Dear Charmi Vyas,

At the end, you wrote, "This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge".

What comprehensive and profound knowledge you have about dementia! Do you have a PhD in neurology?

If not, you write as if you were.

"As someone supporting a person living with dementia, reach out to family members, friends, and professionals for help. Take regular breaks and look after yourself."

My two daughters, who live in Sao Paulo, take care of their mother, my ex-wife.

After our divorce in 1999, we remained dear friends, we continued to visit each other, and we continued to communicate by phone.

My daughters and I noticed that she began to forget names, even relatives, forget to eat, make mistakes when playing the songs, even following the score, which she, a pianist, performed perfectly.

My eldest daughter, 63 years old, took her to a neurologist four and a half years ago. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

They both take turns being with her by morning and at night, they take her for rides in the car, which is something she loves, on Saturdays and Sundays they take turns taking her to lunch at a restaurant or lunch or dinner at their homes.

They are exhausted. Fortunately, they found a lady who had treated another old woman with Alzheimer's for 12 years.

She was well accepted by my ex, and since last week I have been going to spend the day with her on Tuesdays and Fridays from seven in the morning to seven at night.

This has already helped my daughters have at least two days of rest.

So, it's not just a sacrifice for my daughters: it's an additional expense for us, which will increase when this caregiver can also go on Saturdays and Sundays, even more so when she has to sleep at my ex-wife's house 6 days a day. week.

I live in a city in Minas Gerais; The bus trip from my house to the nearest city where there are buses to São Paulo and from the terminal, by taxi, to my daughters' house takes 11 hours. I've been to visit her five times. But I call her at least twice a week. I watch, with sadness, the degradation of this dynamic person, who took care of our home, of me, of our children.

"young-onset dementia, which is defined as the onset of symptoms before the age of 65 years".

It's more terrible and even sadder: a colleague and friend of mine, when he was 38 years old (I was the same age) one day left home and disappeared. It took family, friends, and the police almost two days to find him in another neighbourhood, still walking, looking for his home. As far as I know, the family didn't notice that he was sick, or never gave him attention and affection.

Congratulations, Charmi, for writing and publishing this excellent work of yours, which will help many people to know what mental illnesses are, how they manifest themselves and what care we should take towards those who have one of them.

And I am amazed and honoured that you follow me.

I will share this post of yours: then, yes, my page will be worth seeing.