New Research on Alzheimer's
Frena Gray-Davidson Presents a Brand New View of Alzheimer's
Apr 8, 2009
Frena Gray-Davidson has been living with and working with Alzheimer's patients for twenty years. She may not have been trained as a medical professional, but her ground breaking insights into Alzheimer's have been validated by members of the medical community. Her story is compelling and her advice will benefit anyone who knows anyone with Alzheimer's.
Much of her advice can be found in her new book: Alzheimer’s 911: Help, Hope and Healing for the Caregiver, published May 2009 by Robert D. Reed Publishers.
Learning the Language of Alzheimer's: What do These Behaviors Mean?
Prior to her work as an Alzheimer’s caregiver, Ms. Gray-Davidson was a journalist who had spent her professional life traveling to foreign lands where she didn’t speak the language. Once there, she had to figure out the language, connect with the key people, learn and understand the key issues, and report the story.
She approached her first Alzheimer's caregiving job in this same way: learn the language (of Alzheimer’s), figure out what it means, connect with the patient, understand the key needs, and fill them.
Ms. Gray-Davidson can Help Family Caregivers Care for their Loved ones with Alzheimer's
Ms. Gray-Davidson had two advantages over today’s family caregiver. First, she was not related to the patients whom she gave care to, so she was not attached to the people they formerly were, before Alzheimer’s. This lack of prior attachment freed her up to accept the person completely and totally as he or she was in the present.
The second advantage she had was that she had never heard of Alzheimer’s and hadn’t been exposed to the catastrophic view of it that predominates the culture. Sure, she admits, nobody wants to have Alzheimer’s, but Ms. Gray-Davidson does not look at persons with the disease as shells of their former selves, full of meaningless behaviors and no soul. She is able to see right through to their heart, which remains intact.
This enabled her to gain valuable insight that will help those family caregivers who are in the thick of it step back, regroup, and see a way to have a meaningful caregiving life.
Emotional Healing for the Alzheimer's Patient
Ms. Gray-Davidson contends that even the person with Alzheimer's has the capacity to experience profound emotional healing and life review as all people strive to do at the later stages of life. She assumes that every seemingly nonsensical behavior has a meaning and is related to who the person is.
While Britain and Canada tend to see Alzheimer's patients more along these lines, the United States typically does not. But Ms. Frena Gray-Davidson's observations have now been validated by many medical professionals in the field of Alzheimer's.
She also holds that caring for an Alzheimer's patient can help caregivers enter "Deep Heart" if they embrace their caregiving journey as a deep, healing challenge. She can help caregivers come out of despair and find healing.
Natural Remedies to Help the Alzheimer's Patient
The most important parts of Ms. Gray-Davidson's new Alzheimer's book are the last several chapters in which she details the “work of the soul” being done by the Alzheimer’s patient. Throughout the book she helps the reader make sense of what the patient is doing and saying, and guides the reader in how to respond with grace. In between, she talks about natural remedies that can be beneficial to Alzheimer's patients, including certain digestive enzymes. She was one of the first to notice the beneficial effects of digestive enzymes for Alzheimer's patients, an idea that is beginning to be more widely recognized.
Frena Gray-Davidson Offers On-Line Coaching for Alzheimer's Family Caregivers
Ms. Gray-Davidson's website offers on-line help for family caregivers. People can email her to receive information on how to develop a relationship with her. Caregivers can ask her for advice and help with their most difficult caregiving situations.
Her book is: Alzheimer’s 911: Help, Hope and Healing for the Caregiver, by Frena Gray-Davidson, published May, 2009 by Robert D. Reed Publishers, Bandon Oregon. ISBN: 978-934759-14-1.
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