Lewy Body Phrase for 10-31: Our Upcoming Book

What better day than Halloween to talk about a book that helps care partners deal with the frightening and bewildering behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) that start showing up far too early with LBD but eventually show up with most dementias?

We plan to have our upcoming book published in time you to use it as a Christmas gift. If you've been following daily October blogs, you already know what it is about. Each of these blogs is a tiny sample of the information in the book.

Of course, since these blogs were kept very short, they contained only a few of the items covered in the book under each subject and seldom included the many quotes that make the book so much more personal.

We plan to offer versions of the book: one for care partners and one for care staff. You can get one for yourself and one as a gift for your helper. We will list it on LBDtools.com and on Amazon so watch for a notice!

For information about Lewy body disorders, read our present books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-30: Sense-based Therapies

These non-drug options for management of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) all use the sense pathways to the brain, which lasts longer than language or reason.

Aromatherapy uses diffuses healing oils into the air to calm, fight infection, or energize. It is easy to use and can be effective even with people who have lost their sense of smell.

Non-custodial touch (vs. that used in physical care) can decrease anxiety, agitation, physical pain and stress while improving comfort, relaxation and reassurance.

Massage therapy soothes and relaxes. Simple massage can be learned quickly by care partners and provide wonderful together time.

Acupressure uses finger pressure to calm, improve sleep and speech and relieve pain. While less effective than acupuncture, it can be easily learned and used by care partners.

Sound therapy uses sound vibrations, music and rhythm to enhance mood, relaxation and cognition.

Visual stimulation uses light, color, shape and motion to stimulate and relax.

For information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors. As informed caregivers, they share the information here foreducational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a physician's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-29: Relaxation Exercises

Relaxing the body relaxes the mind, lowers stress and decreases behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

Relaxation sessions can:

• last a few minutes, as with deep breathing, or longer, as with yoga.
• be easy, as with listening to music or following the directions of someone in a soothing monotone
• be more involved as with yoga or meditation.
• be as helpful for the care partner as the person living with dementia (PlwD).
• have calming and clarifying results that last for hours afterward.

Deep breathing is the simplest of these but quite effective and can be done almost anywhere. It is also contagious. When a care partner deep breathes, a  (PlwD) will follow suit and relax too.

Find a relaxation exercise that the PlwD likes and start it early in the disease. If started too late, the more complicated ones may be too frustrating to learn.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

 Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-28: Enhancing Activities

Enhancing activities like mental stimulation, sociability and music enhance self-esteem, enjoyment and quality of life, thus decreasing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.

Mental stimulation improves and maintains brain function.

• Adapt to lower skill levels with easier books, puzzles or games, but don't quit.

Socialization fosters positive emotions, cognitive function, well-being and better quality of life.

• Invite friends or family members (1-2 a time) to visit in the person's home.
• Encourage continued participation in beloved sports, games and hobbies, simplified for more socialization and less challenge.
• Encourage continued participation in social and religious organizations. Choose smaller groups when possible.

Music and rhythm provide a different pathway to the brain. It can be calming or energizing, and can increase cognition for hours after a session.

• Make a playlist of the person's favorite songs that they can listen to with earphones.
• Use rhythm to facilitate movement.

These are only three of a long list of enhancing activities....

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dement

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-27: Healthy Living Practices

Healthy living practices decrease behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) by providing the brain more reserves for dealing with them:

• Exercise: "Better dementia therapy than any drug." Lack: muscle pain, depression, slower thinking and confusion.
• Socialization stimulates mental function and improves self-worth. Lack: isolation, depression, confusion, and more.
• Fluids hydrate the body, transport nutrients, prevent constipation and regulate temperature. Lack: BPSD, confusion muscle cramps and more.
• Sleep is when the body restores and strengthens its resources. Lack: BPSD, confusion, pain sensitivity, weakened immune system.
• Proper diet and nutrition support a healthy body in general which frees up resources for dealing with dementia symptoms. Lack: malnutrition, overweight, susceptibility to illnesses, more dementia symptoms.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:

A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

 Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-26: Preventative Therapies

We can sometimes prevent behaviors and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) by:

Controling the environment:

• Avoid clutter, crowds, loud noises and bright lights and extremes.
• Use routines, rituals, transitional cues and familiarity.

Preventing infections:

• Monitor for symptoms and treat early
• Use healthy living practices
• Avoid pressure sores

Manage pain:

• Monitor for non-verbal cues suggesting pain
• Treat early, first with non-drug options
• When using drugs, choose the mildest possible
• Consider medical marijuana

Tomorrow's phrase: Healthy living practices

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Phrase for 10-25: Rehab Therapies

Rehabilitation therapies are the most common non-drug options recommended by physicians to help deal with the stresses that lead to behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

• Physical therapy: Can improve self-image, increase independence and manage pain.
• Occupational therapy: Can increase independence and maintain self-worth.
• Speech therapy: Improves communication ability.
• Psychological counseling: Helps person and care partner deal with stressful disease related changes, family issues and grief.

Tomorrow's phrase: Prevention

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-24: Improv Acting

Care partners sometimes see playing along with a person's delusions as dishonest. Improvisational theater (improv acting) is a non-drug option for behavior management that allows a care partner to see them selves as actors playing a part rather than feeling dishonest.

Guidelines:

• Listen carefully.
• Accept the person's reality and agree in action if not in words.
• Focus on the emotion and respond to that rather than the words.
• Stay in the here and now.
• Contribute by offering words that fit the person's reality. (This may mean an apology if that is what they need!)
• Once you are working together, move the action forward towards a needed goal.

Read more about improv in our 6/10/16 and 6/19/16 blogs.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-23: Empathetic Communication

Empathetic communication is a non-drug option for behavior management based on the fact that to a person without abstract thinking, their delusions are true and their hallucinations are real.

1. Accept that your reality is as false to them as theirs is to you.
2. Accept that their beliefs are unchangeable.
3. Accept that explaining, defending or arguing is futile.
4. Use empathy to consider how you'd feel if you were them.
5. Respond in the way you'd want to be responded to.
• Agree, at least by action if not in words, (nod).
• With delusional accusations: Apologize and move on.
• With hallucinations: Check for safety and go with the flow.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-22: Care Partner Care

A person living with dementia (PlwD) who has a healthy, rested, happy care partner will have fewer behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) than one whose care partner is sick, overburdened, tired, or irritable.

A PlwD mirrors care partner stress as a negative emotion of their own and, without impulse control, acts it out.

Martha is tired, her back hurts and she's worried about the car that needs repairs. Dave picks up on Martha's stress, identifies it as his own residual fear that his life is disappearing, and begins to shadow her everywhere she goes.

Short term solution: Martha needs to take a few hours of respite so that her stress level will decrease. With less stress of her own, Dave will also be less stressed, he won't feel so fearful and his shadowing will decrease.

Log term solution: Martha may need to hire or ask for help so that she can get the rest she needs, see a doctor about her back, join a caregiver support group and/or talk to a financial guide about budgets. See our many blogs about caregiver care or read about it in our books.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

 Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Word for 10-21: Hallucinations

Hallucinations: seeing, hearing or feeling something that isn't really there.

With LBD: Well formed visual hallucinations often appear before thinking abilities fade.
With Parkinson's: Similar hallucinations appear well after motor symptoms but while thinking is still intact.

• At first, the person believes the care partner's explanation that the hallucinations are simple Lewy playing tricks again. Earl said, "I know the little army men aren't real but they are fascinating."
• As abstract thinking fades, Earl will begin to believe his little men are real. As with delusions, this belief cannot be changed.

With other dementias: Hallucinations can occur, usually after thinking abilities fade.

Delusions: Once thinking fades, hallucinations are often combined with delusions into elaborate dramas that the person truly believes.

Best reaction: Empathetic communication (tomorrow's blog)

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Word for 10-20: Delusions

Delusions: Dramas brought about by faulty thinking often combined with residual emotions. Delusions show up early with LBD because thinking fades earlier too.

Dave see his wife on the phone:

• This triggers his residual fear of abandonment. 
• To make sense of this fear, his dementia-damaged-brain offers the delusion that that she is talking to her lover. 
• Now, also angry, he accuses her.
• When she tries to explain, he becomes even angrier.

Considering the validity of a thought requires abstract thinking. Without it, the delusion becomes Dave's truth. Consider how you would feel if someone tried to tell you that something was not the way you knew at the very core of your being that it was. This is how strong delusions are. Explaining, defending or arguing DO NOT work.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-19: Non-Drug Options

Non-drug options should be tried first before behavior management drugs. They:

• Are generally safer than behavior management drugs and often equally efficient.
• Often take more care partner time and effort to use than popping a pill.
• Can provide opportunities for care partner and loved one togetherness.
• Can be used alone or in combination with behavior management drugs, which often results in the need for fewer drugs.

Non-drug options includes the following and much, much more:

• care partner care
• occupational therapy
• infection control
• relaxation methods
• music and rhythm therapy
• aromatherapy and massage

Tomorrow: Rehabilitation therapies

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-18: Drugs and Sensitivity

No drug can cure LBD but some can treat its symptoms.

• Dementia drugs work to improve cognition and other LBD symptoms.

LBD can cause a person to be super-sensitive to certain drugs.

• Which drugs are "Lewy-sensitive" for each person is very individual.
• Lewy-sensitive drugs act as though the person had a much larger dose than normal, with often severe results.

Behavior management drugs are often Lewy-sensitive. Use very carefully if at all.

Drugs for other symptoms should be reviewed for Lewy-sensitivity before use. (LBDA Medications Glossary)

All drugs should be started in the smallest dose possible, increased until they do the job or cause problems, and stopped when no longer needed.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Word for 10-17: BPSD

BPSD stands for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. BPSD are triggered by stressful irritants that can be:

• physical, as with an infection.
• external, as with an overheard phone conversation.
• perceptual, as with the person's perceived view of that their spouse is "calling their lover."
• emotional, as with the fear the perception of the call generates.
• a combination of these, as with:
• frustration at being unable to explain the discomfort of an infection
• anger at being "lied to" by the spouse whose explanation is different from the person's hard-wired belief.

BPSD are often rational behaviors based on incorrect information derived from faulty thinking. They include but are not limited to:

• agitation, anxiety and irritation
• threatening, aggressive or disruptive physical or verbal behavior
• delusions, usually of infidelity, abandonment or theft
• depression and withdrawal
• hallucinations
• paranoia
• repetitive activity

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books: A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia
Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Word of the Month for 10-16: Stress

When dealing with dementia, there is lots of stress. Each person has a stress threshold, the amount of stress they can handle without calling in the reserves. Any illness, including dementia, stresses the body which lowers this threshold.

The body gives managing stress overload high priority. When it overflows one's threshold, the body diverts resources from lower priority tasks, such as managing dementia symptoms, to deal with this overload.

Stressors are anything that causes physical, emotional, or environmental discomfort or distress.

You can often decrease dementia symptoms (or the symptoms of any disease) by decreasing their stressors.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Phrase for 10-15: What's Left

Dementia takes away a lot. Here are three functions that are left:

The senses: Seeing, hearing and touching may be affected by other issues, but not dementia, although it can change one's perception of what the senses deliver.

• Communication tools: Smiles and gentle touch.

Emotions remain long after thinking has faded. When the senses deliver information about an experience, be aware that the emotion attached to that information is often one left over from a previous experience.

• Communication tools: Hugs and loving words.

Concrete thinking: This basic, unfiltered thinking lasts to the end. It accepts what the senses deliver and the attached emotion and does its best to make sense of the experience. The result is often a delusion, or a faulty belief.

• Communication tools: Simple words and acceptance. (Uh, huh, acceptance...not belief, but definitely acceptance!)

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

Lewy Body Dementia Word for 10-14: Emotions

Emotions drive behavior.

• Emotions remain after abstract thinking fades. A person will respond to the first emotion they experience during an event.
• Negative emotions are motivators. They are stressful, strong and intense. Their job is to drive you away from a perceived danger or discomfort.
• Positive emotions are comforters. They are centering, calming and relaxing. Their job is to encourage us to stay in a comfortable space.
• The first emotion experienced is often residual, left over from an earlier event. Residual emotions are usually negative; they are stronger and last longer.

Make care partnering easier by avoiding negative emotions and promoting positive ones.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Phrase for 10-13: Concrete Thinking

Concrete thinking is

• What a person is left with as abstract thinking fades. 
• Based on information gathered by the senses.
• Literal; a "hot potato" is just a very warm vegetable.
• In the present, with no past or future, no ability to wait or to accept delayed gratification.
• Single-minded and based on the brain's first information.
• If the first thought about a spouse's phone conversation is "she's talking to her lover" that's the only truth.
• Able to accept only what the person experiences personally.
• The little men that the person sees are real and not hallucinations.
• Hard-wired and can't be changed with explanations, defending or arguing.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

 Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Phrase for 10-12: Abstract Thinking

Thinking comes in two forms: we start out with concrete thinking and gradually develop abstract thinking.
Abstract thinking is for reasoning and developing concepts. It is what a person uses when they:

• Accept their care partner's explanation that the little men they see are hallucinations.
• Realize that what they first thought was fire is just a flash of light.
• Make a decision based on information from an outside source, such as a book or other person.
• Tell time, do finances or organize a party.
• Understand the punchline of a joke.

As the ability to think abstractly fades, concrete thinking remains. That's tomorrow's phrase.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Word for 10-11: Treatable

LBD is treatable. We've been teaching about treating LBD for over a decade! 

• Symptoms can be addressed individually, often with good results. 
• With good treatment, a person with LBD can have a good quality of life for many years.
• Some drugs can help: dementia drugs, anti-depressants, and mild anti-psychotics and others for specific symptoms, but drugs can also be very problematic. 
• Non-drug options, alone or combined with drugs in lower doses than when used alone is often the best option.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Phrase for 10-10: Progressive and Incurable

Today's word is progressive and incurable.

• Like most neurological diseases, LBD grows in the body for years before a person has diagnosible symptoms. 
• By this time, the disease is too far along to cure or stop. It's like cancer that has become inoperable. Don't believe the claims that this miracle herb or that miracle drug has cured LBD, Parkinson's or any other neurological disease.
• Hopefully,  researchers will have figured out something that works in the next decade or so.
• When they do, it will likely be something that stops the disorder either before it happens, or very early on, before it has expanded too much to stop.

Tomorrow's word is treatable. LBD isn't curable but it is treatable.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Word for 10-9: Diagnosis

Today's word is diagnosis:

• LBD often goes undiagnosed or is diagnosed as another disease such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson. It often shows up in combination with other dementias, making diagnosis even more difficult.
• Like other neurological diseases, LBD must be diagnosed mainly via patient history and symptoms.
• Diagnosis is very important because a) many of LBD symptoms are treatable and b) the wrong treatment can make it worse.
• A person is usually seen by three to five doctors before finally being diagnosed with LBD, and is usually diagnosed with at something else first, such as depression, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.
• When taking anyone to a specialist for a diagnosis of any kind of dementia symptoms, make sure the specialist is Lewy-savvy to assure a more correct diagnosis.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Word for 10-8: Individual

LBD is very specific to each individual, and thus hard to diagnose, especially by non-LBD savvy doctors--and there are many of those!

• No two people will experience this disorder the same way.
• No two people will have the same symptoms.
• When two people have a similar symptom, they will likely express it differently, or with more or less intensity.

However, there are enough similarities that knowledgeable (Lewy-savvy) doctors can diagnose it and differentiate it from other dementias.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

LBD Word for 10-7: Statistics

• LBD affects 1.4 million Americans and likely many more who are undiagnosed.
• LBD is the second most common progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease (AD).
• Like AD, LBD is caused by damaged proteins, but they are not the same ones.
• LBD is a neurological disease caused by damaged proteins called Lewy bodies that spread in time throughout many areas of the brain.
• Researchers believe that Lewy bodies occur due to a combination of genetics and toxins in the environment.
• Symptoms depend on where the Lewy bodies are in the brain.

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:

A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia

Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy BodyDementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.

October: Lewy Body Dementia Awareness Month

For the rest of the month, I will post a LBD Word or Phrase of the day. Today's word about Lewy Body Dementia is disease.

• LBD is so much more than just dementia. Dementia is just one if it's many symptoms.
• It is a disease that affects many areas of the body besides the brain.
• It is a disease that is progressive and as yet incurable.
• It is a disease where many of the symptoms are treatable.
• It is a disease that we don't know nearly enough about. We don't fully know how we get it or how to stop it--yet.
• It is a disease that needs a lot more research!

Tomorrow's word: statistics

For more information about Lewy body disorders, read our books:
A Caregivers’ Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
Managing Cognitive Issues in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Dementia

Helen and James Whitworth are not doctors, lawyers or social workers. As informed caregivers, they share the information here for educational purposes only. It should never be used instead of a professional's advice.