Nagpur: Retired businessman Vasant Admane, 86, wakes up with his wife at 5am and takes her to the toilet. He then gets her to brush, hands out a dose of medicines, makes tea for her and looks after her until the nurse arrives. He has adjusted to this routine ever since his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2007.“She sometimes gets hyper and behaves erratically. Once, she walked out of the house and I found her on the road at a distance. Those moments have been horrible,” he recalls.There are times when Nisha Deshmukh (name changed) knows that her mother has imagined something that hasn’t happened. For instance, a remark by a relative at a gathering. “But at such times, one cannot be aggressive and tell her she’s wrong. I try to be patient, polite, and ask her to ignore the incidence,” she says. Deshmukh’s mother was diagnosed with dementia in February this year.Dementia has been identified as a condition wherein brain functions like memory and thinking ability related to individual identity get affected gradually.Recognizing that caregivers of such patients themselves undergo psycho-social burden along with stress, anxiety and depression, Samarpan Awareness Foundation has launched ‘Smruti Samvaad’. The foundation is a support group for relatives and caregivers of patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.“The treatment is aimed at the patients, but there’s no remedy to the pain suffered by the caregivers,” says Poornima Karandikar, consultant neurologist and founder of Samvaad.Karandikar shares a study in which 72% individuals stated that their health had worsened after becoming a caregiver. “The challenges faced by the relatives is beyond prescription. The platform aims to stimulate a dialogue between people in similar situations,” she says, adding that it will help them as doctors to think of ways to address the problems.Karandikar says she sees at least eight patients of dementia in a week. At present, there is no curative treatment for dementia. One-third of dementia cases are reversible, if the causes are identified early.The support group will guide the participants on how to prevent dementia and discuss possible solutions to challenges faced by the members.The first meeting of ‘Smruti Samvaad’ will take place on September 22 at Shanti Niketan Clinic at 223, Abhyankar Nagar, between 5pm and 6pm. The entry is free.

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