What Really Causes Alzheimer's Disease - Soil and Health Library

saw this as a death sentence. “Tears welled up in my eyes
uncontrollably; spasms of depression grabbed me by the throat.
I was nearer to death than I anticipated.” After a few days of
reflection, he decided that some good might come out of the
diagnosis. “After 40 years of pussyfooting with words, I finally
had a story of hell to tell.” The end result of this courageous
decision is his book Losing My Mind: An Intimate Look at Life
with Alzheimer’s, which is filled with journal quotations that
chronicle his descent into hell as he passes further into the
Alzheimer’s abyss. In his own words:
This is an unfinished story of a man dying in slow
motion. It is filled with graffiti, sorrow, frustration, and
short bursts of anger. While the narrator suffers his
internal spears, he tries to surround himself with memories
in a wan attempt to make sense of his life and give
meaning to its shallow substance before he expires.
Although incomplete, the story is full of sadness and
missed opportunity, a lonely tale of the human condition.
Behind it is hope, the tortured luck of a last chance. 19
If you want to really learn what it is like to sit “at the edge of
failure and hope,” read DeBaggio’s book. 20
The process of reverse myelinization that is so characteristic of
Alzheimer’s disease often destroys the life, not only of the affected
patient, but also of those who love and care for them.
This relationship has been described graphically by Shenk. 21
The unique curse of Alzheimer’s is that it ravages several
victims for every brain it infects. Since it shuts down
the brain very slowly, beginning with higher functions,
close friends and loved ones are forced not only to witness
an excruciating fade but also increasingly to step
in and compensate for lost abilities. We all rely on the
assistance of other people in order to live full, rich lives.
A person with dementia relies increasingly—and, in the
fullness of time, completely—on the care of others.
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