Natural Remedies, Acupuncture, Dementia and Care Giver Stress

It's been one week today since my mom had Acupuncture for the first time to help her dementia symptoms.  It was our last hope to help her before we began traditional medicine drugs.  Knowing the effects that pharmaceuticals have on her from past experience, we opted to go down the natural remedies road.

We see an accredited Naturopath Doctor, one that we found from the National Association of Naturopathic Doctors website.   Dr. Shiva Barton is our doctor, we've been seeing him for about a year.  The natural supplements and remedies that he prescribes has dialed my mom back to the point where she sleeps through the night.  Remedies that he prescribed help me to tame my mom's delirium and hallucinations that can be triggered by food that my mom eats or hallucinations that scare her.

Acupuncture has given my mom her voice, she is communicating, she is able to focus her attention on a movie or TV sitcom.  She even enjoys watching the Red Sox play ball; something that brought her enjoyment in the past.

I can talk to my mother again.  We all can.  My mom is happy because she can be involved in conversations, she can keep up and add to the conversations.

My mom, she's a drug free Senior, off all pharmaceuticals, drugs that seemed to cause more problems than they had solved.  Today, she is walking down the gentle and natural road of healing.  A glimmer of hope has been sparked.  We have more time, more quality time with our little mom.

Today I am excited and happy.  My dreams are coming true.   My mom is able to communicate, my stress level is dropping, my family has returned and I no longer need to live in the crazy world of Lewy alone.

Just when I was ready to give up and call 911 to take my mom away, help came.  It arrived all at once when I was ready to give in to the stress of Care Giving.  I became one of those people who cried to the Heavens, asking the question "WHY?!"

The help that arrived came just in time.  I was spiraling downward, forgetting everything that I had learned to help keep my spirit happy and in peace.  I cried, a lot.  My tears made things worse.  More shit was coming at me, more burdens and more pressure.  My head was about to blow off the top of my head and I was even beginning to think that being dead is better than dealing with this shitty hand that I was holding.  I cried.

I wanted peace.  I needed peace.  I needed people to help me instead of me helping more people.  I just couldn't do it anymore.  My nerves were shot and my body began to shake from the inside; a disturbing tremor that was unsettling.   I cried.  I called our Naturopath Doctor and scheduled an Acupuncture treatment for myself to treat my stress.

Stress can and does kill.  I felt it.  I was beginning to have some scary symptoms that were brought on by the stresses of Care Giving.  My well was dry and people were coming to me for more... I couldn't do it.  I snapped.  I hollered.  I cried.  I screamed.  I needed to take care of me because no one else will do it for me.

I said NO!  I screamed at all those who were shirking their own responsibilities and trying to dump them on me.  I couldn't do it.  My mom and all the pressures of my own life have consumed my life.  I have no life.  I want my life back, even just a little bit of it.  I deserve to live a happy life.

Knowing that I create my own happiness, I said NO.  I pissed people off with my approach, but I don't care.  Who needs people around that are more like energy vampires than human angels offering a helping hand.  Some times people need to be kicked in the head with words and vulgarity because it's the only thing that will jolt them out of complacency.

Today I am happy.  I am creating my dreams in my mind, holding happy thoughts, thoughts that are manifesting before my eyes.  No one will come in and take this away from me because I will not allow it.  I chose to be happy with myself and all of my actions.  I deserve to be happy.  Everyone deserves to be happy.  Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own lives in order to birth the life of their dreams.  I am following the beat of my own drum with a plan to create more peace and happiness.

An Independence Day to Remember

Mom's having good results with Acupuncture.  The first treatment has given my mom her voice, she can communicate.  She is finding her words and can tell everyone what's on her mind.  It's not all pleasant, mostly because she is still tied up in the memories of her hallucinations.  Fortunately, because she can tell me what's on her mind we are able to discuss the trouble and resolve the underlying issues.

Acupuncture has worked.

My mom is pleasant.  We can chat.  She understands me and what I am saying.  She isn't looking past me at some hallucination.  Mom easily engages in conversation after her first Acupuncture treatment; just like the old days.  It's exciting.  (The photo shows my mom and my sister Ann in 2001, 9 years ago when she was on lots of pharma drugs and eating the wrong foods.  My mom began hallucinating in 2005.)

I still don't know how long the affects of the Acupuncture will last.  In the study that I had read where they used Acupuncture for dementia, the test group who had a treatment regularly for 3 months had shown an average of a 43% improvement in cognition.  We'll use Acupuncture regularly, to begin she'll have a treatment twice a month.

This is certainly an Independence Day to remember, it's the year that my mom came back to the real world.  We are all regaining our independence this weekend.

Yesterday, for the first time in over 2 years, my husband and I left my mom home alone with my MIL.  We went out for 2 hours and even stopped for a Margarita on the way home from our quick little shopping trip.  It was like the old days, days when we would just hop in the truck and not worry about who will stay with Jo.

Mom is still doing great with the Acupuncture.  It's still working.  She's settling in to her new normal.  Her mind seems to be working better.  Bad and annoying behaviors are now just memories, memories I'd rather forget.  I prefer to embrace the progress, the happy times that Acupuncture has uncovered bringing with it an Independence Day to remember.