Coping with Forgetfulness in ... Video Transcript

Participants

, Alan Dengiz MD, Marc Lawrence Gordon MD, Norman Relkin MD, PhD, Gary W. Small MD

Summary

People with early-stage Alzheimer's disease know that they will have trouble remembering things. But there are a variety of techniques that can help them cope.

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Researchers hope the future will bring a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Right now, however, the best doctors can offer a recently-diagnosed Alzheimer's patient are medications that may slow the progression of symptoms.

GARY W. SMALL, MD: Currently, there are three cholinesterase inhibitors that are generally used to treated Alzheimer's disease: galantamine, rivastigmine and donepezil. Studies find that they definitely help patients with the symptoms of the disease.

ANNOUNCER: These medications, however, can only slow deterioration. So doctors encourage patients and their caregivers to follow a variety of strategies to improve their ability to cope with the disease. Often patients are very much involved in this process, because the disease is being diagnosed earlier than in years past.

GARY W. SMALL, MD: Because there's greater awareness of the issues of cognitive loss as we age, we're getting more and more people at the early stage of the disease who are diagnosed and being treated, so they're still able to hold a conversation; they're still aware of their deficits and some of the issues.

ANNOUNCER: One of the first strategies these patients might follow is to make sure they maintain as many social ties as possible.

ALAN DENGIZ, MD: They need to stay involved in whatever groups that they've been involved in, whether it's a men's club or it's a church group or it's the synagogue, or wherever it is that they feel at home and feel comfortable, where they have support and friends and family. Because one of the things that happens in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, people are afraid that other people will notice that they're having memory problems, so they begin to withdraw. And that's one of the worst things that you can do. That accelerates the depression that often goes along with this illness.

ANNOUNCER: Doctors also stress exercises and healthy eating. Vitamin E may help in some ways, too. But patients can really help themselves by developing techniques to cope with deteriorating memories.

MARC L. GORDON, MD: I do have one patient who is sort of my star patient, who was a very intelligent person at baseline, a PhD, who has had Alzheimer's disease diagnosed for about two years.

This patient uses compensatory strategies. When I talk to him on the telephone, he says, "Wait, let me get a pencil and write this down," as a way of being able to make sure that the information is retained, because he knows not to necessarily rely on his short-term memory.

ANNOUNCER: Writing things down and creative labeling are among the most useful strategies.

ALAN DENGIZ, MD: Keeping a diary, keeping a notebook, keeping lists of things, keeping phone numbers, having on the telephone maybe the names of people that you call frequently and the phone numbers next to them, and even as the disease progresses, simply maybe having the picture of the person that you want to call with the phone number next to them. Or, even better, having somebody actually program the phone with a little picture over each of the numbers that you might be able to use.

ANNOUNCER: Maintaining order is important, too.

ALAN DENGIZ, MD: So you want to have a specific place where you're going to put your keys. You're going to want to have a specific system in place for you to do things that you might otherwise have been able to do by memory.

ANNOUNCER: People with Alzheimer's often wander off. A name and address bracelet can be helpful if a person gets lost.