I would like to first catch you up on the progression of my dad’s dementia. When I first heard the word dementia I thought, ok, so they forget things and forget how things work, the end. There is so much more involved with them forgetting. No, really, SOO much more! We used to just be able to verbally direct my dad to the bathroom and from there it was all good. Our first realization that it was no longer “all good” was a couple months ago. I’d gone into the bathroom, thinking nothing of nothing and then I reached for the toilet paper…. it was soaked with pee. Yep, he thought that was the toilet and from then on we’ve had to keep on eye on him constantly, and It’s progressively gotten worse.
The second time it happened was when we returned home from camping at Noisy Creek. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner and when I hopped into the front seat I hear this splattering sound, like something liquid was being poured into metal behind my seat in Harvey the RV. Yep, there was dad, peeing in the empty metal dog dish, splattering all over, unaware of anything. Thankfully most of it ended up in the dish. Since then, it’s been peeville, pee patrol and for pee’s sake. Thankfully he still knows when he has to go, but no place is safe. He’s lifted the seat cushion of his chair (thinking it’s the toilet lid) and pee’d all over it before I could run in to redirect him. He’s went in the trash, in the middle of the floor, in front of the sink and a few times he’s almost went on his end table and tv tray. Thankfully we don’t have carpet anywhere! There’s no point in ever getting bothered about it, it’s just part of the disease. Since no place is safe we have everything covered in his room, so his place is pee proofed, (at least it wont soak into anything again) and when he comes over to the house we make sure he’s not left alone for a second, cuz that’s all it takes!
Mitch even got extra camera’s set up around Pops place to really keep an eye on him. They have motion sensor’s on them so they beep when they sense movement. We’ve gotten trained like pavlov’s dog to respond when we hear that bleep, bleep, bleep. It’s 20 steps to make it into his place, and 9 times out of 10 we can redirect him to the bathroom in time, thankfully!
The newest thing is him spitting on the floor, where ever he is, what ever it is.. snot, flem, his pills, water, and anything in his mouth at the time, it will be on the floor right in front of him or on his plate. He’ll even take a drink of his coffee, swish it around in his mouth and spit it out, just cuz. That is this disease! Recently we’ve noticed that he will hold liquid in his mouth and not swallow for quite a while (we think he forgets he even has it in his mouth). It’s called dysphagia, and unfortunately this also comes with the territory.
From what I’ve learned they will even forget how to swallow, how to chew, how to speak. It’s not ok, I can’t just watch this happen, we’ve got to try everything we can. We tried a couple different kinds of medications on him. One to slow the progression, it was awful. He could barely walk, vomiting, sleeping half the day and a zombie the other half of the day. We stopped giving it to him after the first night. Another drug was to help him relax, not get so aggitated and to sleep through the night. Talk about sleep, they said to give him half a pill, so we did that first night and he fell asleep with a fork in his hand and cake on his plate, then he was still up half the night, bouncing off the walls. We thought maybe it was just too strong so we gave him 1/4 of a pill and that seemed to slightly help him but still he was having such difficulty walking and focusing and sleeping. During this time he stopped laughing at things, he wasn’t even able to finish the words of songs that he knew. These signs seems to say that soon we would need to start feeding him. After talking with his doctor about my concerns and hopes to get him off that medicine he said I could stop giving them to him immediatiely. There was a difference in his disposition as soon as it was out of his system. Drugs were doing more harm than good, so I opted to see what is out there in the world that is natural. I was shocked to find out about the great success people are having with natural products and I was honestly quite annoyed that it’s not common knowledge that these things really can help. I wish I’d known sooner!
Studies have shown that you’ve got to be your own advocate,
do the research and seek the truth,
especially if it’s something that nature already provides!
One really good thing from all of this is that he has totally forgotten that he smokes. On occasion he’ll ask where his lighter is and then forget that’s what he was looking for and rarely does he mention cigarettes. When he does want a smoke we give him the electronic one, he’ll take one puff and be done or he ends up playing with it for 20 minutes taking it apart and putting it back together just to hand it back to us completely disinterested.
Going nuts for coconut oil….
Seriously, I think that coconut oil and turmeric is helping my dad and his dementia!
Anyone and everyone, please hear me when I say…………………….
COCONUT OIL AND TUMERIC MAY HELP SOME PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA!
do some googling, watch video’s and read all about the best kind and what people are doing for their loved ones. I’m not giving any medical advice, I’m just a daughter trying to bring back her father. That being said, it’s only been a couple weeks, but for everyone who knows anyone that is affected by this awefulness of dementia what’s the harm in learning more about it and giving it a try?
I’ll list a few of the changes we’ve (including caregivers) noticed:
he’s laughing again at things on TV.
he stopped saying he doesn’t care (as that’s been his latest saying for the last couple weeks).
he’ll still ask what’s happening, and ask the good Lord to help him, but it’s not for hours on end.
He calls the dogs by their names again.
He has an interest in things again, so much so he put some almonds in the sink and clogged up the drain. This may seem trivial but before that he had no interest in anything!
He has been more alert than he’s been in months!!
He sleeps better at night.
He’s even joking around like he used to.
When I start a song now, he’ll finish the line! I’ll sing ” Tie a yellow ribbon” and he’ll say “round the old oak tree” or I’ll say, “A bushel and a peck” and he’ll say, “and a hug around the neck”. I just can’t express the joy it brings me to have him doing this again.
Intially I bought everything in pill form, thinking it would be the best and the easiest to monitor his intake. After reading and learning more, I am now using the real deal of each.
We are using Nutiva Organic Virgin Coconut oil right now, but love Island Fresh Superior Organic Coconut Oil from Amazon and already went through one container and ran out. It doesn’t have a strong smell and is a great price for the value!
virgin cold pressed, not refined, deodorized or bleached. (make sure you read those labels, found a couple brands that looked like they were exactly the same, until I came across one little word that means lots,… refined) I give him
Coconut oil -two tablespoons in the morning and plan to work him up to two at night.
Turmeric-1 teaspoon in the morning
They say not to heat the oil in the microwave as it removes nutrients, thankfully it melts easily so I just put it in a little glass then dunk the glass in some hot water, it melts within a couple minutes.
The other morning for the first time I gave it to dad to drink, along with the teaspoon of Tumeric.
Initially I tried to put it in his oatmeal, he ate it the first day, the next day he hardly ate any. I put it in his coffee, he drank less than half a cup. Finally I decided the best way to make sure he gets all the goodness is just give it to him straight. I thought he would be grossed out by the taste, so I took a video of his first time drinking it. When I asked him what he thought, I meant the taste of the mixture but he thought I meant did he think it was working already, so cute.
Two days after having him drink it straight, it went straight through him…. literally! Always best to ease them up to 4 tbsp. and mix with food…. or it might just hit the fan, (or the chair) if you know what I mean. My bad, I was overly excited to get it started in his system! Sorry poops, I mean Pops!
As of now, I put the turmeric in the pancake batter, and melt the coconut oil in with his syrup and that has been the best process so far. And in the evening, I plan to put it in a yummy little shake for him (after his body gets used to the 2 tbsp).
He is by no means cured, but his disposition is better, his quality of life is better and that’s what really matters at this point.
Goin' Road Trippin' 
You are my new hero, Shawna. Keep learning, keep trying, I have a feeling that one day your efforts will make a huge difference in other people’s lives as they deal with the same issue.
Dan,
From your finger tips into the universe! My only hope is for it to be true! Thank you!