Dementia Untangled

In this special bonus episode, playwright Steven Drukman untangles his soon-to-be world premiered play, Pru Payne. Exploring the experience of Prudence, a woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Steven shares his inspiration for creating his vibrant characters and their story, as well as his own personal journey with dementia in his family. He encourages us to “live in the moment” with this inspirational play and why representation matters in our artistic experiences.

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community deal with health disparities and discrimination, even from health care providers. This creates challenges when it comes to education around dementia, and access to resources and support. Dr. Jason Flatt, an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Public Health, is our guest to help untangle these common issues and recognize opportunities for support and care for older LGBTQIA+ people. Jason also reinforces the importance of representation for this group and encourages everyone to get involved in research, especially if you identify as a part of a minority community.

Dr. Pallavi Joshi, Geriatric Psychiatrist at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute helps us better understand the connection between substance use and dementia in older adults. Sometimes considered a taboo topic, she breaks down the different types of substances that can increase one’s chance of cognitive decline, gives us updated terms to better understand the topic, and how intervening early can change the trajectory of the outcome of substance use disorders.

After visiting five different doctors to finally get an accurate diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), our guest Laurie Scherrer found herself feeling lost and hopeless. She felt invisible, alone, and unsure about the rest of her life. That is, until she took her diagnosis into her own hands and found resources, support, and a new outlook on her life. This conversation with Laurie will inspire anyone on the dementia journey to stop wasting time and start having a happy life.

After a diagnosis of dementia, people are often told to “get your affairs in order.” Our guest Emily Kile, an Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney, helps us untangle what that refers to and how to start planning now for legal concerns that we may have in the future on the dementia journey. It’s never too early to develop an estate plan, and Emily helps us understand where to start, what questions to ask, and why it’s so important to have a plan in place as dementia progresses.

You can begin to feel a bit alone after receiving your dementia diagnosis. You may feel a loss of purpose and your ability to stay connected to others around you becomes more challenging as the disease progresses. Our guest this week is a social worker with Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center (RADC) who talks to us about the realities of feeling loneliness. Expert Susan Frick helps untangle not only the feelings as a person living with the disease, but also the caregiver who is supporting their loved one. She paints us a picture of what this may feel like and how caregivers and community members can help alleviate some of these feelings. She also encourages people to talk about their situation and reduce stigma around the disease.

Every season of “Dementia Untangled” often reveals and underlying theme and this one was no different. This time, we revisit some of our favorite moments from Season 5 with our editor/producer Amber Ayers and discuss our theme of hope. It’s been said “hope is a survivor trait” and the stories we heard have reassured us that there IS hope for the future, ways to live well with dementia, and the approaching day when we have our first survivor of Alzheimer’s disease.

Traveling can provide many benefits to our well-being, but also may create anxiety and stress, even without cognitive changes happening. Jan Dougherty joins us this week to share practical strategies to help alleviate some of the stressors that can be created by traveling with dementia and reinforces the benefits of travel for one’s mental health. She untangles how, even though symptoms may be managed well at home, that a change in location or routine may be upsetting - even with short trips to the store or doctor’s office.

As memory and cognitive changes progress in people with dementia, some can experience a delusional belief that a person or object has been replaced by an imposter – a syndrome known as Capgras. Our guest Dr. Ganesh Gopalakrishna, a Banner Alzheimer’s Institute dementia specialist, helps us identify this behavior and offer helpful suggestions on how to re-establish trust and comfort your loved one. He shares with us how auditory connections can help avoid the anxiety that accompanies the confusion that is experienced, as well as what can be done to support and encourage caregivers that are experiencing the effects of this syndrome.

As a loved one’s dementia diagnosis progresses, caregivers will face a change in behaviors that can sometimes be hard to manage and even overwhelming at times. In this episode, our guest Kathleen Buckwalter, a geriatric mental health nurse, teaches us about the Progressively Lowered Stress Threshold (PLST) model and how to use it to minimize some of those challenging behaviors. She untangles the effect that stress has on us all, and how she worked to identify opportunities as a caregiver to minimize it and move through most situations.