they take my kindness for weakness still comin out strong

This is too bad, because often it is possible to take actions to avoid or minimize things that might cause dementia to get worse faster. In my experience, people often have heard about things that might slow down decline ( exercise is one of my favorites).īut it seems to me that people are often much less well-informed about the things that can speed up Alzheimer’s decline. In other words, the actions we take - and don’t take - can influence a person’s dementia journey.

(Given enough years, it will eventually damage the brain to the point of causing a slow death, which is why Alzheimer’s is a terminal disease.)īut on the other hand, we do know that some things tend to slow the progression of brain decline, whereas other things seem to speed up the decline. Now, Alzheimer’s disease - the most common underlying cause of dementia symptoms - does slowly get worse no matter what.

“How can one keep Alzheimer’s from getting worse?” Earlier this week, while I was listening to a social work colleague ( Mary Hulme of Moonstone Geriatrics) give a talk on dementia at the public library, the following question came up:

They take my kindness for weakness still comin out strong