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Many people with diagnosed dementia live in the Landsberg district. The book author and psychologist Dr. Sarah Straub gives insightful guidance.
“2,500 people with diagnosed dementia live in the district,” said Pajam Rais-Parsi, responsible for social affairs and health in the Landsberg district office, who welcomed the neuro-psychologist Sarah Straub from the University Hospital Ulm – together with many interested people – in the fully occupied meeting room. With her lecture, “Get out of the taboo zone: understanding, recognizing, dealing with dementia”, in which she incorporated sensitive, narrative moments, Sarah Straub gave understandable information about the disease.
Much of this can also be read in her book, for which Konstantin Wecker wrote a foreword and devised the title: “How my grandmother lost her ICH”. When her closest caregiver, her beloved grandmother, fell ill with dementia, the then 20-year-old granddaughter, whose life plan was programmed for a successful career as a musician, was confronted with a new reality and was often left alone with it.
After her grandmother died in a nursing home, Sarah Straub gave her life a different direction. She studied psychology, did her doctorate on dementia and made it her mission to pass on her knowledge as an expert and as a person affected. What does dementia actually mean? Dementia is the generic term for the loss of cognitive functions. Every dementia disease is different, every course is individual. There are risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, smoking, lack of exercise, overweight and underweight.
Younger people also get dementia
As early as 1906, Alois Alzheimer had presented what was now the most common form of dementia at a congress and looked at the brain of a patient who had died early. Nothing happened for a long time, only when prominent people fell ill did researchers become interested in it. The second most common form of dementia, vascular dementia, is caused by vasoconstriction with circulatory disorders in the brain. A small “Schlägle” can seal a vessel.
Frontotemporal dementia, in which nerve cells die off in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, is Sarah Straub’s specialty. It can affect people as early as 40 or 50 years of age. Therefore, it is often diagnosed very late. Young patients fall through the cracks because there is a lack of specialized facilities. Sarah Straub gave a face to the disease based on the fates of those affected.
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Relief offers are available for patients and their families
Just forgetful, or already demented? If behavioral problems, such as permanent excessive demands, also occur during rest periods, a specialist should be consulted. There is no cure for dementia, but medication can slow down the process of breaking it down and improve the well-being of patients of all ages. Mental activity, regular exercise and a healthy diet are good for the brain. Together with TV chef Wolfgang Link, Sarah Straub has published another book: “Well-being kitchen for dementia”, with helpful tips for a better quality of life.
Her very empathetic presentation, after which there was an opportunity for questions, made it clear that she wanted to make life easier for people with dementia and their families: “There is help, use relief offers.” Occupational therapy, for example, strengthens resources and trains the brain. “We have to deal with it openly, break the taboo, because human dignity is inviolable,” says Sarah Straub, who as a singer and songwriter often shares the stage with Konstantin Wecker. Finally she sat down at the piano and sang a touching song about a great love as a tribute to all caring relatives.