I invite you to log onto the home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com - and read today's blog. My friend told me this story, and I knew I had to print it. I must say that it loses a little in the translation when you do not get to hear her voice imitations of the two salesmen she encountered. Although the message is not funny, her imitations were hilarious.
I'll bet many of you have had similar experiences. I know I have. Tell us about them here.
I don't think we can blame the clerk for being ignorant and repeating the company line, but at the corporate level you would expect a little more sensibleness.
The thing that surprised me in the blog, was not that the Alzheimer's books were in the diet section. In our local B & N, they are in the "Aging" section, which is right next to the diet section. I have complained to clerks numerous times, explaining that Alzheimer's is not only a disease of the aged. Each time, I've been told that book placement is determined at B & N headquarters and that the clerk would report my complaint. Hah! I didn't question why "Aging " was next to "Diet".
I was wondering what would happen if I went to the B&N online store. I did a search on Alzheimer's and that went fine. I looked at individual books and the related topics were OK. Some books didn't have any, other books had appropriate topics (neurology, dementia). But I couldn't pick a books and see what section it is under, as if I were browsing in a store. Some books didn't have any related topics and one suggested that I visit the Teen Store (LOL). But this is a book by book view, not the equivalent of browsing through a brick and mortar store.
So I try to browse by category. OK, Health and Fitness (since I couldn't find science, which ticks me off). And what are the featured books in Health & Fitness? Diet books.
So I find a promising subtopic, Diseases & Disorders. What do I find? Lots of diet books (healthy diets, not just taking off the pounds, but not what I expect for diseases & disorders). And hey, I see the 36 Hour Day. And some religious books that seem to have nothing to do with health.
So searching the online store by a word works fine, but searching by category is awful. Perhaps made worse since online each books can be assigned to multiple categories.
The next time I am in Barnes & Nobles, hard to think of another retail bookstore in my area, I will see how dementia books are categorized.
I just gave up on another AD board that was filled with people who had all 'cured' Alzheimer's with food & vitamins. Everyone had a story about their Grandfather, mother or wife that was bedridden with AD and now they are all up and participating in life(!)
Even Dr.OZ supports dementia 'prevention' through diet. . . . . Nobody seems to notice that when you 'prevent' something your method is always correct but curing it (repeatably and scientifically) is much harder. So nobody has.
One poster was giving out 'prescriptions" to people about exactly how much coconut oil and whatnot they should be taking. He was even telling people they should stop their prescribed cholesterol drugs etc. because he said they were the cause of the dementia.
I think it is all based on denial. People do not want to hear the truth that dementia has just one unavoidable ending.
Thank you for this place where at least people deal in reality.
Paulc, my sister quotes Dr Oz constantly. "Dr. Oz says....." I keep telling her he is a cardiologist by specialty, and while he has knowledge of other specialties just by his medical training, he shouldn't be used as an authority. Last year, she ended up in the hospital with a serious health problem, because she wouldn't see her doctor and relied on Dr. Oz. Thankfully, she is okay now but it could have been life threathening. He reminds me of one of those "snake oil" guys at a carnival :-)
Our daughter is an MD, currently in a residency. She did not go the straight science route to medical school so did not have the background that a lot of the other students had (e.g. biochemistry and pharmacology). I think she is a wonderful doctor, but medical school was brutal until she caught up. She said that every time she thought about giving up, she would think of Dr. Oz and say to herself, "If he made it through, I certainly can!" So, see, he can be a positive inspiration.
Dr. Oz is an Oprah created made for TV doctor, just like Dr. Phil. Yes, he has good credentials as a cardiologist but he is so wrong on many treatments/prevention of other illnesses. He lost all credability with me when he did a segment on Alzheimers treatment and prevenion which was focused solely on prevention (because there is no treatment). His strong recommendation was diet, exercise and keeping the brain active with puzzles, etc. What a quack! He should meet my husband. Not at all your "typical" dementia sufferer.
Didn't he take the hypocratic oath "First, do no harm"? Letting the public believe diet, exercise and keeping your brain active will prevent dementia is both untrue and harmful.
Dr. Oz has gone "Hollywood"! I don't watch him anymore. As for exercising & keeping your brain active, that's all well & good, but it's not going to prevent AD (in my opinion, at least). Ronald Reagan & Charlton Heston had to be keeping their brains active, with their careers. Glenn Campbell had to be using his brain to do what he did. My husband walked 5 miles a day for 15 years - funny, he still has Alzheimer's! I'm sure there are millions of others who did everything right - and yet.......
Mim---I agree with your comment about Dr. Oz....He's Hollywood. Exercise...is fine and dandy, but it didn't help my hubby. He hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim several times....rode his bike across country and did daily crossword puzzles along with studying a foreign language. He was extremely disciplined in eating a well balanced diet low in fats and high in fiber. He never smoked a day in his life and drank moderately. His genetics played the superior role as his father, uncle, and brother all died of alzheimers. Can't fight mother nature.
Lulliebird, I hear ya' ! My hubs never smoked, was a very physically active person (he did used to like his beer!). Even now, one beer before dinner - if it helps him, so be it. I have to say he was never a great thinker, didn't like to read (I've come to the conclusion that was because he wasn't a good reader - it was hard for him). As the kids put it, he was more a man of action than"cerebral". I sometimes wonder, with the apparent increase of AD, what in the world is going on? Is it something in our food supply, our water supply, in our air supply, the environment, what? Really frightening - seems it can't be stopped.
I think it has always been there - it used to be called 'senile dementia' or just 'senile'. People didn't live as long as they do now and back then, families took care of grandma or grandpa and if something was said about their behavior, they were just 'old and senile'. Back in the 30s when Social Security was started, the retirement age was set at 65. The thinking was that not a whole lot of people would live that long or if they did, not much later. There also wasn't television, internet or Dr. OZ, talking about it 24/7.
There is something to be said about the pollution of our environment. Remember when we could drink raw milk straight from the cow, eat the cookie dough or cake batter with raw eggs in it, swim in our rivers and lakes without the possibility of getting sick. I sometimes think we were better off in the "olden days".