Posted on 04/25/2023 6:43:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
New research into “terminal lucidity” could revolutionize dementia care.
New research into terminal lucidity — a strange phenomenon in which people with severe dementia suddenly regain their mental faculties right before death — could transform our understanding of dementia, and maybe even point to a way to reverse it.
Terminal lucidity
Dementia involves the loss of memory, cognition, and speech. It’s caused by changes in the brain due to injury or disease, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and it’s progressive, meaning the symptoms get more severe over time.
More than 55 million people are living with dementia, and the condition can be extremely distressing both for those experiencing it, especially in its later stages, and their caregivers — often, they’re trying to help a loved one who now treats them like a stranger.
Sometimes, though, people with dementia who hadn’t been coherent for years will suddenly revert to their mentally sharp selves for up to several hours — and then die shortly after.
“The most dramatic case noted by our team was a patient who was bedridden, did not speak, and was unresponsive,” Milena Zaprianova, clinical director for the hospice care team at VNS Health, told proto.life.
“One day the patient got out of bed, went to the dining room, had a steak and engaged with family,” she continued. “The patient then returned to bed, went to sleep, and died the next day.”
“We have a woefully limited understanding of the phenomenon.” - DOUGLAS VAKOCH
This phenomenon, now known as “terminal lucidity” or “the rally,” is seemingly not uncommon, and evidence of it can be found in medical papers from as far back as the 1700s — yet we still don’t know much about it.
“The fleeting nature of terminal lucidity, combined with the ethical challenges of conducting end-of-life research, means we have a woefully limited understanding of the phenomenon,” Douglas Vakoch, a clinical psychologist, told proto.life.
Explaining the inexplicable
The US National Institute on Aging (NIA) is now on a mission to change that.
In 2018, it invited experts in neuroscience, geriatrics, and other related fields to a workshop on “paradoxical lucidity,” an umbrella term covering terminal lucidity and other unexpected periods of lucidity in people with dementia (even if they don’t occur just before death).
The primary goal was to figure out what was known about paradoxical lucidity so far and identify the best targets for further study.
After the workshop, NIA researchers published a Perspective article with their findings in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, and the NIA announced two funding opportunities for scientists interested in studying paradoxical lucidity.
“We expect that this funding initiative will advance the nascent science of lucidity in dementia through rigorous and systematic studies,” wrote Basil Eldadah, supervisory medical officer at the NIA’s Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology.
“Changes that may be subtle to an outside observer could represent major shifts for a person familiar with the person living with dementia.”- GILMORE-BYKOVSKYI ET AL.
Four groups have received funding for studies into paradoxical lucidity, which are primarily focused on defining the phenomenon and measuring its prevalence.
In June 2022, a team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) published an article detailing the first phase of its study. During it, the researchers interviewed 20 caregivers and 6 clinicians about their experiences with “episodes of lucidity” in people with dementia.
They found that every participant was able to recall at least one event during which a patient briefly demonstrated a “significant” or “meaningful” period of lucidity, but what was significant or meaningful to one wasn’t necessarily significant or meaningful to another — this emphasizes the need for standardization in how the research community defines paradoxical lucidity.
The UWM researchers also determined that caregiver or clinician accounts will likely be pivotal to studying paradoxical lucidity, because recognizing the phenomenon in a patient with dementia may be difficult for anyone who doesn’t spend significant time with them.
“Changes that may be subtle to an outside observer could represent major shifts for a person familiar with the person living with dementia,” they wrote.
“If we see a sign that looks like paradoxical or terminal lucidity, we can capture what it’s like visually and auditorily.”- SAM PARNIA
Another ongoing NIA-funded study is attempting to create a measurement scale for paradoxical lucidity by tracking 500 terminally ill patients with dementia who are expected to pass in one week or less.
Each participant is being fitted with an EEG device to measure their brain activity, while video and audio of the patient in their home is also recorded. Caregivers will keep diaries in which they can record patients’ symptoms and any potential examples of lucidity.
“We’re going to be monitoring these people, so if we see a sign that looks like paradoxical or terminal lucidity, we can capture what it’s like visually and auditorily, and also in terms of the underlying brain biomarkers that no one has ever understood,” said lead researcher Sam Parnia from NYU Langone.
The discovery of any change in the electrical activity of the brain during periods of lucidity could be huge for dementia research.
“[I]f we could find some structural change, then we might be able to use that as a novel therapeutic target for people who regularly have dementia, or other disorders of consciousness, by trying to activate that circuit and maybe give them more lucidity,” said Parnia.
“We’ve seen enough examples of this to be reassured that dementia can be reversed … and so the question then is how.”- BASIL ELDADAH
Parnia’s team was awarded a five-year grant for its study in 2020, so results are likely still a few years away.
Meanwhile, a team from the Mayo Clinic Rochester is surveying 8,000 caregivers of dementia patients about their experiences with paradoxical or terminal lucidity multiple times over the course of a year to see if the phenomenon can be predicted.
Yet another in-progress NIA-funded study is being led by researchers from the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale in New York — they plan to analyze staff reports related to 1,800 dementia patients at multiple long-term care facilities to help hone the definition of paradoxical lucidity and determine its frequency.
The bottom line
Far more work is yet to be done, but the hope is that knowledge gained from the NIA-funded studies into paradoxical and terminal lucidity (and research that builds off of them) could lead to treatments for dementia.
“We’ve seen enough examples of this to be reassured that dementia can be reversed — albeit temporarily, very transiently — nevertheless, it does reverse,” Eldadah told the Guardian in 2021. “And so the question then is how.”
2 Peter 3:9
King James Version
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
One last opportunity to be Saved?
Biden actually completed a sentence yesterday
Just saying ….
There is a supernatural element. They interact with it before they go to it. Seen it a hundred times at tge nursing home.
Oh there is a very obvious and simple explanation which also makes the "hard" problem of consciousness no problem at all.
I’ve seen it as well. Not sure if it is “supernatural” or if their brains are finally just shutting down resulting in hallucinations.
I doubt we will ever really know. But, individually we will probably all experience it in one form or another.
good point.
at a scientific assumption, the body knows it is about to collapse and everything is being released to prevent it... adrenaline, dopamine, melanin, but i like the Lord’s stepping in to transition them.
Having lived through the stages of dementia with several relatives, I see it in Joe. I don’t want to sound like a woke snowflake, but listening to that old fool is “triggering.” I have to turn him off. Its a good thing he never says anything important.
I cannot understand how anyone can support that creep.
It’s a temporary surge of some chemical that allows the brain cells to reconnect the memory cells and the cognitive brain cells. Once that fluid fades from the brain, it’s a quicker path to ‘the end’.
(Just my 2 cents) ;)
I think when you get to the dementia stage, your memory goes to “dump” status and a bazillion files go to the dumpster. At last....more room for cognitive thinking.
I have seen the same with several sick relatives. They rallied, were in good spirits, were lucid - and then passed quickly after that.
My father, who was in hospice, saw “lovely women and men in white gowns singing outside the window.” He clearly saw everything we saw from the same window - the trees, a playground, a certain model of car he liked in the parking lot - but with those added visitors.
I knew then he didn’t have long, and sure enough, he was gone 36 hours later
cannot understand how anyone can support that creep.
——-
Creep confirmed
Video: That time when Jeff Sessions had to swat Joe Biden’s hands away from his granddaughter
It is not uncommon for those terminally ill with any condition to rally before death. i tell families when it occurs it is a gift and to make the most of it
I have had several deathbed relatives describe angels in the room shortly before they died. They were seeing something and they were not afraid at all.
lucidity is the total absence of xiaoBidementia
Well, I have a science degree, use it in my profession, and I’ve spent more time than that acquainted with scripture.
I understand fully the motivation, the ways to investigate and explain what goes on around us. How the world works. The kids always ask too. There are phenomenal in natural law to explain why someone rallies just before death. Often they do.
When people who’ve been suffering become peaceful staring at one focal point, smiling just before death, it can be explained scientifically. Yes.
Jesus said blessed are those who have not seen but believe.
This gives us a way to imagine there are angels-our own guardian Angel whose job it is to get us to heaven, saints, and loved ones who have made it to heaven to bring us tgere
The fearlessness is what’s most impressive.
Our medical and MSM communities are blind.
The tragedy is that - ironically aligning with my own hypothesis prior to the discovery - they’ve already determined the specific mechanism. This predates the virus.
That stated, after the past 3 years it should be clear that ‘science’ has been compromised and the willful ignorance of researchers can only be explained by profit motive either for the long-term care of such patients, or a burgeoning new market for ‘treatment’.
i.e., “To hell with the cure.”
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