I've just completed a Home Study course, Forgetfulness-VS-Dementia, with Breitung's 'Forgetting: When to Worry, What to Do,' as the required reading for testing. Although I'm an RN satisfying continuing education units, I can say, wholeheartedly, that this book has something for everyone. While medical professionals will gain knowledge from Breitung's work; it is also written in a user-friendly style, that will be just as helpful for lay people struggling to care for a loved one with declining cognition.
Those who may be worrying that their own little slips in memory might portend Alzheimer's for their future, will learn the different types of dementia; when forgetting is deadly serious, and, when it's not necessarily a red flag, and, how a mentally stimulated mind, is one at lower risk. As a health care provider, and, daughter of a mom beginning to suffer some cognitive decline, not only did I find this a well written, researched, and informative book; I found it to be an IMPORTANT book.
According to Brietung and other resources, we are sitting on the edge of an epidemic. Breitung states that there are currently 5 million people in the US living with Alzheimer's. These numbers will go up tremendously, as many aging baby-boomers succumb to this dreaded disease. The cost to our already fragile health care structure in providing the, 8 to 10 years of supervised care often required, will not be sustainable. Everyone will be affected, whether they face these issues in their family, or not. This is definitely something the health care industry needs to prepare for, now; something that every family needs to think about, should the disease strike home.
Brietung explores the cost to society, as family caregivers miss work to take over all the basic needs of their loved one; how the care generally falls to the daughter of the family, who is often still raising young children, at the same time. These caregivers' experience psychological and physical trauma, often becoming ill themselves; likely shortening their own life spans. Plus, this caregiver must live with the horror that Alzheimer's is frequently thought to be a familial, or inherited disease, leaving them to wonder if they are looking into a mirror of their own future. Brietung discusses challenges and responsibilities, home care-vs-nursing home, safety concerns, medications, depression, how to solicit help and community resources, as well as advance care planning and end-of-life preparation. Simply, must have, information!
Everyone should add this book to their reference library. Even as a health care provider, with quite a bit of previous knowledge about cognitive disorders, it sure opened my eyes to the magnitude of the problem we are facing as a society.
And lastly, I'm not going to tell you what TOTs are. I will just say that everyone has them; they occur about once a week, and they do tend to increase as we get older. A clue: What was my neighbor's name again---it's right on the TOT? Read the book to recognize your little TOTs.
