Struggles define our capacity to conquer every single day of our lives. Sometimes we get stuck believing that we are the unluckiest people in the world. In his book, Going… Going…: The Abduction of a Mind, author Jack Weaver tackles how people can move past these difficulties in life.

The darker and sadder circumstances are only a few pages of the book we call life. Being stuck on those pages means missing the better days that don’t include hardships and struggles. Throughout our journeys, we encounter many changes, each of which has a purpose in our lives. But what if one of these changes is detrimental to the quality of life?

For instance, what if you find out that you have Alzheimer’s disease? What are you going to do? How can you find purpose in this kind of trial? At first, it can be hard to recollect your life after discovering this shattering fact. But recovery isn’t an impossible feat.

Alzheimer’s is a complex disease that can strike your system, especially in the later part of your life.

It can occur during the most comfortable part of someone’s life and can strike anyone, especially when they are at their lowest point. Alzheimer’s disease is ranked the 6th leading cause of mortality in the United States. And in recent estimates, it’s indicated that this disease ranks third, just behind cancer and heart disease, as a cause of death for older people.

People with Alzheimer’s have difficulty doing everyday things like driving a car, cooking a meal, or paying bills. They may also experience the need to repeatedly ask the same questions as simple things can get confusing. With this loss in cognitive ability, they can get lost and lose things quickly, thus endangering people by putting them in odd places. Lastly, some people may become apprehensive, angry, or violent as the disease progresses.

Having trouble remembering or recognizing is one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s, though initially, symptoms of this disease can differ individually. The dwindling of other aspects of thinking, such as finding the right words, vision issues, and decreased reasoning or judgment, is

also other early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Treatment for Alzheimer’s 

Currently, there is no known or invented cure for Alzheimer’s disease, though there has been significant progress in recent years regarding the developing and testing of new treatments.

In fact, there is a medication that could decrease its symptoms. A drug known as memantine, ab N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, is prescribed to treat moderate to severe Alzheimer’s. Memantine works by managing glutamate, one of the essential brain chemicals. This happens to avoid brain cell death, as an excessive amount of glutamate can lead to this. Because NMDA antagonists work differently from cholinesterase inhibitors, the two types of drugs can be prescribed in combination. 

Narratives

Some say that Alzheimer’s is the end of the line and that anyone with this disease would be better off giving up because it takes life’s happiness and quality, but it’s not. There is always a light at the end of every tunnel. The disease will not conquer you. All you need to do is realize there’s more to life than being heartbroken and stuck in the situation. There’s sunset, sunrise, the ocean, flowers in the garden, and other majestic and impressive things in the world that you can still see and experience. There are a plethora of narratives that you should think about that shows how wonderful life is. 

One thing that will benefit your life is believing that there is always a good part of life and there are always fun things to do every day. Creating reasons for the brain to think such is a leap of fate. It’s beautiful and beneficial to always be in good head space and full of a positive outlook on life. As the author of the book Going… Going…: The Abduction of a Mind sets forth. Life tends to provide a person with what they need to realize something valuable and a reason to live. What we value in life isn’t just our position but the only and most precious life we have. To borrow Mary Oliver’s sentiment, “What are you planning to do with your one wild and precious life?”