Nearly half of dementia patients in Japan put in restraints: study

the other half get elected to office. ba dum tiss

that line which says at the discretion of the medical staff scares me because anybody at the hospital can tie somebody to a chair and it's okay

in the states anyway, it is illegal to restrain a patient without a doctor's written order. I don't know if there are such rules in Japan

How many times have there been stories like this, and not just dementure patients. The spot light was on mental health patients after a NZ boy died after being strapped to his bed for weeks. There is a very serious flaw in training, and awareness that these supposed Care givers/ Health professionals have. Primitive care.

My wife is a psyc nurse, the standards are inhuman from what i hear.

If there is enough nurses and they have enough knowledge on how to handle patients with dementia, restrains are rarely needed. Good facilities are also important. There is a lot that can be done and most of the solutions are simple and inexpensive practical things. Drugs are sometimes needed but often the problem is too much drugs causing side effects.

Imagine yourself with dementia, scared and confused, maybe angry. You are tied up to your bed and you don't have a clue why. Your vision and hearing are not as they used to be adding to the confusion. Do you think you could call down?

I'll take the drugs. Restraining someone to a chair or bed is inhuman and something tells me that here in Japan they probably do it more than they should, because it's the quick fix option.

This is just another aspect of the Japanese minimal health care. They do not employ enough staff to satisfactorily care for these patients so they just tie them up.

I have my mum on risperidone, which is quite specific for the manegement of aggresive behaviour related to dementia. She has mixed Alzheimers and vascular dementia. Working well. She had broken the lock on the hospital door, pulled a patient out of bed, attacked staff, and screamed the place down. She is now in a secure unit in a special home, with all access controlled, and doors only opening with combinations. Looked after well. Meds are regularly reviewed, no significant side effects, and no further incidents with her 7 years later. But quality of life? Unable to speak, does not recognise family, zero understanding of anything around her; gone back to being like a 2-month old child.... QOL is really non-existent - she lies in bed all day: we pour food in at one end, and clean up the mess at the other end. Just waiting...

In my hospital there is a dark smelly place. Humans in cages. My mother in law lives in a care home. They use sedative drugs.

the cost of her stay is more than my mortgage.

I have big conflict. Pay money and drugged or locked in a cage.

This is a necessary precaution, escpecially when the patient isn't under 24 hour guard.

An herein lies the problem. These institutions are under-staffed. Again, the LDP refuses to fund the services needed to look after the people who, essentially, gave their lives over to corporate Japan. Miracle recovery...

Tying such large numbers of patients to the bed is inhumane.

They need rooms.... even if they're just 3 by 3 meters.... with a decent window and a place to sit where they will not be a liability to others and themselves. Strapping people in to chairs and beds is inhumane and should only be done in the most severe of cases.

Quote: "We should examine the demerits of restraints including a decline in bodily functioning and the progression of dementia, and take measures to reduce unnecessary cases," the joint study team said.

Reading between the lines, this seems to be suggesting that patients under restraint, lacking the ability to move or to exercise, will more quickly decline mentally and physically, removing all motivation and incidentally solving the immediate problem facing medical staff.

sedating a patient is considered as using a "chemical restraint"

Do the hustleToday 12:16 pm JST

This is just another aspect of the Japanese minimal health care. They do not employ enough staff to satisfactorily care for these patients so they just tie them up.

They believe that they can import cheap foreign labor to help the problem, rather than confronting the conservative natures that create these problems all through J-society. A nation in decline.

sedating a patient is considered as using a "chemical restraint"

That is a good point.

But if I need to vomit, I can, unhindered.

If you are in restraints, there is a possibility that you could choke to death.

On a lighter note....ever had an itch you can't scratch? Horrible!

Sorry. It seems that I really understated that in my comment. My hear genuinely goes out to you both when I say 'really sad to hear'.

This is completely unacceptable. This would be illegal in the UK. Rather than cause more distress and anxiety to the patient, how about engaging with them instead.

wanderlustToday 04:21 pm JST

Really sad to hear mate. Is there anything you would propose, or changes you would like to see that could help her situation?

@agent X - thank you for the post - father also died of Alzheimers, so we have a lot of experience of dementias in the family. Care home staff have generally been great, amazed how they keep cheerful throughout the day, dealing with patients like my mum; and the pub/ restaurant next door welcomed all patients and their families for a meal out, away from care home food.

Changes/ improvements we'd like to see: better education and earlier diagnosis of dementia by healthcare professionals; more communication between the agencies responsible for helping patients and their families, i.e. less silo attitudes and better sharing of patient information; continue the research into the causes and then possible treatments and prevention; more awareness of measures to help patients manage their lives, before care/ hospitalisation is needed.

Alzheimer’s has a strong genetic component and sometimes shows prevalence which is when it starts sooner in each ensuing generation.

More than likely, it is either an immune response that has later-acting effects or it’s a breakdown in the CSF cleaning system which kinda allows gunk to build up in the brain.

My mom is 91. Though she suffers from many ailments, dementia is not one of them. She loves lard, animal fat, etc. This is pseudo science from vegans, etc. Nothing wrong with a good steak or pork with some juicy fat. Look elsewhere for Dementia causes, I say.

They all sound like sensible and fair changes to me! I would love to have a beer and a meal at that public someday. I hope I stumbled upon in my travels someday. Best of luck mate, and well done keeping the chin up high!

The dietary factor most strongly associated with the rise in Alzheimer’s disease in Japan was the increased consumption of animal fat. Same correlations found in China. Protective foods include eating more grains in general and vegetarian diets

What a joke.

Both my folks are healthy at 85 and 80 and have eaten animal fat all their lives.

Dam! Tried to write pub. Auto-correct!

ApoE is the gene expression for Alzheimer's. Nigerians have this more than anyone but guess what, Nigeria doesn't have Alzheimer's anywhere close to the USA. Why? They eat a mostly plant based diet. Those same Nigerians moving to the USA though take up a USA diet and guess what? They have a higher prevalence of Alzheimer's.

This is important because as Japan increases its diet to match that of the USA, it will continue to receive the same diseases as well. The previous low meat consumption Japanese diet was more healthy. This is the Okinawa diet. But only the elders are healthy, the younger Okinawans are much sicker, higher obesity etc.

So yeah, some genes are like committees and others are non negotiable. The good news is that you can negotiate your Alzheimer's response even if you have a higher prevalence of the ApoE gene expression by following a plant based diet.

If you have a long living family member that's great. What about your dad though? What about other family members? Aunts and Uncles? Odds are they didn't fair so well.

You want to actually know what's going on, visit NutritionFacts.org , and see the science.

Science Citations below the video: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-alzheimers-gene-controlling-apoe/ It's only 3 minutes and 23 seconds long. Education is free. Free your mind

Also since dairy is associated with so many health risks including dementia and because of the increase of dairy in Japan, FYI here's how industry creates studies that look good, but under closer examination are not. This instruction will be helpful if you ever want to take a study apart and find out why.  

TL;DR they add oil to the veg diets

4 min 40 sec: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-the-dairy-industry-designs-misleading-studies

The science shows explicitly that it's not a genetic component and it's a dietary reaction. Just watch the video for Pete's sake. It's 3 minutes of education

Is the Japanese definition of Dementia the same as that in the West ?

Restraints are not the best way but unless there is a staff member with a patient 24/7 then there is no other way, apart from drugging the patient

The dietary factor most strongly associated with the rise in Alzheimer’s disease in Japan was the increased consumption of animal fat. Same correlations found in China. Protective foods include eating more grains in general and vegetarian diets

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24037034

Video discussion here (3 min 23 s): https://nutritionfacts.org/video/alzheimers-disease-grain-brain-or-meathead/

This is a necessary precaution, escpecially when the patient isn't under 24 hour guard. They can wander off and cause accidents otherwise.