Hope or Cope?

You need to Cope. Hope is not a strategy.

I could have written your post. When we got the diagnosis of MCI, we spent a month getting financials in order and planned for the future. This is what appears to be working for us and keeping my husband stable: Brain HQ online games. They help build new connections in the brain. We were trained on these games through the Mayo Clinic HABIT Program. If you have The HABIT Program available where you live, I highly recommend it. I have read up on Dr. Dean Ornish’s program and diet. We are incorporating it into our life and eat a plant based diet. We are eating foods that break through the brain barrier and make new connections in the brain, repair cells, and create new cells. We are eating foods that keep the mTOR protein enzyme low and help cells repair. Doing all of this over the last six months has given my husband back lost executive function and focus. Recent brain scans show no evidence of neurodegenerative disease. The MCI is stable. If you had met my husband six months ago, you would have thought he had Alzheimer’s! Do what you know is working to help stop the progression and live your life to the fullest.

I think everything in moderation. Do what you can with diet, memory games etc., but keep your expectations low. Dont let an extreme treatment regiment interfere with enjoyment of the time you have with him. If he begins to protest the supplements and diet whatever, I would recommend you just let it go. Dementia will progress, as others have said it’s best to prepare for what is to come.

I know how you are feeling; I was exactly the same way . When my DH was diagnosed ( and he was very angry, accusatory and all around disgruntled) we did many of the diet recommendations, brain therapy, increased socialization, exercising, short travel trips. Progression continued. We do continue to do aroma therapy because I feel like it helps calm me and my DH enjoys it as well. ( essential oil diffusers) we finally stopped all of the brain activities, games when he became frustrated and less tolerant of participation. We no longer do public activities /events because of his behaviors I can no longer redirect in public . I have a care companion that comes one time per week so I can get a break and he attends a drop in program 2x per month for a few hours and I get a break then as well. It is very isolating but I feel like I have given the beginning stages/years all I had and now we just take car rides, drive thru treats and watch tv and occasionally do in home exercises ( I have a ball we throw back and forth and sometimes kick back and forth ). I continue to devour on line information and study the DBAT endlessly . “We” are towards the end of stage 6. I am tired but I get energy from this forum to make it thru day to day

I have been where you are as SO many of us have. When I first came to this site it overwhelmed me. What was happening to others was NOT going to happen to me. I would research like mad and my determination would stop my husband from progressing out of MCI. Well, guess what. Nothing stops the progression. The thing is, its pace of progression varies from person to person. We had great days, weeks and even months, where I thought “maybe they were wrong.” But then he would do or say something that brought me back to reality. My husband did quite well for about 5-6 years. There was progression, but not rapid. Now we have picked up speed. No hiding or pretending what’s happening. Now I live one day at a time and being educated by the absolutely wonderful people on this site. This is the best group of experts on this disease, hands down. We live it and breathe it every single day.