Fighting Memory Loss and
Reducing Fatigue with Elderly Parents
Nutrition is generally a foremost issue with elderly parents. It
seems that after they gain in years and or lose their partners, they
gravitate to toward
their previous adolescent
eating behaviors. For my
mother it was fruit and tasty carbohydrates in the form of cookies
and ice cream. She never was a fan of vegetables.
Her
idea of salad is something you feed rabbits.
Eventually
her
regression to these eating behaviors over the span of twenty years
resulted in memory loss and fatigue.
Her
diet contributed to development of Candida Albicans,
the symptoms in advanced stages are also memory loss and fatigue. The
challenge was to locate a doctor that acknowledged
the
existence
of Candida Albicans and
then
that it could be
a
health
issue.
To
further complicate life, she then
contracted Lyme disease which
accelerated her physical
symptoms. It seemed that every time we found a nutritionist or a
doctor who knew his stuff, something would happen--he'd
move away; get in an auto accident or…
Fortunately she has always taken a good multivitamin otherwise the
symptoms of memory loss and fatigue may have come much earlier in
her life.
Once
we found a doctor who didn't know his stuff who after
running tons of diagnostic tests found nothing and eventually diagnosed
her with depression-well who wouldn't get depressed with a doctor
who didn't know his stuff?
Fortunately
we eventually found a
doctor who was nutritionally oriented and with a whole host of
nutritional supplements
(Neuro Replete being he main one), but overall too
many to remember
th4e dosage and times of day
to take
them. We had to make a
list with times and amounts. Along with some dietary adjustments
within months she was back to her relative normal self. I was
wishing there there was a cap for the supplements that would have an
audio chip which upon touch play and audio of the dosage and times
of the day. Later
I found that one had been invented but it was very expensive and not
easily available.
What
I observed is that (at age 82) as her fatigue increased, she also
experienced brain fog and experienced significant memory loss. The
worse her diet, the greater the memory loss became. She had
difficulty remembering anything for more than two minutes. I began
fearing senility as the next stop and that
I'd soon
be looking for a nursing
home.
No
matter how I prodded her to eat more protein and vegetables, she was
hooked on her cookies, tasty crackers, and ice cream. As
a child having a temper tantrum she
would not budge and what was more frustrating she forgot everything
I had said about adjusting her diet within minutes
of the conversation. As
we shopped in the grocery store, she actually wobbled and I thanked
God she was holding onto the grocery cart. She constantly complained
of feeling drunk although she has never had a drink of alcohol in
her life.
Her symptoms became so bad that I took her to emergency services at
the hospital for extreme abdominal pains. She was certain she had
the same mortal infection (cancer) from which her mother passed. A
multitude of tests were run, they checked her it to run more
tests and all tests came back negative.
Her doctor was at wits end. Fortunately I suggested a stool analysis
and it was positive for candida
albicans.
With
her doctor's support, she reluctantly
she began a shift in her diet.
It was ironic that she could remember what he said about a diet shift
but not my previous urgings. Nevertheless, it
was too little and too late. He added supplements and she forgot to
take them.
Every
two or three days she called me begging me to make an appointment with
her
doctor. She was hoping for that magic pill and wouldn't accept the
possibility it was all diet connected. In desperation I took matters
into my hands, ordered a Vita Mix and began adding Xooma coral calcium
to her bottled 5 gal drinking water--something
I should have done years ago.
The
Xooma Coral Calcium is a blend of over
seventy balanced minerals in ionic form that is added to daily
drinking water. It
promotes memory and reduction of fatigue among many other benefits.
Each
day I processed a clove of garlic, a carrot, stalk of celery and a
small red beet along with Pro Biotics, Intestinal Support with
L-Glutamine (nutrients for the intestinal track), and Fruitein (a
blend of protein, fruits, vegetables, and green foods).
You
must add a cup of water otherwise the blend will be too stiff. Fortunately
she found the drink tasty and somehow remembered to drink it
throughout the day.
For
three weeks there was no improvement and then she began showing
gradual improvement. It was so good to have her memory return. She
stopped wobbling, had a surge of energy, and I was able to convince
her to accept a reward system, i.e. she could only reward herself with
cookies after she ate meat or some from of protein.
She even stopped bugging me about making appointments with the
doctor, in fact she doesn't want to see him anymore because at her
last appointment he asked her how she was feeling and she responded
that she's always tired-her main complaint.
And
he responded by saying, “You're
always tired.”
I
guess it was his way of saying, “I really don't believe you're
that tired.” So if you don't feel that you're elderly parents
are doing as well as they might, may I suggest investing in:
1.
A vita mix for the juice drink--no need to remove the pulp.
2.
Add Xooma coral
calcium to their drinking water
3.
A multivitamin such as the Complete
Nutritional System by Rainbow Light.
