What fails in the body?
In: 4352
They die from complications, being bedridden. My personal experience is a neighbour who had an unmedicated schizophrenic daughter as a care taker. I can tell you that it was a shit show. Eventually the poor guy died from diarhhea or something like that related to dehydration. I’m glad that between his diagnosis and his death only 3 years passed, he was only bedridden a year. I’m sorry if someone in your family has it, brace yourself and be strong, its the worst of illnesses.
Edit, I hope you’re not up voting because you think I made a pun I just saw that! I didnt mean to make a pun it’s a sad situation. The poor woman was 52 and very unstable, she couldn’t handle it and we all had to be there
My grandfather who died “of dementia” actually died of dehydration/possibly a dignity dose of morphine. He stopped eating because he maybe didn’t realize he was hungry anymore? He was not drinking either. Just slowly shut down and then with a last dose of comfort, he went. I read that dehydration can be more violent of a death which is why I sort of lean more toward a kind nurse taking that initiative, but I would never say for sure because that’s illegal where I am. But either way, it *would* have been dehydration.
My grandpa had Alzheimer’s and he died from literally ‘forgetting to swallow his food’ and ultimately choked.
A client I once had died of pneumonia from aspiration from failure to swallow his saliva, from Lewy Bodies Dementia.
An Alzheimer’s patient left alone with no care would die from some silly reason, like tripping and hurting their head, or due to starvation because they forget to eat.
An Alzheimer’s patient that can access a good level of care will eventually die of old age or of complications related to eating, breathing, swallowing or being in bed for too long. They could also die from things that would be normally easy to treat, for example if they had an inflamed appendix they would not tell their doctors that their belly hurts like a normal person would, or if they would tell you that their belly hurt you wouldn’t know if they are serious.
My grandpa spent 10 years in a care home, already by the second year he was uncapable of recognizing anyone and was pretty much a vegetable. At the 10th year they had to start tube-feeding him and he barely lasted a week after that.
The brain controls other essential functions. In my Grandmother 27 years ago it was like a computer just failing to reboot, and a progressive loss of function. The worst was inability to swallow, and ultimately starving to death.
In all deaths, it’s ceasing to breathe and heart failing to circulate blood, lymphatic system failing to circulate/compensate fluids. Your brain controls all that stuff.
Here’s the thing: it’s an awful way to go. Heart attack is better. Painful, but quicker.
My dad recently died of parkinsons. He had dementia, he was already 95% gone in his head.
On the death certificate, they listed the cause of death like so:
Cause of death: community acquired pneumonia caused by COVID.
Secondary causes: fraility caused by Parkinsons.
In fact, Parkinsons didn’t kill him directly, however if he didn’t have Parkinsons, he’d still be alive. He was an active man, working every day, always outside. But with dementia, he was asleep like 16 hours of the day, and sitting on a chair for the rest. He went outside for 5 minutes maximum. He ate very little. He was just a bag of bones at the end.
So due to dementia, he wasted away, became frail, and caught COVID. My mum got COVID at the same time, and she is extremely unhealthy, unlike my dad. However, COVID was very mild for her because she was still active and healthy enough to fight it off. They both had 3 COVID vaxs each already.
I like the quote: “The body can’t live without the mind.”
I remember going to see my great-grandfather the day before he died in his care home. We walked into the room and he was shaking a lot due to after effects of medication. I couldn’t stand seeing him like that so I walked out the room, which is something I’ve regretted for a long time. It was two years yesterday since we lost him.
As a former nursing home employee:
It is a decease which alters the brain, but in the later stages shows itself through lack of motor control.
Which in the end almost reverts the brain back to an ‘infant state’, where life becomes unsustainable without proper caregiving.
Lastly the basic body functions such as swallowing, breathing, moving and discarding waste (incontinence)
It is really a scary decease, and such a hard thing for the people involved
You forget how to eat, how to chew and swallow toward the end. It’s an awful disease. My dad died of it when he was only 67.
If you love someone who has it, pray that something else takes them quickly before they get too bad. Heart attack, whatever. Seriously.
Latest Answers