Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2017: Health & Wellness Issue | Page 25

Health & Wellness
who might not be giving dai-
ly updates. As an expat, this is a
good role for you to take on be-
cause it’s a way you can help from
a distance. Doing this job light-
ens the load on the family mem-
bers who are there in person, and
it is a great way to maintain your
connection.
8
TALK ABOUT
YOUR NEXT
VISIT
As soon as you’re back in Thailand
following a trip, immediately
talk about the next visit, even if
it’s going to be a long time be-
fore you’ll see each other again.
Dementia patients lose sense of
passage of time — and you won’t
be able to predict whether time
will seem to expand or shrink
for your loved one. Help him or
her keep a rhythm with these re-
minders, especially since assist-
ed living can make the hours feel
very much the same.
9
RECORD
YOUR OWN
MEMORIES
Write down memories of your
loved one when at his or her
peak in a digital or paper journal.
What things did he or she used
to say, like or do? If you’re not
much of a writer, you could make
a scrapbook of photos with notes
next to them to help you look
back on the good times. Such a
scrapbook acts as both a record
and a therapeutic way to remem-
ber how the person was before
dementia, even as you both live
through it.
UNDERSTANDING
DEMENTIA
Dementia is not a single illness. It is
a group of symptoms caused by spe-
cific brain disorders, the most com-
mon of which is Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s can happen to anyone.
While there is currently no cure, there
is hope: Through love and support,
your relative can still live a good life,
particularly as he or she navigates the
early stages.
The first step is diagnosis. Identifying
the differences between dementia and
age-related memory loss can be dif-
ficult for families: “I see people all the
time who are concerned that they or a
family member has Alzheimer’s,” says
Dr. Lily. Some memory loss is a natural
part of aging, for example, forgetting
where you’ve put your keys or when
you walk into a room but don’t recall
why you went there in the first place.
Slip-ups like these, the doctor says, are
“still normal.”
Dementia may begin as short-
term memory loss. In early stages,
one might forget what somebody has
said or miss appointments. In time,
increasing loss of memory may be-
gin to affect day-to-day functioning.
Specialists consider memory loss to be
dementia when visual spacial abilities
and recognition become impaired.
For the patient, realizing the exis-
tence of memory loss is not as simple as
it seems. Dr. Lily explains that patients
tend to be unaware that they have lost
their memory at all: “The people who
are concerned about their memory of-
ten don’t have dementia,” she says. And
it makes sense, too. With a brain suf-
fering from dementia, one wouldn’t be
able to recall the memory to know that
it was missing. For this reason, it is typi-
cally down to family members to begin
a journey toward diagnosis.
ABOUT DR. LILY CHAISOMPONG
Dr. Lily Chaisompong is one of Bumrungrad International Hospital’s
pioneering physicians helping to introduce holistic diagnosis and
treatment into geriatric care. Dr. Lily has over 10 years of experience in
geriatric medicine at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School in
the United Kingdom and her special clinical interest lies in dementia. She
works closely with Bumrungrad’s New Life Healthy Aging Clinic, which aims
to provide holistic care for older adults, from primary health and preventive
care to consultation for medical issues, such as continence, mobility or
memory concerns.
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