Life | Neurodemcy MRU

Beyond the Now: Why We Need Further Research

By Neurodemcy MRUMay 22, 2018Advocacy, Life

As you may know, Neurodemcy MRU is quite dedicated to advocating for further research for dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Today, we wanted to elaborate further on why. As of present, less than three percent of government allocation for medical research is given to neuropathy.

Public Funded Care Is Too Expensive

What a lot of people tend to think is that a person who suffers from dementia or other neurodegenerative disease must have someone they can rely on. We always think of caring family members or even friendly and professional institutions that families put the afflicted in. While this is true for some, this is certainly not true for all.

Those who do not have anyone to care for them are usually handed over to the social care system. Countries like the US and the UK both have institutions in place to take in people who do not have anyone to care for them. In the UK alone, the cost is nearly billions of dollars. This will eventually harm society as a whole as the amount needed to fund public care will eventually be too much.

We Need a Cure

Presently, there is hardly any large effort toward finding a cure or fully understanding what these illnesses are. We need to better understand where this illness is coming from. What starts it? How do we effectively prevent it? How do we help those that are already diagnosed with it?

Most of the focus is developing better medicine to curb any pain or to better sedate those struggling with neurodegenerative diseases. Of course, these medications are highly expensive. Is this why we still don’t have a cure? It is because pharmaceutical companies are so busy trying to make a profit that they realize that there is no profit to be made in finding a permanent cure?

To Conclude

Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases affect millions of people all over the world. Countless of lives are torn up by a disease that continue to ravage minds. How many is acceptable until is too much? How many lives should be affected by these until we all galvanize and really push for further research?

We hope that you join us in raising our voices until we have enough pressure to obtain what we want: further research. With everything that we’ve discussed today, we want to know what you think. Why do you think we need further research into dementia and neurodegenerative diseases?

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Image source: dementiablog.org

Caregiver Burnout: What You Can Do to Recover From It

By Neurodemcy MRUApril 24, 2018Facts, Life

Those that have dementia or neurodegenerative diseases are often robbed of their ability to function normally. Their many symptoms often necessitate the need for a caregiver to be with them 24/7. Being a caregiver can be an extremely taxing job. You, as a caregiver, will be responsible for the well-being of someone who cannot realistically care for themselves and will probably be the least pleasant person when in the throes of an episode.

What is Caregiver Burnout?

Being a caregiver is a demanding job especially when you’re caring for a family member and is receiving no compensation for it. Burnout is normally a word that is associated with work. Feelings of constant tiredness, lack of motivation, drop in production, irritability, and lack of empathy are common symptoms of burnout.

As you can imagine, this is not a good state to be in when you are responsible for someone else.

Recovering

Being a caregiver has a lot of emotional and physical labor so it is important that anyone undergoing burnout should endeavor to recover from it. Here are a few ways:

Rest

While it give you feelings of guilt to stay away from being a caregiver, it is important that you are able to get suitable rest and not be the one who is wholly responsible for someone else. There is a reason why vacation leaves are mandated by law. Just because you’re talking care of a family member doesn’t mean that you don’t need a vacation—even if for a few days.

Get Support

Just because you are the one that is assigned to take care of someone else does not mean that you have to be the ONLY one to care for them. Getting support from other family members or even an actual organization that provides support.

Establish Personal Health Goals

Just because you’re caring for someone else does not mean that you should not care for yourself. Having personal health goals is a great way to keep focused on not just who you are caring for but also on your own progress.

To Conclude

It is estimated that about one in every three adults in the USA provides some sort of partial or total care for other adults. This means that there are a lot of adults that require constant care. This also means that there are a significant number of people out there that may be suffering from caregiver burnout. It is important to be in the right state of being if you are to provide suitable care for someone else.

If you are providing care for someone else, what do you do to recover from caregiver burnout?

What’s at Stake: the Impact of Dementia on Society as a Whole

By Neurodemcy MRUApril 9, 2018Dementia, Life

Dementia is the kind of topic that everyone commiserates over and fervently wishes that they—or anyone they know—never get. This is because dementia has been known to truly devastate those who have it.

Bleak Outlook

More and more people are being diagnosed with dementia and other neurodegenerative issues. This does not really create a positive outlook over the autumn years of a person. Dementia can hit anyone no matter how healthy they are or whatever their social standing in life. So it is quite understandable if so many people in their prime right now do not have a very positive outlook on what the future holds.

When no one is looking forward to their elder years, it affects how they presently live their lives.

Disconnect with the Elderly

It is no secret that those who are afflicted with Dementia are rather difficult to handle at times. They can rather mercurial at times. They can seemingly be completely normal then suddenly be baffled, frustrated, and even angry.

The loss of control is something that we tend to avoid. We like to remember who we are. We like to know where we are and how to be independent. Dementia takes that from us and it can be terrifying and wholly humiliating. This rage and often difficult temper can lead to disconnect between the elderly and the young. The lessons that we could learn from the elderly is effectively cut off.

Spike in Assisted Suicides

One very real but unfortunate impact that dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases have on our society is the spike of those seeking assisted suicides. More and more people are lobbying—and successfully attaining—for laws which allow them to obtain assisted suicide.

Everyone who have read up about dementia and what it does to a person will know that there is nothing good to look forward to. People who have this choice ahead of them choose to either check out of life early rather than wait for their complete decay of their mind and mental functions.

To Conclude

Dementia is something that tends to affect those in the latter stages of their life and we still don’t know what causes it or how to effectively avoid it. This means that this threat, this pall, will always be looming over our heads. Would we be the next ones to be struck down? Is it a loved one? This is why we should not be content with simply managing the symptoms with medication or providing “better” homes and institutions for the afflicted.

What do you think the impact dementia will have on society as a whole?

Neurodegenerative Diseases and Their Effects on Daily Life

By Neurodemcy MRUMarch 12, 2018Life, Neurodegenerative Disease

Anyone who is perfectly healthy will tell you that life can be pretty tough already. There is so much that needs to be done and yet fully healthy people struggle to get it done. So what would life be like for someone with a neurodegenerative disease?

What is a Neurodegenerative Disease?

This is any ailment that targets the nervous system. As an effect, the processes and relay of information which is normally attributed to the nervous system progressively gets damaged and deteriorates over time.

As you may know, our brain uses the nervous system to relay actions or decisions. You are able to move your fingers and other limbs because your brain is telling your nervous system to move your body. A neurodegenerative disease impairs that.

Effects

Cognitive Delay

If you’ve ever watched Pokemon, you’re probably become familiar with the Slowpoke. It’s a hippo looking thing with a silly grin. It is said that the brain process of that thing runs so slow that they could lose their tail and by the time they realize it, a new one has already grown to replace the previous one. It’s kind of like that. Your brain is telling the body to do something but the relay is so slow it’s even perceived and mistaken to be partial paralysis.

Involuntary Movement

The reason why we don’t just twitch all the time is because our brain tells our body that it shouldn’t. Someone with a neurodegenerative disease eventually cannot control what their body does. If you’ve ever seen any odd spasms or movements, chances are they have a neurodegenerative disease. This can make everyday life quite difficult. Constant movement means the muscles do not get to rest and are constantly sore or in pain.

Good luck trying to write, drive, or even cook when your hands are twitching uncontrollably.

To Conclude

There is no doubt that having neurodegenerative disease is highly impairing and really affects the quality fo life a person is able to have. We only hope that our medicine advances enough that we are able to have a cure one day.

From your own knowledge, how does neurodegenerative disease affect life?