March 2022 Newsletter | Trauma and Brain Health
My mission is to be the first woman in 4 generations to not develop Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). On my journey of discovering ways to mitigate my risk, I pass this information on to you in this Brain-Body-Health (BBH) Newsletter.
"Trauma is not what happens to you.
Trauma is what happens inside you, as a result of what happens to you."
- Gabor Mate
LESSONS FROM LIFE
I didn’t plan to write about trauma this month, but the events of the world certainly changed that. Like me, I’m sure you have had Ukraine and Russia on your minds and hearts these past few weeks. I decided any discussion about BBH health needs to include the devastating effects war and resulting trauma has on all people especially women, children, and the subsequent generational trauma that informs conflict on a collective level. Here is an article from Lancet expanding on the humanitarian crisis war has on all of us.
LESSONS FROM THE HEART
Beyond right doing and wrong doing there is a field, I’ll meet you there
- Rumi
As I sit to write the March BBH newsletter, I realize how trauma (not only from war) but from chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative illnesses impact our lives. I liken it to a long-drawn-out war with no foreseeable end. Almost 6 million people in the US and 55 million worldwide are living with dementia. It is a tragedy. It is also teaching us about ourselves and our relationship to the trauma of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The pandemic of AD has root causes, history, and conditioning with narratives surrounding it that result in isolation, and stigmatization.
Recently, I began exploring AD and chronic neurodegenerative diseases through new lenses of being trauma informed. From this growing new field, I have been stitching events of AD together through the generations of my family. I am a daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of AD. In silent moments, memories surface. I recall my mother leaving home at age thirteen, while my great-grandmother was beginning the descent into AD. I feel the threads of life intertwine with my mothers’ and the wounds from AD woven in my psyche. I left “home” too at age thirteen emotionally numbing myself as I was coming of age. Several adverse childhood events were the root cause of this numbing including one I had not yet acknowledged. My grandmother’s brain was being taken over by the foreign invader called Alzheimer’s Disease. The grandmother I knew who helped raise me, had become a ghost of her former self. As her memory worsened, our visits were stopped. My parents thought it too disturbing. And they were right, it was disturbing. Memories of her in the nursing facility were painful. I remember her sitting on the side of the bed crying, calling for “mama,” leaving me as confused and distraught as she was. Elderly patients with dementia lay in beds restrained, sleeping in fetal positions, or grimacing their inner turmoil. My mother would drive home silently, her eyes moist but focused on the road, while I stared off into a world that once again didn’t feel safe anymore. As I write these words, a wave of emotion arises deep inside. I name these emotions and make the connection to the layered traumas of my teenage years that added to my descent into drama-filled rebellion. I barely graduated from high school. Tried most drugs that were available at the time. Found out I was pregnant at seventeen, and had an abortion. I was lost.
More than a decade later, I found a secure step into medical school, a path that allowed me to excel in education and science. However, when it came to a rotation in geriatric medicine, I skipped it. I wasn’t ready to see anyone who resembled my grandmother. It was still too painful. I managed to avoid working with patients with AD until my mother was diagnosed in 2015. I was avoiding and hiding from fear of those old scary memories and the inevitability that I was at risk too.
As I weave together these yarns from my Alzheimer’s awareness journey, I no longer see AD as the evil doer it once was but a teacher that continues to impart lessons for my growth and learning. As I keep myself open to these connections, ultimately I am filled with compassion and action that inform practices to help prevent dementia and optimize health. We know now that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may increase the likelihood of dementia. Becoming trauma informed is one way to address this healing on an individual, collective and global level.
LESSONS FROM COACHING
Thank you for the positive feedback and inquiries into my coaching program -Prevention of Alzheimer’s Through Healthy Steps (PATHS). I found this resource which may be a good fit for people with dementia wanting to connect with others experiencing memory challenges. They have 5-6 virtual meetings per week, “meeting people where they are without sugar-coating”. I was impressed with the inspiring videos on their website. Being connected and witnessing one another reduces stress, isolation, and trauma. Presencing (being present with another human being) creates healing on an individual, community, and global level.
Whether you are wondering about your memory or the cognitive health of a loved one, Brain-Body-Health is here to help you connect to resources to assist you on the journey.
For more information on Coaching sessions: Contact Dr. Betty for an appointment or call 707 272 3227
LESSONS FROM SCIENCE
To our optimized health!
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“If you want to go FAST, go alone. If you want to go FAR, go together."
- African proverb