Friday, October 17, 2014

Let's Clear The Air

As expected, I received a little bit of backlash from my post yesterday. Though I expected it from this person, I feel a little disheartened by the criticism; but I have to remind myself that I began writing this blog for two reasons: 1. To share and express the journey we're on and write down the things that I feel which are difficult to verbalize and 2. To try to help other people on their journey as well. Some things are harder to open up and write about than others, but I feel like I am cheating my readers if I don't share it all. Who knows what post might affect whom.

Let me clear up some misunderstandings about my last post.

1. I am NOT declaring that homeopaths are or will be curing my mom. Do I think those things can help? Yes, and that is because of my own, personal experience with it. Do I think they are going to bring her back from dementia? No.

2. I am NOT declaring that it is solely the homeopaths that have improved mom's speech, or anything else for that matter. It has certainly occurred to me that taking her off of the meds she was on has helped to improve her speech. I simply stated the facts: we weaned her off her meds, supplemented with homeopaths, and saw very slight improvements in certain areas. Most other areas remain the same and have shown no improvement; I was only sharing what several of us have seen and trying to have some shred of optimism in this crappy hand we've been dealt.

3. This blog is about my mom but it is also about our journey, including mine. I feel that everything I share on here correlates to my mom and her dementia. There are certain events that have influenced the way I think and feel or evoked some sort of emotion that I share in a given post. There are things that I am learning along the way and I feel like that's okay to share. If you don't agree with my way of thinking, that's okay. I'm not declaring that I am a doctor or that I have all the answers. I am sharing our journey and each person can decide for themselves their takeaway from reading my blog.

4. I've been accused of turning my blog about dementia into a blog about my crazy health theories; aren't the two (health and dementia) related? I share my health experiences simply to send the message that lifestyle CAN play a factor in overall health, even dementia. I made some lifestyle changes and I've seen an improvement in my health, including focus/memory issues I was having!! I am not making any declarations of what has definitively brought about mom's changes; I'm just sharing my personal affirmation of how these things have helped me and my own personal belief of how it can help my mom, or rather, someone who is not as advanced in the disease as my mom. I can't tell you how many studies I've read that have found connections with lifestyle and dementia. If you don't believe it to be true, that's fine. And if my blog is intended to help other people, then why would I not want to share some of the knowledge I've acquired and try to prevent this disease from affecting more people? I don't claim to have the answers; I just want to share what I've learned so that maybe, just maybe, someone else can prevent it from happening. Does anybody really have the right answer?? If they did, we'd have a cure!

I apologize if any of my readers have felt misled or interpreted my post to mean that mom is on the mend; that is not the case. We all know what the outcome of this dreaded disease is.

With all of that to say, I hope you all will continue reading. Unless, of course, you are losing sleep at night over the things I post. In that case, I won't be offended to part ways ;)

7 comments:

  1. I am sorry you were criticized. You are doing a great job of trying to help your mom and others in similar positions. Please keep posting and exploring.

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  2. I agree with Bev. You are doing a wonderful job. Ignore the ignorant, they don't know any better.

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  3. I'm sorry you are having such a hard time, you are working hard to keep up with your mother's illness. If I have one concern it's only your way of stating the challenge you are faced with as being dealt a crappy hand. I know why you feel that way, but I don't need to tell you, of all people, God has not dealt crappy hands. One thing I have never done is ever wonder why someone I love has or had to die. God sees the entire picture. I don't know why my sister has what she has other than it happens to people everywhere since man has walked this earth. No one can, nor should they, blame nor suspect neither her nor her "lifestyle". Millions of people eat the same foods and don't fall victim to extremely rare diseases. I'm not saying this to criticize what you believe. I just don't want it to reflect on my sister and that she did something to bring this disease on. Don't beat yourself up for not knowing what could not be known. There are thousands of problems in life that we have no answers for. As you know, it is all evened out in the end by a loving God who took upon Himself pain and suffering from every infirmity to become the Master Physician to us and our souls. Your devotion to your mother's care will be a jewel in your crown in the eternities.

    Keep your chin up, and your knees bent.

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    1. I understand what you are saying Uncle Mike. I don't know if you understand what I'm trying to say...I'm not trying to say that my mom did this to herself by living an unhealthy lifestyle. My mom never drank, smoke, etc. In that way, she was very healthy. What I am saying is that there is a lot more research and evidence now that suggests certain food sensitivities (gluten being a big one, high sugar levels being another, and the list goes on) are causing a lot of neurological damage and other health issues. I've read a lot of studies about it, too much to ignore the fact that my mom had a lot of the issues I've read about, including (now) dementia.You say lots of people eat the same foods with no problems...but that's not really true. For one thing, we have a number of health epidemics today...why is that? Also, everyone's bodies react differently to things, just as your body reacts to sugar differently than a person without diabetes. I know you have a different viewpoint and that's okay. I just get annoyed with people criticizing mine because I HAVE done the research, not just one or two articles about it. I've read A LOT of studies on it. I think it's natural to wonder why and want answers so that we can avoid it in the future...that's why scientists work to find the cause and a cure! I feel like I'm stumbling onto some things that could've played a role, as a trigger, and I want to do my best to prevent that from happening to me and other people. Of course we don't have all the answers. But I pray one day we will!!

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  4. "Those that mind, don't matter. And those that matter don't mind." You all are living your life, not the naysayers. Live your life, care for your parents and children as you see fit. Everybody has their own journey to get through. And if a holistic, homeopathic approach is good for you all, then that's what you should do.

    I used to use a lot of olive oil. I have since switched to coconut oil (you ought to see my dogs and a tablespoon of coconut oil, wow, they go nuts). We all change things to fit the way we want to live. Good for you!

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  5. I find it offensive (for you) that people would get mad at you for your innocent little posts! It's a sad, sad fact that we are soooooo addicted to our crappy, man-made syrups and sugars that people hurl uninformed criticisms at those of us who are working hard to find the truth on how to nurture our body and minds! It's a defence mechanism because they don't want to look at their own misinformed ways. You are right on the money that food plays a Huge roll in it! I've done the research too! I've also tried to feed my dog plastic and seen him get so sick he couldn't move! How can putting hydrogenated oils and other non-food related substances in our body nOT give us one ailment after another? Half of our grociery stores are made up of fake stuff they call food! It's most certainly not anyone's fault they get dementia, but it IS a government problem that it's legal for them to sell this stuff to us when the research proves how harmful it is to our health.

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