He’d even take vehicle keys in and get them copied. When he finally moved into a care home we found hidden keys all over his basement and garage workshops. Also lots of tape measures. So many tape measures. He was a brilliant mechanic (and great hobbyist woodworker) and could just look at something and figure out how it worked. Among other mechanics in town, he had a reputation of being able to fix the things others couldn’t. But as his disease progressed he couldn’t even figure out how to set up the awning on the trailer. Strangely, he wouldn’t remember a simple fix but was ingenious at finding the complicated “fix”. Eg He flicked a switch to turn the trailer water pump on, but then forgot the switch existed. To turn off the pump, he emptied the storage crawl space, crawled in, located the water pump wires, and cut them. My mom would come home and find several things in the house “fixed” in a similar destructive manner, often done through the basement wiring or plumbing. He’s in a wheelchair now. Mostly just stares into space or sleeps. He can still feed himself and has a healthy appetite. He’s 82 now, and likely won’t make it to 83 which is good because who he was is long gone. Not even the child-like person he became remains. But I have many of his woodworking creations. A table, cabinets, magazine racks, wooden games and toys, bird feeder, and many of his old tools that I take pride in using when I’m fixing things. I have newer tools but if my dad’s old tool works, I’ll use that. It makes me feel connected to him…and rather aptly some of the tools are ones his dad used so I like knowing I’m using the same tools my granddad and my father used. I don’t think I’ll grieve when his body dies because who he was died a while ago. I’ve done lots of grieving already for him, and now I get comfort in the things and lessons he left behind. I’ll be visiting him tomorrow with family but he will just stare into space so we’ll (mom, brother, me) recount good memories of his time with us. Maybe locked somewhere inside is a part of him who will understand us and recognize what his life meant to us, and he will feel at peace.
Thank you for sharing. My husband is 84 and has some dementia. The way you explain what is happening with your Dad will help me a lot. Praying for you guys
This is incredibly helpful, thank you. My Mum has both vascular dementia & Alzheimers, she “sundowns” which was very weird at first, she’d phone me & we’d have a lovely phone chat, then she’ll immediately call my sister & call me horrible names! We have family code when she’s being angry, we just look at each other & say, “That’s not my Mum.” Thank you so much.
Now in the last stages and with good meds, he doesn't sundown any more but when he did, anything could happen. And like you, he said terrible things to me and about me with family members. Still, we keep going, don't we? Thank you for sharing a bit of your story!💜
My heart goes out to you my dad had Lewy body his hallucinations towards the end were horrific. I wish I had had something like this video back then to refer to seeing your dad reminds me so much of mine.
Like you, I also wished I would have had anything that could have explained in any way what were were going through. We didn't have answers or support. I know you understand. Thank you so much for leaving your comment. It really means a lot to me. 💜
Two years ago, my Grandma was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Decline, and I don't what that really means but I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole about different videos about dementia, since they seem to be connected. It must be so hard seeing a parent decline like this. It's hard enough seeing my Grandma decline. Even in the last 6 months she's been getting noticeably worse. It's very difficult for her to retain information, she's very forgetful, she can't learn new concepts or tasks (I've trying to get her into Wordle but she can't understand how to play it) and she's lost motivation too. The worst part is when she forgets something that I wouldn't ever expect her to forget. That's been happening more often sadly.
Thank you for sharing a part of your story. I know exactly what that decline looks like. Little by little, memories disappear and some are shocking as you've said. I see my dad every day, so only when I look back at videos do I see the rapid decline. For me, it's just a bit at a time. But when family haven't seen him in a while, it is much more shocking. Mild Cognitive Decline is usually the first diagnosis to indicate that something is happening to that person's memory. It might or might not be dementia, but it's often the first diagnosis before a more specific diagnosis can be made. What a great idea you had about Wordle even if it didn't work. She's lucky to have you even if she can't engage in the way she used to. And touch really, really matters. There's lots to learn and lots to feel ... I wish you and your family the very best. 💜
My brother passed away from Lewy’s body last year. What a horrific disease. I am still in shock how quickly he deteriorated the last 6 months of his life. His hallucinations, his dementia. His wife had to brush his teeth and help him to do the simplest things. What a dreadful way to go. The day he died my sister-in-law came downstairs and he was nowhere to be found. She found him wondering around the neighborhood “looking for my house”. My brother was a vibrant man, always on the go. Breaks my heart and miss him. My brother was only 72.
Thank you this is so much more helpful than you know! My step father was just diagnosed with LBD last month (after a year of navigating the wonderful medical system we have in the US) and we estimate him to be in stage 5. He has gone from not being able to remember how to get home and losing his job as a truck driver to tremors, hallucinations, and a severe cognitive decline in the span of 8 months. It's good to hear your persepctive. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing. This is one of the best videos I have seen on this subject. My mother had what we believe to be LBD, although no doctor said that until a couple of months before she passed. We had lots of paranoid delusions and were told she had major depression with paranoid features. She has been gone 2 years now and I am still waiting on the pathology report from the brain bank to verify LBD. The delay is still due to COVID. Prayers for you and your dad. It is so hard. We are in Tucson too. ❤
Thank you for sharing. My sister, 73, has just been diagnosed with LBD, a month ago. This is really hard and your information helps me understand this disease.
I live with someone with Louy dementia. She is the nicest person but when she has a delusion her personality totally changes. I appreciate your work in compiling all this information. I will share this video with others. I can't stress enough to be kind to yourself. And use your pain to be stronger for your dad. God's peace.
I am ok but very depressed my head is always heavy tight feeling and dizzy can't sleep for long wake up depressed don't know if it's mental problems or dementure
Thank you so much for making this video and passing on this information. My aunt had LBD and passed away last year. The disease progressed in the way you described.
@PhyllisBrodsky I am so saddened to see what your Dad went through; you are an Angel for all you did and especially sharing such a personal story. God Bless You and your family and May God watch over your Dad… 🙏🏼
Thank you. That is my dad. But they still know who we are and trust us. That is so comforting right now. The rivastigmine patch helps my dad a lot ... All the best Julia
My father passed away from Early Onset Alzheimer’s in June of this year. What a journey. I appreciate so much finding these videos where even the slightest thing said by a loved one and I feel understood. I’d have this little game with my dad where I always had to respond differently to the same questions but the goal was to get him to smile. Whatever answer to whatever question…as long as he smiled. I’m sorry you are experiencing LBD…though our journeys are/were somewhat different, they are terribly parallel. Sending love and hugs.
I really understand how hard it is to really feel seen and understood. I felt like I was wandering around all alone even though I had plenty of people who loved me. No one could go through it with me. Thank you for your post. It makes ME feel understood!💜
Wow. I learned a lot watching this and your father is fortunate to have such a wonderful, caring daughter. I also appreciate the ending of the video. Yes, your father has a cruel disease, but no, he is most definitely NOT defined by it. My mother died with dementia and in no way does that impact who she is and was to me. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment. It is very comforting especially for those of use who have to watch a person who looks like our parent but is no longer our parent. I know that you understand. I wish you the very best. 💜
Thank you for this fantastic clip. What you have described is exactly what so many of us have seen with our loved one with LBD. Your calm descriptions, documented evidence and explanations are very helpful.
Thank you for taking a moment to leave this comment! This journey so isolating and without the dx, we had no idea what was happening or what to do. I hope that our journey can help ease the suffering of others who are experiencing the same thing. 💜
Yeouch. My mother has some form of dementia. Right now her short-term memory is non-existent. She has yet to see a neurologist or get an MRI to figure out exactly what kind of dementia she has and what's causing it, but I'm at her place as I type this because the folks at the rehab center where she was at for a while deemed her unsafe to be alone. Since I can earn money anywhere and my brother (only sibling) can't, I suspect I'll be spending more time here than I'd like. Meanwhile, thank you for sharing your story. I feel less crazy knowing that someone else is dealing with the same kind of thing.
My Dad is the same age as yours, he was a structural engineer and a whiz with numbers. He has all the symptoms your Dad has but since he was diagnosed properly for Lewy Bodies dementia he was given a 24 hour transdermal patch it is a new treatment and it helps tremendously I highly recommend it . We are in the UK. It is called Rivastigmine transdermal patches; he started with a 4.6 mg dose and after a month this was increased to 9.5 mg dose.
Thank you SO much for this information and taking the time to leave this comment! Your dad sounds so similar as a structural engineer. Although my dad lost, early on, his understanding of numbers, many of his hallucinations are still about numbers. I wish we would have been able to seek treatment earlier in the disease. He wouldn't allow anyone to suggest anything and he didn't believe anything was wrong. By the time we could intervene, it was too late to treat with the kinds of meds that would have made a difference. I so glad that you got the correct dx and effective meds ... easier for your dad and your family. Best to you, your dad, and your family! 💜
This just popped up on my feed and I was thankful for it. My husband has PD with LBD. He is sharing many of the same symptoms as your dad. I have subscribed and will be interested in seeing his progression if you care to share. My husband is in Stage 5 Parkinson's, and about Stage 4 LBD, I think. Bless you and thank you for sharing. Very helpful!
Thank you so much for leaving this comment. I'm continuing to document his decline and plan to create more videos in hopes of reaching others who are sharing this impossible journey. Thank you for encouraging me! 💜
Thank you for sharing this information and your story. As a RN with a cardio/thoracic surgical step down back ground the doctor just assumed I understood what he was saying. First off my specialty was heart and lungs and secondly as a daughter I am not necessarily thinking like a nurse and that was frustrating. I am fortunate in that as a RN I am able to find the info I needed and that I know how to advocate for what is needed.
It is heart breaking when it’s occurring. My mom had Lewy Body Dementia. When she first started changing she would say she felt like she had air in her head because she couldn’t gather her thoughts. As it progressed, her legs would shake uncontrollably. Her head started to lean forward and she was looking at the ground. She hoarded knives and grocery sacks. She started getting mixed up on the refrigerator versus the fridge. Paranoia and hallucinations were scary for her and us. Her favorite phone number was 911. She too wrecked her car and drove home only to think someone wrecked her car. As the disease progresses, she would smile when she saw me but I could tell she didn’t know who I was. She passed quietly surrounded by her family and her doll.
Thank you so much for sharing part of your story. So many of the details are the same for my dad. And I'm so happy for you and your family that her passing was peaceful. That is my hope and prayer for my dad. 💜
You did an excellent job compiling this video maintaining your father's dignity, yet giving us the bare bones of this personality robbing disease. My husband has FTD and his began with full blown psychosis of delusional jealousy where after 41 years of faithful marriage he began looking at certain men accusing them as being my lovers. He stalked, harassed, threatened..... it was a horrid time and totally out of the blue. Finally after a scary 2 years we got a mixed dementia diagnosis followed 2 years later by FTD. Luckily the initial medication dampened the psychosis that was making us all miserable him included, but he very nearly was admitted into the nursing home security ward when they first assessed him. He would have been one of the youngest ones in there though. 7 years in at 71, he's very quiet, sits all day, lost many words, he's easy to manage but dementia has robbed me of a husband.
I sounds like you and I have a lot in common and would have some similar stories. I'm so glad that your marriage (i.e. you were able to stay married) weathered the storm but I know the toll it takes. Chasing the diagnosis, making those impossible decisions about levels of care and supervision, medication, and then spending the remainder of his life watching that decline. And the absolute devastation of FTD is that early age onset. I'm holding love in my heart for you. Thank you for sharing some of your story with me and others. ❤
@@pebroproductions thank you for your kind words. Living through it was sheer hell but looking back now it's a blur. Code words for my sons to come and get me if it got too dangerous, police taking all the weapons, doctors not even considering brain issues. Finally after breaking down in tears in a new doctors office with my angrily, jealous, jailor husband beside me and declaring the final hell of my innocence (shock, horror on hubbie's face was priceless, even though he'd heard me say it hundreds of times at home, just never blurted it out to others) a CT scan was ordered for him. I insisted he get it done or I was leaving him. On the way home from the radiology centre we got a call to come see the doctor ( he was a keeper.) I gathered they'd found something and the relief was palpable. Hubby had had an initial stroke (I knew exactly when it happened. He'd had a headache one evening and woke up a demon, told every doctor that his change had been sudden) and there it was.....left sided brain damage from probably the 2 years earlier when he'd started with his psychosis (Othello Syndrome)....... which they declared was vascular dementia, other tests confirmed a mix with Alzheimers. At this time he'd also had an interview with the psychiatrist in the lock up ward who would take his case. Luckily for hubby and with great support from family and this new medical team he remained at home. It took a further 6 months to get the right antipsychotics on board for him to finally feel "normal". Poor guy had been as miserable as me this whole time. FTD diagnosis came in 2019 when his sister got hers as well. I'm glad I hung in there but I nearly didn't. For me, faith, family, friends, research, finally the right doctors saw me through but I shudder to think on how many families are destroyed before answers are found. Can't blame some for not hanging in there when the ride can get so bad but for the rest of us, when we get them to that sweet, middle, quiet spot, in their own world before the final, messy hurdle of death we can give all the love we've got whether they acknowledge it or not. You've done a good job caring and documenting you're dad in moments sad and funny. You'll have nothing to regret. I've taken video for my sons trying to get their father to say a few words to them while he can, and I can end by saying I'll have nothing to regret. (But it was hard going for a while.)
@@nonacee5065 I can't thank you enough for sharing the depth of your experience. Your words, "Can't blame some for not hanging in there when the ride can get so bad but for the rest of us, when we get them to that sweet, middle, quiet spot, in their own world before the final, messy hurdle of death we can give all the love we've got whether they acknowledge it or not" are perfect ... beautiful, poignant, tender. Words can reach and touch and heal. And I'm exactly like you in your description, " I can end by saying I'll have nothing to regret. (But it was hard going for a while.)" That perspective, that knowing of being a way that we won't regret in the future, that knowing that we will look at ourselves in the mirror for the remainder of OUR life long after our loved one passes ... that has kept me strong all the way through. Again, THANK YOU for taking time to write your story. 💜💜💜
He reminds me of my Dad so much, Doing a lot of the same things. my dad hoarded bathroom tissue, No rolls just pieces. He always had some in this picket, He would try and sneak and eat tiny pieces of it. Lots of times he saw people that weren't there. I could go on and on about other things he did. I took care of him and my Mom until they passed. Mom passed 15 months after Daddy. It was a big shock to us. Once Dad had to go to a rehab place it was all down hill from there. I did get him out of that place but he never got to go back home but at least was back in our town. I miss them so much. It doesn't matter what you do your never ready for them to go but you don't want to see them suffer either.
Thank you sooo much for this. ❤ seriously you are brave for sharing this. This helps others to better understand a tough situation. I know it helped me.
Thank you for sharing this personal story. The last sentence is, for me, very important. In my previous work I have creating teachings for clinical staff to remember the ‘person inside the patient’. I’m so glad that you try to honor him in this way.💕
Educational and compassionate! This video should be shown in medical education courses. Build a CEU course around it. Thank you and I will share with other professionals.
It is my greatest hope that my experience can benefit others ... for others to feel seen/heard and to educate anyone who is connected in any way to this disease. I hope it helps!💜
I’m so sorry you and your dad have to go through this disease. I look forward to the day in the future when no one will be sick Isaiah 33:25 and no one will be in pain or die Revelation 21:3,4 We need God’s kingdom which is the only solution to all our problems. Please take care.
Thank you for sharing, my sweet mum is in hospital, they mentioned LBD but have not technically diagnosed it. They are doing other tests to rule it out. I just know it is, I have and still am doing all the research and the symptoms she is displaying matches what I've obtained from research. So sad I'm not ready to lose her, I just can't comprehend it. I cry privately, then.pull myself together again. I pray for a miracle and my heart feels so heavy for the sufferers and their families 😣😓
Thanks so much for sharing with us your father's experiences with LBD, and your own story related to that. There's so much I can relate to. My father officially had a Parkinsons diagnosis, but it bothers me to this day that it was almost certainly not a fully accurate diagnosis. I saw how rapidly his cognition declined (he'd been very highly intelligent, so the shock of seeing this was hard to digest) and after doing some research, I felt very sure that he actually had LBD. No treatment he had ever received seemed to benefit him and I'll always wonder if this was why.
Beautiful and powerful, I have nursed many people and they all leave a mark on my journey and nursing. Your gentle and informative message is not lost and you will help others. What a beautiful person you are
@@pebroproductions your video maintained the dignity and love of your dad. While stumbling through his illness, and it’s effect on your dad and family shows what many are struggling thru, and cannot be taught from a textbook alone. I would look into branding yourself and story and promoting it educational. You deserve the recognition. Your dad deserves to be shared with others like you, it’s a great way to honour him. I watched music with patients with dementia, that is also beautifully done and very impactful.
@@kateg6029 It's my sincere hope that my story can help comfort and/or educate. It does feel like a way to honor him while reaching others who are suffering. Thank you for your encouragement! 💜
So informative , hard to watch because I am and have been going through similar.. its a hard road the Hallucinations were and are horrendous, seeing people is a constant occurrence. Accepting that the person you knew isn't there anymore is the hardest . The comfort for me is knowing that she actually isn't aware of what's happening to her and where she is, otherwise I may not be able to function properly as at one point I was being blamed for everything that she felt was wrong . When you have no diagnosis it's even harder because as a care giver doubting yourself creeps in . Feeling inadequate and so tired all the time .Once the diagnosis came the relief and sadness overwhelmed me .
My Mother died of Lewy Body dementia in 2021; she was diagnosed in May 2016 immediately following a stroke. Thank you for sharing. And I’m very sorry about your dad. Any form of dementia just sucks. *and you’re correct - you will remember the real dad, not the disease. But I find I miss both my “real” mom and the one that replaced her.
This is an excellent video, my mom passed away this July, she was diagnosed with PSP a movement disorder however my mom had the same symptoms. As a family member this is extremely difficult to watch. It's changed me.
This has been so helpful !! Im terrified and reaching for help with a parent but because symptoms dont fall in an Alzheimer's box no one understands my demise ! thank you !
I totally understand that demise. Me too! My dad's symptoms didn't fit either. He had the memory loss of Alzheimer's but we knew with clarity that it wasn't Alzheimers. He wouldn't seek treatment or be tested for anything. He wouldn't let anyone go to his doctor's appointments. No one had POA so there was nothing we could do. Lewy body was finally diagnosed 5 years into the hell that was his (our) life. I'm only now discovering how many people have our same story. That YOU!💜
This is a very educational video, and very hard to watch at the same time ; Hard to see your hero going through such changes in life and can’t do much about it smh . Thank you for sharing with us ♥️🙏🏾
Thank you so much for taking a moment to write this comment. Thank you for watching it even if it was hard to see. There is comfort in having others witness the journey. 💜💜💜
Thank you so much for sharing ❤️ Your Dad looks very much like my husband. I appreciate your openness with sharing ypur video. We have just begun our journey, but I have reason to believe, it really began long ago. His hallucinations and delusions have somewhat been calmed with medication, can anyone share how medication has helped with their loved one?
I’m so sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations. I too live in Tucson. My little sister was diagnosed with LBD, about 4 years ago. I’m 65, I believe she’s 59. She was an elementary school teacher, her decline has been pretty rapid. It’s hard because she lives in a small town near Houston, Texas. I have been an RN for many years and will graduate with my FNP in May. I tried super hard to convince her daughter to get other opinions as there are meds that can slow down the progression but it fell on deaf ears. I just cry and pray. Sending you prayers of love and light.
My Dad was a fully functioning human when diagnosed with secondary cancer of the liver and brain in early February 1998, 7 months later he was found roaming around the street at night naked.....2 months later he was a helpless vegetable and died in November 1998.
My husband died less than two years after being diagnosed with LBD. His deteriorating was I quick and no-one ever discussed the condition with us. Everything I learned I had to research for myself. When things started to be obvious it was if a bomb struck . It's the only way I can describe it. Everything that happens with LBD, happened all at the same time. The hardest thing was the fact that he was aware of the things that were happening to him. He would looked his hands and say " I can't do anything" He just couldn't figure out how to do the thing he wanted or needed to do.
But with the help of the family we managed to keep him at home and he died peacefully surrounded by family and friends, just as he would have wanted. No more suffering, now safely in the arms of God
That was my MIL to a T. We lost her three weeks ago. It was so rapid at the end. The neuro psychiatric symptoms began years ago. And she was so stubborn she refused to be diagnosed, no matter what my FIL tried. And the delusions. The anger. When it got really bad at the end, the doctors put it together for them, but she almost immediately went on hospice at that point. She had been shuffling everywhere, all that you describe. I’m so very sorry. And we think the same thing about my MIl. Of the 28 years I’ve been married, I had a wonderful mother in law and close friend for around 23, and that’s how I think of her. With love to you and prayers ♥️🙏🏻
My dad has been stolen also! Some days he just sleeps when I am visiting. So I sit there and think about what a wonderful father and honorable man he is. I appreciate those moments, although his caregivers don't understand why I sit there and watch him sleep. I know the day will come when that blessing will be gone and I will wish I could sit and look at him, uninterrupted... Thank you for your video.
I hear you. I did the same thing.
I’m sooo sorry! 😢 I’m so sad right now because this is happening with my dad right now.. it’s so sad and I’m so overwhelmed and scared about the future. And I’m also a single dad to a 3 year old little boy
I am currently going through the same thing with my grandmother 👵🏿, it hurts ! But. I am beyond hopeful for current gene 🧬 therapy treatment to not only treat but cure it
@@OhDatsJaVion I'm right here with you friend. My father was officially diagnosed a little over a year ago but he was diagnosed late due to his commitment to working. He's had the REM sleeping combative nightmares for several years, though he finally got it checked out when he woke everyone up telling us there was someone outside with a gun and that one or two had already broken in. He also frequently sees "little people" prior/during sleep + while waking up.
I'll never forget the first time he had a memory lapse in public. We were at a restaurant, he went to the restroom but I saw him come out confused, he walked outside as I was going to ask if he was okay. When I tapped on his shoulder he turned and looked at me with the blank face/eyes glazed over. He didn't know where he was, who I was, or even what his name was.
He sleeps the majority of everyday now, mainly because of how bad/frequent his falls have gotten. He also has Hemiplegic migraines that mimic strokes.
I'm 71 and have Lewy body Dementia. Very scary on
My husband had LBD with Parkinson’s for seven years before death: at least after diagnosis. We know now he had symptoms years before. Hallucinations at the beginning were terrible. My husband called the local police a couple times while I was asleep because he saw people behind trees and bushes on our property. Thankfully we live in a small community and they were so kind and understanding. Loss of smell and taste and therefore not wanting to eat another big problem. The paranoia is so very real. He didn’t trust anyone. He has been gone six years now and as much as I loved him and miss him after fifty years of marriage I am so thankful God took him out of his confusion. What hell that sweet, loving, brilliant man went through those last years of his life. Sending prayers for those of you going through this horrible disease and loving caregivers. 🙏💕
I hear you Patricia...sorry for the loss of hubby..
And for your gallant effort going thru what must have been the most trying time in your life.
Stay well friend.
⁹
Very much the same with my father. As a psychologist, I suggested LBD to the doctors after I had read a couple of studies about it. His neurologist wouldn't have it. For him it was Parkinson's only, and he explained everything away that didn't fit. Seeing this video, reading comments, I am 100% sure he had LBD. Don't know if the diagnosis would have helped in any way, though. My dad passed away 10 years ago ...
@@brettspieleiq2384 John ‘s doctor was so knowledgeable and kind. He also cared about me as well. He now is teaching at a university in Cincinnati and no longer practicing because of health reasons.
@@muttleysmith726 Thank you. I pray every day that with all the research some day this disease will be gone. My youngest daughter’s husband found out about three years ago that his mother has dementia. They live in London. I was worried about her because I began seeing signs the last couple years. I think I saw what they ignored because they passed off as just “oh well , just getting older”. But since I visit once or twice a year I could tell the difference in her. My heart breaks for my son-in-law and his brothers.
My dear lady friend was sliding quickly into grumbling communication, in the senior's home. I held her hand, and she squeezed my hand. I knew she was still there, inside her body. In short, in one night, she came to me in my dream. She showed me her arms, her skin was like porcelain with a gray undertone. I woke up immediately and phoned the senior's home. They told me she had passed away four day prior. No one else would have told me this news. She was always there, in her heart and I knew that. I felt simply honoured to be contacted by her of her passing. Love you Pearl.
My mother passed away from Lewy Body Dementia. She wasn't diagnosed until 6 months before she died. The stories I could tell... when she fell and broke her hip seems like she really went downhill very fast. She thought 2 men lived in her attic and had a computer that when pushed a button bad things happened. Another was she seen little kids playing that weren't there. So many more. Thank you for sharing your story. So sad this happens. Last time I had my mom visit me she was adamant that I was trying to poison her so she wouldn't eat or drink anything. I had to take her home. Before she was bedridden she eventually couldn't hold her head up. Had to strap her head to wheelchair to feed her. She pretty much starved to death. Last day before coma she had one tablespoon of baby food. That's it. Well won't go on and on but there is so much more. Thank you again for sharing a part of your life with us.
Thank you for sharing bits of YOUR story! And you're right ... the stories we could tell. Seeing children is a common hallucination for people with LBD ... I don't know why really. I'm just grateful that the hallucinations he has now aren't stressful. I'm so sorry you had to go through it with your mom. So very, very hard.
Thank you for sharing! Sending prayers to you and Phyllis -
My mother was very much the same. Her first symptoms showed up about a year and a half before she fell and broke her hip. I noticed that she could not understand numbers, and she was developing the Parkinson shuffle when she walked. After she fell and broke her hip she drastically declined. Fortunately, her delusions and hallucinations were merciful. She believed she was daily talking to her parents, both of whom had died thirty five years earlier. And she believed she was living in the house she grew up in. Occasionally she told me that she had seen my dad. He passed away ten years earlier. Every now and then she would accuse her caregiver of stealing things, but for the most part she had retreated back into her childhood. At the end, she was comatose for two days before she passed away. When I went to see her for the final time and tell her goodbye I thought she couldn’t hear me. But she moved the fingers on her right and and tried to open her eyes.
@@frazzledude There were/are times when his hallucinations weren't scary. But he often accused caregivers of stealing and then accused me of not knowing what was "really" going on. He is starting to talk about his father and it seems comforting to him. While he lost all numerical concepts, he still counts like he's measuring and talks about things being even. I'm glad you had that gift at the end ... something you can hold in your heart and memory for the rest of your life. Thank you for sharing your story.
So so sorry ❤️
My sweet mom had LBD for 16 years starting at age 65-66...she passed away in 2011. It was so sad and tragic. God bless you and your dad.
My mother suffers from dementia and until just yesterday, I had no idea that it is so likely to be Lewy Body... it was an eye-opener to start watching videos about this form of dementia and in some ways a relief to know more specifically what it is (most likely). I too question - who is this person? Are we still a person if we don't have memories? Good question. I think about this a lot as I look after my poor old mother with the same advanced stage dementia as the man suffers with in the last few minutes of the video. When I see her trying so hard to find a word, help with a small easy chore, make her way onto the toilet seat with so much difficulty etc. I see a human being who is struggling and fighting to prove herself as a worthwhile, functioning and valid being and the great compassion I feel tells me that she is really more human and valid thank when life was easy..
My father died last year of vascular dementia at age 95. The father I knew growing up was a different, more competent man than my father at the end of his life.
My Father in Law is 80 years old and currently in The Veteran's Administration Hospital for evaluation - they are leaning towards a diagnosis of LBD. Interestingly, we hadn't noticed any alarming decline until very soon after he received his Covid vaccine - that is when his extreme insomnia began. He struggled with that and extreme agitation for about 6 months and then had shoulder surgery which seemed to make his condition even worse (I have read of others who feel exposure to anesthesia often is a trigger or worsens such conditions). His condition has deteriorated rapidly over the last 3 months or so, often involving wild mood swings from day to day or even within the same day. He now suffers at times from delusions, paranoia, occasional hallucinations and has begun threatening care givers during bad episodes. Hoping the physicians can hit upon an effective medication regimen which will improve things without too many negative side effects.
Thank You for sharing your and your Father's experiences in this video.
Thank you so much for the ìnformation, I watched the video, put it on pause, rewound it, and replay it so many times, because my English is not so well. I am on my way to visit my oldest brother in France from USA next month. I found out he had just started to have dementia. Now, I understand the future of my brother. and I am more prepared. All I can do right now is accept and pray to God. I wish you well and may God Bless all of your loved ones. Goodbye.
Just breaks my heart what people have to go through before finally dying….we should all be able to cut the cord when this happens. Once you are far along with dementia you can no longer do anything. We should be allowed to make a living will that we can be euthanized before it gets to this. I am 80 this year and fear this for my family. I would hate it for them to have to go through something like this and also for me to be afflicted and live in fear or disbelief until the end…..thank you for making this video and explaining every step of this awful disease or condition…..may this wonderful man finally rest in peace….
I absolutely agree with you. I wouldn't be able to live with the reminders of how a loved one suffered so much towards the end. It is inhumane to allow such suffering when we are expected to care about people's welfare. Nothing short of cruel.
Thank you for sharing. I’m suffering with the same condition and am somewhere around Phase 3-4. My heart goes out to you and am very happy he has such a supportive daughter. I’m very concerned for what my kids will go through caring for me as this progresses.
Oh Todd, it's so wonderful that you are thinking ahead about that and that you are aware of your condition. This was not the case with my father. Of course, family dynamics are complicated and influenced by many things, but while I wish this hadn't been our journey, it has given me the opportunity to really become the daughter I want to me. At the end of it all, I can look in the mirror and feel good about my choices. Perhaps your children, or even one (statictically, daughters are twice a likely as sons to step up) will grow, learn and become a better person as a result of this journey. Best to you and your family!
@@pebroproductions
Thank you for the kind words. As I’m sure you’d agree, I wish nobody has to go down the dementia journey at all. Someday I pray there will be a cure and families won’t feel the pain and anguish it causes. I still miss the Old Pueblo. Coming back in October for my 40th class reunion.
@@ToddLuvsGolf I do agree whole-heartedly. Glad you'll be here in Oct. when temps come down. I wish you and your loved ones as easy of a journey as possible.
@@pebroproductions Thanks Phyllis!!
Todd Brodsky...you are so brave for announcing
Your sickness like you have, my hubby is going thru the same only mild at present 23 out of 30.
We have said nothing at the moment to him
But it is a little confusing for me as I don't know what to expect, as yet I can see some obvious changes, but what next?? Stay as well as you can
Dear friend.
He is indeed first and forever your dad and what an incredible daughter he has in you. My heart goes out to you and all others who have to face the cruel consequences of LBD.
Wow, great video. This is the reality of LBD. I’m going thru this with my older sister. She calls me multiple times a day every day with one crisis after another and wants me to come over to her assisted living facility. She’s a hoarder, very paranoid, thinks people are stealing from her and trying to poison her. Loses things constantly. Some days I don’t know how I can keep doing this. Thank god she can afford assisted living. It’s very stressful for the caregiver. Thanks for sharing your journey!
I know how it feels to not know if you can do it one more day. I got to that point several times. And yes, the blessing of assisted living is tremendous. I knew he was cared for .. and I knew I didn't have to be the only one. And LBD is so hard!!! Unpredictable, scary, behavioral, etc. I wish you ease as you go through it. ❤️
My mums the same :( x
God bless you and your sister ❤️🩹❤️🩹
My father suffers from hallucinations EVERYDAY!!! They are awful. He sees people in the house every day and argues with them for hours at a time... who are you, what are you doing in my house? This is my house, get out. Than he turns on me...you are stupid, you are gonna lose everything you let these people in. They dont care about you. It just goes on and on. You got two minutes to get out of here and then I'm gonna hit you until the blood comes out. Everyday I wish him dead. Can you imagine wishing your own father dead? It is an awful awful disease To suffer like this? 40 percent of all caregivers die before the dementia patient. Sometimes I text a friend and ask them to text me in the morning and if I dont respond to call the police because I am dead. This disease takes 8 years off your life. I wonder if I will live another year? 10 million people a year will be diagnosed with dementia. And, the way dementia is treated is the same way it has been treated over 100 years ago. I feel like crawling in bed and staying there for a week... but i can't. I work full time and then come home and have to deal with all of this. Today before I even left for work at 730 I changed 2 beds, washed 3 loads of clothes, made him breakfast, changed him, fed 5 cats, got myself together and a ton of other things. My stress level is out of this world along with my blood pressure.
@@brendarobertson5011 mine too
My dad had a stroke in 2017 and seemed to begin The symptoms of LBD. He has Seizures/hallucinations/anxiety/suspicion/anger/mischievous. I have been with him taking care of him since his stroke. I just called in hospice for him because he has really turned to a distant place. And it’s just too hard to try to get him to doctors anymore. I’m blessed the Lord has made a way for me to be able to care for my dad, as he cared for me in my life. My heart goes out to all the caregivers out there. No one really knows how much strength it takes to be you. May the Lord bless you all❤
Your descriptions and explanations are spot on. My husband passed away from LBD in 2014. He was 62. His symptoms began in his mid forties. He was misdiagnosed for 8 years. I was blessed to be able to stay home with him as his caregiver until the end. Hospice helped me his last 6 months.
Hi 👋 how are you doing?
My wife and I both worked in health care until our retirements. We both worked with Alzheimers patients and those with other forms of dementia. My wife retired 5 years before me, to care for her mother, who had Alzheimers Syndrome.
Mom's doctor refused to listen to us when we told her about Mom's symptoms of paranoia and memory loss, and inability to clean house, because Mom would deny it and the MD did not do any cognitive tests. After we moved Mom out of her home, to ours, we got our MD to take her as a patient, and the correct diagnosis was then made.
She lived with us until her death here at home with us by her side one morning, quite suddenly and unexpected. She needed assistance with cares, constant encouragement to take a bite, to chew and to swallow. She never became combative, but she could be extremely argumentative at times. We are grateful that we had training and experience with Alzheimers, but it can really be wearing on the main caregiver. We had Mom in a twice weekly daycare, so that my wife could get a break.
Now, 10 years later, I am seeing the early signs of dementia in my wife, who is 5 years younger than me. As a retired nurse, at least I am not unaware of what is happening, and how to deal with it. Bless all those folks who are caregivers for their aging and demented parents or spouses - you are all secret angels.
I’ve been in the hospital for 4 days with my grandmother, watching the saddest thing i’ve ever seen😭 we are pretty sure it’s LBD/parkinsons. I thank God for videos like this to help me understand more during all this.💔 thank you
what’s even crazier is i didn’t even search for this. we’ve just been talking about it so much, i guess my phone heard and put this video on my suggested. Or God. idk.
Thank you for doing this work. It has been not only informational but also a great tribute to your love for your father.
My mom is in late stage Alzheimer’s. She is home and hospice is with us for support. I left my job to care for mom during this time. It’s a cruel and unforgiving disease. I love you Mom ❤️ TY for sharing this video and your expertise. It helps.
Like you I did the same,quit my job four years ago and I have been taking care of her since then. My dad at 93 cannot help her as she doesn't like a man she doesn't recognize giving her any aid. We shall never put our mum in a home as we want her showered with lots of love all the time.
This was a very helpful video, thank you for sharing your story.
I’ve been caring for my mother who’s 65 years old, she was misdiagnosed with altimeters 4 years ago and was recently diagnosed with LEWY body dementia in January 2023. Altimeters never made sense to us because it originally presented as a movement disorder with delusions, mood changes and hallucinations.
She’s had symptoms for about 7-8 years now and I’ve been fortunate to be able to live with and care for her.
Thank you for spreading awareness about this disease.
I'm so glad if it was helpful at all. The lack of accurate diagnosis adds one more layer to the challenges. I hope this will improve in coming years. 💜
I am a caregiver for people with dementia. I appreciate your video. It helps families understand a bit more about the disease.
It's my hope that it will be useful to families and caregivers. There's so little information that is easy to understand and isn't an hour long video. I share this with my dad's caregivers and found out that they didn't know anything at all about LBD. It would have helped them, I think, if they had known more. 💜
Hi Kat, how's your day going with you?
I found this video of your Dad so interesting.I feel privileged to be able to listen to your video.
Thank you so much. I hope it helps anyone who is coping with a family member of loved one who has this disease. 💜
I wish I had see this video four years ago.
Our late mother was suffering with dementia.....it took four of us to care for her that we didn't have to put her in a facility.
She passed away in her own bedroom surrounded by her things, and her loved ones.
Obviously, you have done an excellent job sharing this information, but I would like to contribute one thing....
As moms situation worsened....we found out that CBD oil was helpful (we live in California), we checked with her treating physician, and he agreed it could be helpful.....it was.
If you live in a state where CBD is legal, you may wish to speak with your loved ones treating physician in regards to that "medication", and find out if it could be beneficial to your loved one.
Thank you so much for sharing this journey. This described my dad so perfectly. sadly he passed on August 18th 2020 and due to covid, we could not be with him. He was in a lovely care home and although it was difficult to see such a strong competent man decline we just rolled with it .one day we visited he told us that they (the staff) would not allow him breakfast and he was upset and said I'm going get me out of here. when we spoke to staff they told us that dad would come for breakfast at 6 am as a lifelong early riser he was hungry. The kitchen staff would give him as much toast he could eat with a pot of tea as it was too early for a cooked breakfast, dad would then go back to bed for an hour and then show up at 7 am for breakfast again he was served toast and tea .8am again dad shows up I want the porridge to which he was given porridge tea and toast 9 am again he turns up and is served cooked breakfast. He was upset that he couldn't get his cooked breakfast at 6 am and this was the part that he remembers.so sad but the staff were so good to him and really cared so much 💔
My father died four years ago with Parkinson’s and LBD. I do not think he forgot anything until the very end, he just couldn’t recall when he wanted to. I believe he was able to comprehend more than he was given credit for at times but many thoughts were lost between his brain and his mouth. Also, he was partially deaf so he was attempting to hear and comprehend simultaneously.
His quality of life changed but was not lost. He never lost his love of music, the outdoors, the great grandchildren, and the pets.
Once we went for a walk in the woods on the farm where he was raised and we had hunted. His whole demeanor changed, his gait changed. This was a serious activity for him. At times he could explain different aspects of music to me that I didn’t understand. He was able to recite a specific Bible verse he learned in school as a boy, but at times not recall my name. He still enjoyed eating at places like IHOPE and Waffle House, where the patrons are more likely to overlook suspensions in dining etiquette. We had to plan our outings, take a change of everything.
Dementia is an awful disease but it is not the end of the world. The more family there is to help the better, and friends. If the afflicted becomes mean and hard to live with steps must be taken to deal with that. But that wasn’t our experience.
We must deal with life the best we can. We take it as it comes and helping out a loved one for a little while isn’t too much to ask.
Well done and very informative. My brother has LBD and was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s from 2016-23. He was recently diagnosed with LBD when he was admitted to a care center. He is only 67. His case seems rather severe as he has extreme anger and anxiety. The disease has taken away my sweet brother.
My husband has been living with LBD for the last 5 yrs. and this video has been so similar to what he has been going through. He has been sliding into later stage for the last year and it’s has been quite comforting to watch this.
Hi Peggy, how's your day going with you?
Wow. I needed this. My mom was just diagnosed with LBD and you have no idea how this helped me to listen to this. It has been a nightmare and I can relate to every single thing you said and showed. God bless you and your father and thank you for sharing this.
Hi Susan, how's your day going with you?
until I found your channel as well as others...I would not have known about Dementia/Alheizmer etc. I couldn't get my darling husband to see a Specialist...He showed Parkinson motor and non motor signs for about 20 yrs. I was resentful and sometimes frustrated and thought he had no common sense ...and all the host of other symptoms...I am ashamed and asked for his forgiveness each time...He has been diagnosed after rushing him to emergency...my heart goes out to my husband...a very brilliant Scientist...He denies he is ill and it's ok...He is now in a Care center...I see him daily so we can have beautiful moments still...He was fearful, I would leave him...I assured him...I would not! He is grateful...he still remembers me but no other family or colleagues and friends...I will forever love him!!! Before Dementia and all other illness under that umbrella...I heard but never knew...I pray, he will NOT Suffer till the end...He is such a beautiful HUMAN...
Thank you for your video. My mom was bipolar, which later in her life had a medication reaction which brought on Lewy body and Parkinsonism (the specialist did nuclear brain scans and many other tests for the diagnosis) with practically over night body function shutdowns. Hers was bad, bad, bad. My heart broke and shattered so many times, especially getting a call in the middle of the night from nursing that my mom called 911 because someone was coming through the window to kill her. I won’t say who, but it was a family member she was frightened of. I’d talk her down from the ether for many hours, more than I can tell you all the while having my dad here living with me having vascular dementia. I was alone, no support or help and ran on no sleep for several years. There wasn’t help offered, not any to get. Anyhow, your video was interesting and I’m so happy your dad doesn’t have the really scary bad moments that some have. It’s so hard on them and us.
Thank you for sharing a small part of your story ... the details are so similar to my journey including that overwhelming experience of being in an endless, high level crisis (every day for years) and alone in my effort so save him from himself. It was one of the most isolate experiences of my life. And while he was always healthy in terms of mental health prior to dementia, when the was first being assessed, I had to tell the experts over and over that he had never been depressed, never been bipolar in his life. We also experienced some of those more violent hallucinations and paranoia. He would call the police because someone was trying to break into his house with a gun. His behavior is stable now but he functioned as a person with psychosis for several years. Again, thank you for sharing a part of your experience. It helps to connect with others who understand. ❤
I was the sole caretaker of my partner of 44 years, I kept him home until the end of stage 6, it was the hardest thing I've ever done; the incontinence, the hallucinations, the falls, the sundowner episodes every night. I didn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't leave the house for fear of what might happen. When he finally got violent, I had to call 911 and they said they couldn't leave him in the house with me because he might hurt me. He was admitted to the hospital for evaluation and moved to a care facility three weeks after his meds were stabilized, the progression of the dementia in four weeks was mind boggling, he lost his ability to walk, speak, eat unassisted, and at the end he could no long swallow. Death was a blessing; I'd lost my loving partner three years before his death.
@@AZHITW it shows what a wonderful and selfless person you are. You did what so many couldn’t or wouldn’t. I don’t know about you, I have reflected back to the many years i was doing similar for my folks and there isn’t anything I would have done differently. It was the right thing to do. I hope you find solace, comfort and happiness.
@@AZHITW What you've gone
through is so much like what
I'm going thru now.Mine was
Diagnosed with Early Onset
3yrs ago...Just sad😢 I'm so sorry that you went through all of that.Prayers❤
Currently going through this with my father in law- he’s skipped straight through to stage 6 in about 10 weeks :( the hospital treatment is awful and we’re still fighting to get him moved to somewhere secure. Thank you for this
The hospitals/doctors were often barriers, not supports. The decisions are impossible ones ... how do I save a man from himself so he can live a life he no longer wants or even understands? Impossible. And good memory care places are hard to find. I wish you success in finding a place for him to be.
Hi Disco, how's your day going with you?
Thank you a million times. My husband and I moved in with my mother 4 years ago . She has Lewy body dementia and it is the most insane and heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen. You are right that my mother is no longer there save a few lucid moments. She was the most logical human I’ve ever known and not being able to reason with her has been the hardest struggle. The hallucinations are mostly terrible as well as the delusions. I love what you said at the end- it’s the disease- not my mother and I hold dear the lifetime of memories I have of her being her.
I so share your description of this experience being the most insane and heartbreaking thing you've ever seen. Me too! And not being able to reason with person who was previously logical, was definitely one of the hardest parts. It didn't help us that he had been very stubborn throughout his life. That personality trait made it hard for us to see it as the disease instead of his personality. And doctors were of no help at all. The memory loss and repetitive conversations were so easy compared to the "behavioral disturbances". I applaud the courage I know it takes every single day to be your mom's caregiver. I've told so many people that this has been my opportunity to really define who I am as a daughter. Perhaps this applies to you too. I wish you comfort along the path. Thank you for sharing some of your story. 💜
@@pebroproductions Thank you so much. When I was dealing with mom hallucinating that she was being “told” she could not use her bathroom this morning I just remembered that I’m not alone and that someone somewhere was dealing with something similar. It gave me strength.
@@suzymoon2067 thanks for the advice. Sadly my mama passed one month ago. Hospice allowed her to have a peaceful, pain free transition from this world to the next. Dementia sucks.
Hi Sherry, how's your day going with you?
Thank you for your last comment...he is not his disease. Your video was like watching my own Dad, still trying to figure out how to best help him...thanks.
Thank you for sharing your journey.
I had to fight the system so hard to finally get my dad diagnosed with his frontal temporal lobe with Lewy Body dementia . He passed in 1999 . It was a rollercoaster of a journey for us all .
The Rare Dementia Support group based in UK has excellent information available on line and they also hold conferences too. They are a very good resource to be aware of.
Sending love to all of you travelling this journey. Be gentle with yourselves. Take one day at a time. Reach out for support . 💜
You did a lovely job compiling this video. I noticed three years ago that my husband had dementia and balance issues. It took another 2-1/2 years to get a diagnosis of Dementia with Lew Bodies with Parkinsonism. It is so frustrating for loved ones who want to help, and do not get any help from the medical field. I learned a lot of what you mentioned in your video from support groups. And yet there is so much more to this disease that is still unknown. I wish you the best on the journey with your father.
Not having a diagnosis or understanding that what was happening was a disease was in many ways the worst part. We couldn't stop him from self-destruction until we could step in legally ... and that took way too long. I wish you the very best with your husband. It is a horrible disease. 😢
Hi Diane, how's your day going with you?
Incredible. Thank you so much for sharing with us. You are a wise and caring woman. Your dad is so lucky to have you.
Thank you for taking time to leave this comment. It really means a lot to me 💜
I’m so very sorry. This horrible disease took my daddy in 2014. You are in my prayers. ♥️🤠🙏
I'm so sorry. I imagine it was even harder in 2014 as it was even less known. It's a hard journey, isn't it? Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. That touches my heart! 💜
So sorry you are going through this with your dad. My grandmother had Parkinson's induced Alzheimer's. She passed away many years ago. It's horrible to see someone you love in the throes of this disease. Thank you for sharing. I try to just remember the good old days, too.
Thank you so much for your kindness and for sharing a bit of your story. 💜
This video was so well done and will help many people dealing with this disease. Thank you.
Thank you for this video. My dad was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in 2014. His second wife had Parkinson's and he was her caregiver. I started going to his house every Saturday in early 2015 to help. She passed away within a year. By 2017, my dad was really having issues and was diagnosed by a geriatric psychologist as having Lew Body. I became his conservator and guardian in 2018 and have been managing his care ever since. He is now 98 years old and has been in memory care since 2021 (he should have gone sooner but spent some time in assisted living and then skilled nursing during Covid). So much of what you say here has been a part of our journey. He has been in a wheelchair for 5 years now. The agitation has really diminished from what it used to be. He is diabetic and his facility has managed this and any other medical issue really well. He is a much calmer person now and we recently reduced some medication so he doesn't sleep so much. I noticed this past weekend that really, compared to others there, his verbal skills are still pretty good. But the confusion, oh my. He talks a lot about his childhood and his time in WWII so we tend to focus on that. Sometimes we think that he has dreams and then believes they are real. What I have really noticed these last few months his his lack of empathy (is that the right term?). He doesn't seem to understand why I'm there. He knows I am his daughter but sometimes I'm not so sure. We've had times where my husband and I show up and 10 minutes later, he's telling me 'thank you for stopping by!' like I'm a visitor off the street and he rolls off in his wheelchair so we end up leaving. I did realize last week that he doesn't remember being married to my mom (they were married for 35 years before divorcing and he got married again). Very sad. So far, he's not going anywhere. He always told me he was going to live to be 100 and he might just make it but not a quality of life I would want.
Thank you so much for sharing. I particularly love the way you ended this… most important perspective in the grand scheme of things. Again, thank you.
Thank YOU! And yes, I think of that photo, that man, and our lives. LBD was a horrible disease and not my father! 💜
Your video has given my husband and I better understanding of this dementia. His mother passed away a few weeks ago from this horrible disease. The different stages you describe are exactly the ones she exhibited. My mother-in-law was a nurse and extremely intelligent making this almost unbelievable to us. She went through every stage you covered in this video. She passed away just 3 months after diagnosis. I was very concerned about my husband's almost stoic reaction to her death. He in my mind was not not grieving as deeply as I thought he would be at her sudden death. When out of concern I asked him about his grief he quietly told me that he had been grieving for 3 months. He said “my mother died 3 months ago”.
Yes you lose people twice, firstly when they develop early onset dementia then when they actually pass.
Hi Terri, how's your day going with you?
Your vlog has helped me more than any other. My father is 95 years old and is in the same stage as your father. It is challenging for the caregiver and distressing for the person suffering from it. There is no rationality to what my father is going through. He has days where he is very angry and accusatory with me. His world only involves him now with no concept of the needs of others. I am his sole caregiver and I can say that I am lucky to have a very supportive husband although my husband doesn't really fully understand my father's condition. He still thinks that because my father is able to hold a conversation, although the conversation is full of delusions, that he is still able to understand and comprehend concepts. I have to continually remind him that my father doesn't have the ability to comprehend simple things anymore. My father will argue that things haven't been done when they in fact have and when I ask him to come and see that they have been done, he still tries to say that they haven't been done. He has no appreciation, no gratitude, no happiness in his life and everyday is a day that I have to be stronger than I have ever been in order to deal with him. Thank you so much for making this vlog, it is greatly appreciated.
Fantastic chronicle of lived experience. Tremendously valuable share❤❤❤❤❤
I’m in Gilbert right now. Curious to chat .. I think my email might be in my page or I can leave it here if you are interested ❤ I really appreciate the way you speak your perspective and questions you pose ❤
Thank you for posting this excellent video. My grandma had Alzheimer’s, and my father’s doctor doesn’t believe me when I tell him that this disease is so very different from what my grandma had. My dad has a lot of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, the Parkinsonian rigidity, and the cognitive fluctuations. The caregiver fatigue is suffocating at times. I look forward to more videos if you feel so inclined to share.
Thank you for sharing a bit of your story. Yes, trying to tell others, especially family members from a distance, that this is NOT like other forms of dementia can be very hard. And your description of caregiver fatigue being suffocating is a perfect choice of words. I am still documenting my father's decline and will likely share more. 💜💜💜
Mom was diagnosed as early onset at age 95 with LBD. She lives with me and we now have hospice coming in several times a week. The other day I didn't know if it was a UTI or another hallucination. The roller coaster ride breaks my heart but I keep a brave face for her even if she doesn't know who I am at times. The most heartbreaking part was her depression when she realized something was wrong
Yes! The depression! He used to say that he was going to kill himself if he could find a way out of his memory care facility. And I understand the ups/downs related to UTI's. Those cause falls and hallucinations so it's difficult to recognize. And I know that brave face all to well. It must be hard to keep it for so long while she lives with you. Thank you for sharing this part of your story. 💜
Hi Teresa, how's your day going with you?
God bless everyone that’s living with this disease and the families who are heartbroken helping their loved ones through it. I always wonder when the last time I actually saw my mom aside from her disease. Just like this video says, like they were taken from you over night. This video along with all the comments, do give a true description of what it’s like. My mom was diagnosed with Corticobasal Syndrome, with an overlap of LBD. She’s in her 60s and it’s taking her so fast. For what we see in her it’s a cross between Dementia and Schizophrenia with her major symptom being Aphasia. More attention needs to be focused on these neurological diseases in order to find something to slow it down, and maybe one day cure. Thank you for sharing your journey. God bless your Dad, he’s a strong man for enduring this disease. Prayers to you and your family 🙏🏻
Thank you for this video from a daughter's perspective. My dad had his first hallucination about 20 years ago (that was his only symptom for about 12 years and they were rare)...he was not officially diagnosed until 6 years ago. The part where your dad is playing the piano and he says a nonsensical question and then you answer him so quickly trying to appease him. I do this with my dad all the time. Trying to figure out what answer he wants or what to say back sometimes is very challenging. My dad knows me but does not always understand my role in his life. He knows I am "one of the most important ones" so really that is all that matters! It has been so hard to watch him dissolve away! God bless you and your dad!
Thank you for this post. Your description of your experience is so similar to mine. In the future, I hope to work with families and loved ones around that communication part. It can be so challenging but it's everything. Best to you!💜
Thank you so much for helping make sense of such a horrible disease. As a fellow family member, you feel stuck on the side-lines, not knowing what to expect next or what is the new normal each day.
SO stuck! Not knowing what's happening or what's next. I wish you an easy road to travel. ❤️
My dad’s journey started 9 yrs ago after he suffered a heart attack and had to have a quintuple bypass. During the first year following his surgery, he began shuffling his feet. A year afterward they mentioned it to the cardiologist who referred him to a neurologist and he was diagnosed with Parkinsonism. Similar to others here, my dad was an electrical engineer until his forties when he left that career and went into the ministry. He pastored for almost 3 decades until he retired 4 years ago and since then he has declined so rapidly. His mobility is almost nonexistent. He has to use a rollator to walk but that is becoming difficult too. He has had hallucinations for a few years. My mom recently ran across LBD and thinks he has it as well, but it’s symptoms mirror Parkinsonism so much. One thing he has been experiencing lately that I’ve not read linked to either is that he starts his day good, but his condition worsens as it gets evening time and now when he stands to move from his lift chair to his rollator (my mom rolls him to bed) he has been having blackout seizure type episodes. Smelling salts or just comforting him until it passes is all we can do. We have checked his blood pressure during those episodes and it’s normal. He has an appointment with his neurologist in a few weeks and it has also been mentioned to his home health nurse, so hopefully we’ll have answers soon. Just sad to hear so many enduring this terrible disease with loved ones. Prayers for each of you.
The diagnosis should help. My wife's father passed away from LBD on 8 April, 2023. He had it for about nine years. He was diagnosed in 2015, and was put on Carbidopa/Levodopa and that helped his cognition a great deal. I hope the visit with the neurologist is fruitful. Good luck!
what a wonderfully kind person you are for making this video.
my mother in law was diagnosed with mild cognitive decline (MCD) and it has been one of the most difficult, soul-ripping diseases I have had to experience.
I struggle all the time about how to best support my wife in how to best support her mom, but I feel like I just fail all the time.
Again, what a wonderfully kind person you are, for helping me to understand it all.
What an honest video this is, showing such love for your father. It is such an awful disease. Sufferers need as much support and love as possible. It could happen to anyone and no one asks for it.
Thank you for educating me on LB dementia.
Thank you for the video. It highlights what so many go through but those who suffer from it and their family.
My dad has Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. He lost his ability to speak quite early. Before then he would horde keys as people were breaking in and stealing them. He’d even take vehicle keys in and get them copied. When he finally moved into a care home we found hidden keys all over his basement and garage workshops. Also lots of tape measures. So many tape measures.
He was a brilliant mechanic (and great hobbyist woodworker) and could just look at something and figure out how it worked. Among other mechanics in town, he had a reputation of being able to fix the things others couldn’t. But as his disease progressed he couldn’t even figure out how to set up the awning on the trailer.
Strangely, he wouldn’t remember a simple fix but was ingenious at finding the complicated “fix”. Eg He flicked a switch to turn the trailer water pump on, but then forgot the switch existed. To turn off the pump, he emptied the storage crawl space, crawled in, located the water pump wires, and cut them. My mom would come home and find several things in the house “fixed” in a similar destructive manner, often done through the basement wiring or plumbing.
He’s in a wheelchair now. Mostly just stares into space or sleeps. He can still feed himself and has a healthy appetite. He’s 82 now, and likely won’t make it to 83 which is good because who he was is long gone. Not even the child-like person he became remains.
But I have many of his woodworking creations. A table, cabinets, magazine racks, wooden games and toys, bird feeder, and many of his old tools that I take pride in using when I’m fixing things. I have newer tools but if my dad’s old tool works, I’ll use that. It makes me feel connected to him…and rather aptly some of the tools are ones his dad used so I like knowing I’m using the same tools my granddad and my father used.
I don’t think I’ll grieve when his body dies because who he was died a while ago. I’ve done lots of grieving already for him, and now I get comfort in the things and lessons he left behind. I’ll be visiting him tomorrow with family but he will just stare into space so we’ll (mom, brother, me) recount good memories of his time with us. Maybe locked somewhere inside is a part of him who will understand us and recognize what his life meant to us, and he will feel at peace.
Thank you for sharing. My husband is 84 and has some dementia. The way you explain what is happening with your Dad will help me a lot. Praying for you guys
Praying for you too.💜 It's a hard and unexpected road. I'm glad you have the knowledge to better deal with it all.
Hi Suzanne, how's your day going with you?
This is incredibly helpful, thank you. My Mum has both vascular dementia & Alzheimers, she “sundowns” which was very weird at first, she’d phone me & we’d have a lovely phone chat, then she’ll immediately call my sister & call me horrible names! We have family code when she’s being angry, we just look at each other & say, “That’s not my Mum.” Thank you so much.
Now in the last stages and with good meds, he doesn't sundown any more but when he did, anything could happen. And like you, he said terrible things to me and about me with family members. Still, we keep going, don't we? Thank you for sharing a bit of your story!💜
Thank you for sharing. This was fascinating and very well done. Blessings to you and your Dad.
Thank you so much for taking a moment to leave this comment. It means a great deal to me.
Hi Sheila, how's your day going with you?
"He is not his disease." Important to remember.
Thank you for this video.
Yes, it's a reminder I've had to tell myself many times. Thank you for your kindness. 💜
My heart goes out to you my dad had Lewy body his hallucinations towards the end were horrific. I wish I had had something like this video back then to refer to seeing your dad reminds me so much of mine.
Like you, I also wished I would have had anything that could have explained in any way what were were going through. We didn't have answers or support. I know you understand. Thank you so much for leaving your comment. It really means a lot to me. 💜
Two years ago, my Grandma was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Decline, and I don't what that really means but I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole about different videos about dementia, since they seem to be connected. It must be so hard seeing a parent decline like this. It's hard enough seeing my Grandma decline. Even in the last 6 months she's been getting noticeably worse. It's very difficult for her to retain information, she's very forgetful, she can't learn new concepts or tasks (I've trying to get her into Wordle but she can't understand how to play it) and she's lost motivation too. The worst part is when she forgets something that I wouldn't ever expect her to forget. That's been happening more often sadly.
Thank you for sharing a part of your story. I know exactly what that decline looks like. Little by little, memories disappear and some are shocking as you've said. I see my dad every day, so only when I look back at videos do I see the rapid decline. For me, it's just a bit at a time. But when family haven't seen him in a while, it is much more shocking. Mild Cognitive Decline is usually the first diagnosis to indicate that something is happening to that person's memory. It might or might not be dementia, but it's often the first diagnosis before a more specific diagnosis can be made. What a great idea you had about Wordle even if it didn't work. She's lucky to have you even if she can't engage in the way she used to. And touch really, really matters. There's lots to learn and lots to feel ... I wish you and your family the very best. 💜
My mother was razor sharp until the end. I’ve got the scars to prove it.
My brother passed away from Lewy’s body last year. What a horrific disease. I am still in shock how quickly he deteriorated the last 6 months of his life. His hallucinations, his dementia. His wife had to brush his teeth and help him to do the simplest things. What a dreadful way to go. The day he died my sister-in-law came downstairs and he was nowhere to be found. She found him wondering around the neighborhood “looking for my house”. My brother was a vibrant man, always on the go. Breaks my heart and miss him. My brother was only 72.
Hi Pamela, how's your day going with you?
You are so right....your father is not his disease! How wonderful that you have lovely memories of your father! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you this is so much more helpful than you know! My step father was just diagnosed with LBD last month (after a year of navigating the wonderful medical system we have in the US) and we estimate him to be in stage 5. He has gone from not being able to remember how to get home and losing his job as a truck driver to tremors, hallucinations, and a severe cognitive decline in the span of 8 months. It's good to hear your persepctive. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing. This is one of the best videos I have seen on this subject. My mother had what we believe to be LBD, although no doctor said that until a couple of months before she passed. We had lots of paranoid delusions and were told she had major depression with paranoid features. She has been gone 2 years now and I am still waiting on the pathology report from the brain bank to verify LBD. The delay is still due to COVID. Prayers for you and your dad. It is so hard. We are in Tucson too. ❤
Thank you for sharing. My sister, 73, has just been diagnosed with LBD, a month ago. This is really hard and your information helps me understand this disease.
I live with someone with Louy dementia. She is the nicest person but when she has a delusion her personality totally changes.
I appreciate your work in compiling all this information. I will share this video with others. I can't stress enough to be kind to yourself. And use your pain to be stronger for your dad.
God's peace.
I am ok but very depressed my head is always heavy tight feeling and dizzy can't sleep for long wake up depressed don't know if it's mental problems or dementure
Thank you so much for making this video and passing on this information. My aunt had LBD and passed away last year. The disease progressed in the way you described.
I'm so sorry this is happening to you and your family. For what good it may do, you and your father are in my prayers.
@PhyllisBrodsky I am so saddened to see what your Dad went through; you are an Angel for all you did and especially sharing such a personal story. God Bless You and your family and May God watch over your Dad… 🙏🏼
😭Thank you!
I am sorry for your pain and I thank you for this video. Sending good thoughts your way.
Thank you. That is my dad. But they still know who we are and trust us. That is so comforting right now. The rivastigmine patch helps my dad a lot ... All the best Julia
My father passed away from Early Onset Alzheimer’s in June of this year. What a journey. I appreciate so much finding these videos where even the slightest thing said by a loved one and I feel understood.
I’d have this little game with my dad where I always had to respond differently to the same questions but the goal was to get him to smile. Whatever answer to whatever question…as long as he smiled. I’m sorry you are experiencing LBD…though our journeys are/were somewhat different, they are terribly parallel. Sending love and hugs.
I really understand how hard it is to really feel seen and understood. I felt like I was wandering around all alone even though I had plenty of people who loved me. No one could go through it with me. Thank you for your post. It makes ME feel understood!💜
Wow. I learned a lot watching this and your father is fortunate to have such a wonderful, caring daughter. I also appreciate the ending of the video. Yes, your father has a cruel disease, but no, he is most definitely NOT defined by it. My mother died with dementia and in no way does that impact who she is and was to me. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment. It is very comforting especially for those of use who have to watch a person who looks like our parent but is no longer our parent. I know that you understand. I wish you the very best. 💜
Your father is very present within you. He is still here, and the world still knows him, just in a different form - through you.
Thank you for this fantastic clip. What you have described is exactly what so many of us have seen with our loved one with LBD. Your calm descriptions, documented evidence and explanations are very helpful.
Thank you for taking a moment to leave this comment! This journey so isolating and without the dx, we had no idea what was happening or what to do. I hope that our journey can help ease the suffering of others who are experiencing the same thing. 💜
Yeouch. My mother has some form of dementia. Right now her short-term memory is non-existent. She has yet to see a neurologist or get an MRI to figure out exactly what kind of dementia she has and what's causing it, but I'm at her place as I type this because the folks at the rehab center where she was at for a while deemed her unsafe to be alone. Since I can earn money anywhere and my brother (only sibling) can't, I suspect I'll be spending more time here than I'd like.
Meanwhile, thank you for sharing your story. I feel less crazy knowing that someone else is dealing with the same kind of thing.
My Dad is the same age as yours, he was a structural engineer and a whiz with numbers. He has all the symptoms your Dad has but since he was diagnosed properly for Lewy Bodies dementia he was given a 24 hour transdermal patch it is a new treatment and it helps tremendously I highly recommend it . We are in the UK. It is called Rivastigmine transdermal patches; he started with a 4.6 mg dose and after a month this was increased to 9.5 mg dose.
Thank you SO much for this information and taking the time to leave this comment! Your dad sounds so similar as a structural engineer. Although my dad lost, early on, his understanding of numbers, many of his hallucinations are still about numbers. I wish we would have been able to seek treatment earlier in the disease. He wouldn't allow anyone to suggest anything and he didn't believe anything was wrong. By the time we could intervene, it was too late to treat with the kinds of meds that would have made a difference. I so glad that you got the correct dx and effective meds ... easier for your dad and your family. Best to you, your dad, and your family! 💜
This just popped up on my feed and I was thankful for it. My husband has PD with LBD. He is sharing many of the same symptoms as your dad. I have subscribed and will be interested in seeing his progression if you care to share. My husband is in Stage 5 Parkinson's, and about Stage 4 LBD, I think. Bless you and thank you for sharing. Very helpful!
Thank you so much for leaving this comment. I'm continuing to document his decline and plan to create more videos in hopes of reaching others who are sharing this impossible journey. Thank you for encouraging me! 💜
Hi Gail, how's your day going with you?
God bless all of you, my heart goes out to you. I am singing Mi Shebeirach - Prayer for Healing for you all.
Thank you for sharing this information and your story. As a RN with a cardio/thoracic surgical step down back ground the doctor just assumed I understood what he was saying. First off my specialty was heart and lungs and secondly as a daughter I am not necessarily thinking like a nurse and that was frustrating. I am fortunate in that as a RN I am able to find the info I needed and that I know how to advocate for what is needed.
It is heart breaking when it’s occurring. My mom had Lewy Body Dementia. When she first started changing she would say she felt like she had air in her head because she couldn’t gather her thoughts. As it progressed, her legs would shake uncontrollably. Her head started to lean forward and she was looking at the ground. She hoarded knives and grocery sacks. She started getting mixed up on the refrigerator versus the fridge. Paranoia and hallucinations were scary for her and us. Her favorite phone number was 911. She too wrecked her car and drove home only to think someone wrecked her car. As the disease progresses, she would smile when she saw me but I could tell she didn’t know who I was. She passed quietly surrounded by her family and her doll.
Thank you so much for sharing part of your story. So many of the details are the same for my dad. And I'm so happy for you and your family that her passing was peaceful. That is my hope and prayer for my dad. 💜
You did an excellent job compiling this video maintaining your father's dignity, yet giving us the bare bones of this personality robbing disease.
My husband has FTD and his began with full blown psychosis of delusional jealousy where after 41 years of faithful marriage he began looking at certain men accusing them as being my lovers. He stalked, harassed, threatened..... it was a horrid time and totally out of the blue. Finally after a scary 2 years we got a mixed dementia diagnosis followed 2 years later by FTD.
Luckily the initial medication dampened the psychosis that was making us all miserable him included, but he very nearly was admitted into the nursing home security ward when they first assessed him. He would have been one of the youngest ones in there though.
7 years in at 71, he's very quiet, sits all day, lost many words, he's easy to manage but dementia has robbed me of a husband.
I sounds like you and I have a lot in common and would have some similar stories. I'm so glad that your marriage (i.e. you were able to stay married) weathered the storm but I know the toll it takes. Chasing the diagnosis, making those impossible decisions about levels of care and supervision, medication, and then spending the remainder of his life watching that decline. And the absolute devastation of FTD is that early age onset. I'm holding love in my heart for you. Thank you for sharing some of your story with me and others. ❤
@@pebroproductions thank you for your kind words. Living through it was sheer hell but looking back now it's a blur. Code words for my sons to come and get me if it got too dangerous, police taking all the weapons, doctors not even considering brain issues.
Finally after breaking down in tears in a new doctors office with my angrily, jealous, jailor husband beside me and declaring the final hell of my innocence (shock, horror on hubbie's face was priceless, even though he'd heard me say it hundreds of times at home, just never blurted it out to others) a CT scan was ordered for him.
I insisted he get it done or I was leaving him. On the way home from the radiology centre we got a call to come see the doctor ( he was a keeper.) I gathered they'd found something and the relief was palpable.
Hubby had had an initial stroke (I knew exactly when it happened. He'd had a headache one evening and woke up a demon, told every doctor that his change had been sudden) and there it was.....left sided brain damage from probably the 2 years earlier when he'd started with his psychosis (Othello Syndrome)....... which they declared was vascular dementia, other tests confirmed a mix with Alzheimers.
At this time he'd also had an interview with the psychiatrist in the lock up ward who would take his case. Luckily for hubby and with great support from family and this new medical team he remained at home.
It took a further 6 months to get the right antipsychotics on board for him to finally feel "normal". Poor guy had been as miserable as me this whole time. FTD diagnosis came in 2019 when his sister got hers as well. I'm glad I hung in there but I nearly didn't.
For me, faith, family, friends, research, finally the right doctors saw me through but I shudder to think on how many families are destroyed before answers are found.
Can't blame some for not hanging in there when the ride can get so bad but for the rest of us, when we get them to that sweet, middle, quiet spot, in their own world before the final, messy hurdle of death we can give all the love we've got whether they acknowledge it or not.
You've done a good job caring and documenting you're dad in moments sad and funny. You'll have nothing to regret.
I've taken video for my sons trying to get their father to say a few words to them while he can, and I can end by saying I'll have nothing to regret. (But it was hard going for a while.)
@@nonacee5065 I can't thank you enough for sharing the depth of your experience. Your words, "Can't blame some for not hanging in there when the ride can get so bad but for the rest of us, when we get them to that sweet, middle, quiet spot, in their own world before the final, messy hurdle of death we can give all the love we've got whether they acknowledge it or not" are perfect ... beautiful, poignant, tender. Words can reach and touch and heal. And I'm exactly like you in your description, " I can end by saying I'll have nothing to regret. (But it was hard going for a while.)" That perspective, that knowing of being a way that we won't regret in the future, that knowing that we will look at ourselves in the mirror for the remainder of OUR life long after our loved one passes ... that has kept me strong all the way through. Again, THANK YOU for taking time to write your story. 💜💜💜
@@pebroproductions all the best dear lady, as many of us face the final challenges with our loved ones.
He reminds me of my Dad so much, Doing a lot of the same things. my dad hoarded bathroom tissue, No rolls just pieces. He always had some in this picket, He would try and sneak and eat tiny pieces of it. Lots of times he saw people that weren't there. I could go on and on about other things he did. I took care of him and my Mom until they passed. Mom passed 15 months after Daddy. It was a big shock to us. Once Dad had to go to a rehab place it was all down hill from there. I did get him out of that place but he never got to go back home but at least was back in our town. I miss them so much. It doesn't matter what you do your never ready for them to go but you don't want to see them suffer either.
Thank you sooo much for this. ❤ seriously you are brave for sharing this. This helps others to better understand a tough situation. I know it helped me.
I'm so glad. I find it comforting to know that I can take my own struggles and help others in any way. 💜
Hi Monica, how's your day going with you?
Thank you for sharing this personal story. The last sentence is, for me, very important. In my previous work I have creating teachings for clinical staff to remember the ‘person inside the patient’. I’m so glad that you try to honor him in this way.💕
Educational and compassionate!
This video should be shown in medical education courses.
Build a CEU course around it.
Thank you and I will share with other professionals.
Agree
It is my greatest hope that my experience can benefit others ... for others to feel seen/heard and to educate anyone who is connected in any way to this disease. I hope it helps!💜
I’m so sorry you and your dad have to go through this disease. I look forward to the day in the future when no one will be sick Isaiah 33:25 and no one will be in pain or die Revelation 21:3,4 We need God’s kingdom which is the only solution to all our problems. Please take care.
Thank you for sharing, my sweet mum is in hospital, they mentioned LBD but have not technically diagnosed it. They are doing other tests to rule it out. I just know it is, I have and still am doing all the research and the symptoms she is displaying matches what I've obtained from research. So sad I'm not ready to lose her, I just can't comprehend it. I cry privately, then.pull myself together again. I pray for a miracle and my heart feels so heavy for the sufferers and their families 😣😓
Thanks so much for sharing with us your father's experiences with LBD, and your own story related to that. There's so much I can relate to. My father officially had a Parkinsons diagnosis, but it bothers me to this day that it was almost certainly not a fully accurate diagnosis. I saw how rapidly his cognition declined (he'd been very highly intelligent, so the shock of seeing this was hard to digest) and after doing some research, I felt very sure that he actually had LBD. No treatment he had ever received seemed to benefit him and I'll always wonder if this was why.
Hi Shirley, how's your day going with you?
Beautiful and powerful, I have nursed many people and they all leave a mark on my journey and nursing. Your gentle and informative message is not lost and you will help others. What a beautiful person you are
You are SO kind to leave this message. I've come to love all of the wonderful people, like you, who care for our loved ones. Thank you!💜💜💜
@@pebroproductions your video maintained the dignity and love of your dad. While stumbling through his illness, and it’s effect on your dad and family shows what many are struggling thru, and cannot be taught from a textbook alone. I would look into branding yourself and story and promoting it educational. You deserve the recognition. Your dad deserves to be shared with others like you, it’s a great way to honour him.
I watched music with patients with dementia, that is also beautifully done and very impactful.
@@kateg6029 It's my sincere hope that my story can help comfort and/or educate. It does feel like a way to honor him while reaching others who are suffering. Thank you for your encouragement! 💜
So informative , hard to watch because I am and have been going through similar.. its a hard road the Hallucinations were and are horrendous, seeing people is a constant occurrence. Accepting that the person you knew isn't there anymore is the hardest . The comfort for me is knowing that she actually isn't aware of what's happening to her and where she is, otherwise I may not be able to function properly as at one point I was being blamed for everything that she felt was wrong . When you have no diagnosis it's even harder because as a care giver doubting yourself creeps in . Feeling inadequate and so tired all the time .Once the diagnosis came the relief and sadness overwhelmed me .
My Mother died of Lewy Body dementia in 2021; she was diagnosed in May 2016 immediately following a stroke. Thank you for sharing. And I’m very sorry about your dad. Any form of dementia just sucks.
*and you’re correct - you will remember the real dad, not the disease. But I find I miss both my “real” mom and the one that replaced her.
This is an excellent video, my mom passed away this July, she was diagnosed with PSP a movement disorder however my mom had the same symptoms. As a family member this is extremely difficult to watch. It's changed me.
I don't often talk about how much this has changed me ... but I know you understand. Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment. 💜
Thank you for sharing. I am going through this with my Mom and finding such comfort that others are having similar experiences.
Hi Jodi, how's your day going with you?
This has been so helpful !! Im terrified and reaching for help with a parent but because symptoms dont fall in an Alzheimer's box no one understands my demise ! thank you !
I totally understand that demise. Me too! My dad's symptoms didn't fit either. He had the memory loss of Alzheimer's but we knew with clarity that it wasn't Alzheimers. He wouldn't seek treatment or be tested for anything. He wouldn't let anyone go to his doctor's appointments. No one had POA so there was nothing we could do. Lewy body was finally diagnosed 5 years into the hell that was his (our) life. I'm only now discovering how many people have our same story. That YOU!💜
This is a very educational video, and very hard to watch at the same time ; Hard to see your hero going through such changes in life and can’t do much about it smh . Thank you for sharing with us ♥️🙏🏾
Thank you so much for taking a moment to write this comment. Thank you for watching it even if it was hard to see. There is comfort in having others witness the journey. 💜💜💜
Thank you so much for sharing ❤️ Your Dad looks very much like my husband. I appreciate your openness with sharing ypur video. We have just begun our journey, but I have reason to believe, it really began long ago. His hallucinations and delusions have somewhat been calmed with medication, can anyone share how medication has helped with their loved one?
I’m so sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations. I too live in Tucson. My little sister was diagnosed with LBD, about 4 years ago. I’m 65, I believe she’s 59. She was an elementary school teacher, her decline has been pretty rapid. It’s hard because she lives in a small town near Houston, Texas. I have been an RN for many years and will graduate with my FNP in May. I tried super hard to convince her daughter to get other opinions as there are meds that can slow down the progression but it fell on deaf ears. I just cry and pray. Sending you prayers of love and light.
That's so hard on so many counts. Not being able to facilitate what you know is right must be so painful! Sending you love and light as well! 💜
My Dad was a fully functioning human when diagnosed with secondary cancer of the liver and brain in early February 1998, 7 months later he was found roaming around the street at night naked.....2 months later he was a helpless vegetable and died in November 1998.