dementia | DrPullen.com – Medical and Health Blog

Many of us had the vow, “Till death do us part” as the last phrase of our wedding vows. Probably nothing makes this more complicated than when one partner in a marriage develops end stage dementia such that the relationship becomes extremely one sided. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in general is among the more dreaded of maladies we face in life. How to deal with the tragedy of living as the surviving cognitively competent spouse has to be among the more difficult situations a person can find themselves left to face. Sometimes the partner with dementia may not even recognize who the spouse is at the end.

I don’t watch televangelist Pat Robertson but interestingly his recent response to the question about the moral issues facing the spouse of an institutionalized patient with advanced Alzheimer’s disease has pushed this type of dilemma into the public eye. This and similar very difficult and sticky personal, ethical, religious situations usually are relegated to individuals, families and friends to face quietly and personally. That is likely where they belong, maybe in consultation with one’s personal pastor or confidant. Certainly live on a televangelist’s show is no place to have the issue of an individual debated. The New York Times ran an article that addresses some of these issues that makes for a thoughtful read:

Robertson Stirs Passions With Suggestion to Divorce an Alzheimer’s Patient

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: September 16, 2011

With his suggestion this week that a man whose wife was far “gone” with Alzheimer’s should divorce her if he wanted a new companion, the television evangelist Pat Robertson stumbled into treacherous moral terrain, setting off storms of criticism and questions about a disease that shatters lives and families.

Other conservative Christian leaders were swift to condemn his remarks as a call to violate the biblical sacrament of marriage. Many doctors and patient advocates had a more complex response, with many suggesting that Mr. Robertson, 81, had repeated misleading stereotypes about Alzheimer’s but had also broached an important subject, how spouses and other family members of dying patients can prevent their lives from being engulfed and start to move on. Read more

Here is a clip from Pat Robertson’s show where he addresses this issue.

I saw an interesting snippet on the evening news last night about Ginkgo Biloba being shown not to improve health. Besides it not working, one thing was very interesting to me. Currently almost all of the herbal and alternative medication remedies have far too little research that would come close to meeting FDA requirements for a new prescription drug to make claims of efficacy, the US is starting to fund major studies on alternative medications. I think this is great news. Right now I really have to tell patients that I just don’t know if the (fill in the blank here really) that they are taking or are considering taking really helps. On the one hand placebo is powerful medication, and I will rarely tell a patient that something that they believe helps really does not help. On the other hand I see patients with very limited financial situations spending real money on supplements and remedies that have little or no proof of benefit. I hope to see more well done studies on this topic. Read Reuter’s article about this study on FoxNews.com.

For ideas on ways to possibly improve memory and brain function, especially in old age, see this article. Ginkgo doesn’t work: Are there better ways to save your brain? Unfortunately most of them require more effort than swallowing a couple pills. All drugs have potential side effects. What we all probably need to do is manage our diet and exercise to improve our lipid type and try to prevent diabetes.

Tag Archive: dementia

Alzheimer’s Complicates the Vow Till Death Do Us Part

Finally: A big formal study on an herbal supplement.