Alzheimer’s disease accounts for more than half of all organically caused memory loss and it is the fourth leading cause of death in the aged following heart disease, cancer and stroke.
It is a disorder of the brain, causing damage to brain tissue over a period of time. Alzheimer’s causes a global loss of intellectual abilities, which is severe enough to interfere with daily functioning.
The initial symptoms are subtle; the person may show signs of personality change, memory loss, poor judgment, have less initiative, be unable to learn new things, have mood swings or become easily agitated.
As the disease progresses, the victim gradually develops speech and language problems, movement and coordination difficulties, total confusion and disorientation and will ultimately rely completely on a caregiver for daily functioning.
In my experience as a Gerontologist, Administrator and caregiver of a six-bed Alzheimer’s care home, I provided Reiki treatments to my Alzheimer’s residents with great success.
I used a technique called “Validation therapy” by Naomi Feil in combination with Reiki, which provided the best results for eliminating many difficult Alzheimer’s behaviors.
The difficult behaviors I was able to reduce and/or eliminate using Reiki and Validation therapy were wandering, paranoia, and pacing. In addition, the Reiki improved my residents lucidity or “moments of clarity” when they received Reiki on a regular basis.
One resident I’ll call “Mary” was in the 4th stage of Alzheimer’s and suffered from many symptoms including severe agitation, anxiety and restlessness, continually pacing the floors and grounds of my care home.
She could not sit down long enough to even eat her meals. She had become frail, malnourished and was underweight by the time she arrived at my care home.
We would follow Mary around with nutritional supplements in a glass trying to get her to drink out of a straw. Needless to say this was very difficult and frustrating for my nurses and me.
About this time Mary’s pacing activity increased until I began giving her Reiki treatments. Then she would sit perfectly still while she was fed.
Another resident I’ll call “Rose” suffered from wandering, paranoia, and pacing. Rose made numerous daily efforts to leave my care home (having no idea where she was going) but after a month of starting the Reiki and Validation treatment combination, her efforts to leave the care home declined to once a month.
I gave her Reiki “tune-ups” and then she was good for up to 3 months. This allowed me to keep staff that previously quit because they could not deal with the stress and frustration caused by Rose’s constant daily desire to wander.
Another result of the treatments was an increase in her compliance with caregivers and I to assist in her daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and grooming, etc.
Additionally, Rose stopped accusing people of stealing from her, a great relief to the other residents and staff. This resulted in more harmony in the care home and much needed stress relief for Rose and staff.
The successful results I obtained using Reiki with my Alzheimer’s residents led me to add nutritional and holistic remedies to create a whole body, mind and spirit program that allows us to reverse and hold Alzheimer’s disease in remission.
Currently, I am the Executive Director of “The Integrated Alzheimer’s Research Group” (IARG), an affiliate of the International Humanities Center, a non-profit public charity exempt from federal income tax under Section 501 (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, working to obtain funding to continue our research.
I am a Senior Care Consultant and provide Care Plans for seniors as well as Reiki treatments and classes to the public.
We have had great success in reversing and/or halting Alzheimer’s disease in a select number of patients, by providing Reiki and an environment that enables the Alzheimer patient to maintain a higher functioning by use of diet correction, supplementation, and detoxification remedies conducted by a naturopathic doctor and nutritionist.
We have created a model for Residential Care Homes for the Elderly that provides a care plan to reverse disease in their Alzheimer’s patients and hold the disease in remission.
By Therese Johnson, All Things Healing;
