I had a great aunt with it, and I don't think she had any physical pain from it, just emotional and mental.Yaboosh said:Does alzheimers cause any physical suffering or is it mostly mental/emotional suffering?
I had a great aunt with it, and I don't think she had any physical pain from it, just emotional and mental.Yaboosh said:Does alzheimers cause any physical suffering or is it mostly mental/emotional suffering?
All of those. Physical deterioration will start at very early and it will place lot of strain to muscles and joints.Yaboosh said:Does alzheimers cause any physical suffering or is it mostly mental/emotional suffering?
The end was absolutely heartbreaking the way they were filming through the window with silhouettes while they were singing. It had a huge impact on me.Clydefrog said:Fuck, I watched that one day after work. I was weeping so much during it.
Yaboosh said:Does alzheimers cause any physical suffering or is it mostly mental/emotional suffering?
dofry said:There are three basic steps for Alzheimer's: mild, moderate and severe. With milder syptoms you can function pretty well like before, you just sometimes forget e.g. a step in a process, or repeat things. It doesn't mean that you can't function as a normal person in day to day things. He clearly seems capable of taking care of his own business until he deteriorates into worse status later on. That's what the decision now is for.
It's heartaching to watch people with severe Alzheimer's and it's a huge burden to the family members too, so I can see the logic in his decision.
When I was a young boy, playing on the floor of my grandmother's front room, I glanced up at the television and saw Death, talking to a knight. I didn't know much about death at that point. It was the thing that happened to budgerigars and hamsters. But it was Death, with a scythe and an amiable manner. I didn't know it at the time, of course, but I had just watched a clip from Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, wherein the knight engages in protracted dialogue, and of course the famous chess game, with the Grim Reaper who, it seemed to me, did not seem so terribly grim.
demosthenes said:My grandpa doesn't have Alzheimer's (I don't think) he's just getting increasingly senile. He's 95+, but he forgot that my dad is his son and why he's in a wheelchair. It's one of the only times I've seen my dad be emotional or try to contain emotions. I imagine that living with someone that is severe is very similar to the above.
Well, it's a sin in most religions, which covers that angle. Plus, most Americans like to believe we're tough bastards able to stand up to any adversity, so we tend to look down on suicides of all kinds.Kalnos said:Why is this illegal in most of the U.S. again?
crowphoenix said:Well, it's a sin in most religions, which covers that angle. Plus, most Americans like to believe we're tough bastards able to stand up to any adversity, so we tend to look down on suicides of all kinds.
Yea, it makes me really sad.Etrian Oddity said:Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that's often treated too lightly (like a punchline). I worked in a law office which specialized in PoAs and wills, and we had a few clients who had sever Alzheimer's. They literally would forget where they were supposed to sign and what they were signing for, moments after it was explained to them.
Truly frightening and sad.
On Gaf, you never know. Besides, it's a worthwhile condemnation. And I think the Drug Industry has a lot to do with why living in a vegetative state is better than a quick death.Kalnos said:Yeah, it was more of a rhetorical. I do find it amusing that denying treatment and being doped on pain meds is OK, but physician assisted suicide is wrong. It's very odd.
ruuk said:I hope this is a hoax.
Cartman86 said:It's really too bad it's seen in such a negative light (in public) in the US. I know very few people who think assisted suicide is wrong. Obviously there are people, but I think it's a lot less than people think. I imagine part of the stigma has come from (besides religion) Jack Kevorkian and some of his extreme views. I happen to agree with a lot of what he said, but he was such a polarizing figure with his fighting the man attitude he scared a lot of people off.
Read my post above. This isn't anything like most of the suicide situations that I've had to personally deal with, where six months later without exception they have said to me "man, I'm really glad I didn't go through with it"jaxword said:I find it enlightening to notice that the usual crowd of "suicide is for cowards" posters are NOT posting in this thread. I wonder what that means...possibly, that it takes a respectable public figure to push for an idea for an opponent to consider it.
The_Technomancer said:Read my post above. This isn't anything like most of the suicide situations that I've had to personally deal with, where six months later without exception they have said to me "man, I'm really glad I didn't go through with it"
I'm glad I didn't just "respect their choices".
Fair enough. I get kind of tired of the "its their life, and if you even suggest that they shouldn't kill themselves then you are an insensitive prick", and I jumped to a bit of a conclusion.jaxword said:Reread my post. I specifically was talking about the crowd that calls suicide a cowardly action.
The_Technomancer said:Fair enough. I get kind of tired of the "its their life, and if you even suggest that they shouldn't kill themselves then you are an insensitive prick", and I jumped to a bit of a conclusion.
I'm all for assisted suicide when a person has medical issues that will irreparably and inevitably ruin their life. But I've had a fair number of conversations on GAF that have debated the idea of respecting a person's right to kill themselves just because they're unhappy with their life as it currently is and don't see any likely way its going to change. (and of course they don't, they're depressed!)jaxword said:There's a WORLD of difference between someone who can be helped, and someone who cannot be helped.
Nobody sane supports someone killing themselves if they can be helped with a bit of counseling and help.
But when you are BEYOND help, that's what people support, and when that sensitivity to their suffering is required, and "respecting their choice" is necessary.
Oh man...HiroProtagonist said:
HiroProtagonist said:
Religion and this weird fake moral outrage where people In our society get indignant about things that don't affect them at all.Kalnos said:Why is this illegal in most of the U.S. again?
The_Technomancer said:I'm sad, but I can't say I'd blame him.
CleverGirl said:I'm sure Death will come for Pratchett himself.
SapientWolf said:I'm sure many people have already seen it, but a picture says a thousand words:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2006/10/23/science/20061024_ALZH_SLIDESHOW_1.html
That kind of mental decline has to be an especially horrifying process for an intellectual.
HK-47 said:I imagine Death and Death of the Endless will both be there. Because its the second and last time we will get a Gaiman/Pratchett team up...
he really should be spending his time and resources on researching recent medical breakthroughs scientists are making in stem cell research and how it can be applied to his disease for treatment. it's likely there are trials starting soon for a treatment that could help him.