People with dementia speak to Senate Standing Committee
In February 2016, the Canadian Senate asked that the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology study the issue of dementia in our society and to provide a final report in January 2017. On May 18, Mary Beth Wighton and the other members of the Ontario Dementia Advisory Group (ODAG) presented to the committee. View the presentation on SenVu or read her remarks: Good afternoon, Thank you for inviting us to appear before you this afternoon. It’s…
Nightmares or the Orange Pill
I’m tired this morning. The lingering affects of my nightmares stays with me. One of the characteristics of Frontotemporal dementia is sleep disturbances. In addition to this I have been diagnosed with REM sleep behavioural disorder. This “… is a disorder in which you physically act out vivid, often unpleasant dreams with vocal sounds and sudden, often violent arm and leg movements during REM sleep.” Normally you don’t move during REM sleep. About 20 % of your sleep is spent…
Humpty Dumpty
The last few weeks I have been “off.” I have been extremely tired, lack motivation, and am moody. Today, I had another example of how my brain is changing. I was tidying up the bedroom and began to move items in order to dust. I started to pile things on the dresser. I was not being careful but, for some reason, didn’t really care. As I continued, I looked at my South African art ostrich egg that was dangerously positioned…
I have what? Frontotemporal dementia?
As I drove us to the 9:00 a.m. meeting with Dr. Didyk a geriatrician, many thoughts ran through my head. Here we go, another appointment with another doctor. One more stupid test. I hate when they ask me to write down the clock time because I know what time it is. I’m looking forward to my Timmy’s coffee. Once Dawn and I arrived at the hospital, we grabbed a coffee and headed off to the waiting room of the gerontology…