Dementia is a disorder that involves progressive deterioration of the psychological, physical and mental abilities resulting in loss of memory, loss of executive function interfering with one's daily life and job activities. Robin Williams was an American comedian and actor. He took his life after years of suffering from Lewy Bodies Dementia (LBD), a condition that greatly affected his cognitive and psychiatric ability. Williams spent over three decades as a comedian and a renowned personality in America. He also acted a number of films, acting starring roles in some of them. He won several accolades as an actor, among them 1997 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, among others. He had a fairly successful career until the LBD started affecting him, impairing his ability to perform roles adequately. Robin Williams lived without knowledge of having LBD which eventually led to the decision of taking his own life.
Dementia is a progressive disorder that results in the loss of psychological and cognitive functions (Pace, Treloar, and Scott, 2011). The most common symptom of dementia is the loss of memory. Lewy Bodies Dementia is a type of dementia that has severe and far reaching consequences as compared to other dementing illnesses such as Alzheimer's' and Parkinson's (Pace, Treloar, and Scott, 2011). It is caused by the protein deposits (Lewy Bodies) in the nerve cells in the brain areas that are meant for thinking, memory and motor control (National Health Service, 2016). The condition develops slowly culminating in the loss of mental abilities leading to a patient's need for full-time care. Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia include problems with memorization, understanding issues, thinking, decision making or judgment. However, LBD has a lesser memory loss as compared to other dementing diseases such as Alzheimer's. Robin lost his memory and could not figure out what was happening to him. Several doctors and specialists performed series of tests on him to establish the cause of loss of cognitive function but they could not. He was later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a condition that he tried treating and managing until his death. The individual affected by LBD experiences periods of episodes of being alert and confused or sleepy. The episodes alternate and vary from time to time. Due to the disease's effect on motor neurons in the brain, the person may experience uncontrollable shaking of the body, limbs can become stiff and at times, their movement can be restricted significantly. They may become unsteady with time and fall frequently when walking about. Persons may experience hallucinations, often seeing things that do not exist in the environment in which they live. Some individuals may experience disturbed sleep, often exhibiting violent movements and shouting sometimes (National Health Service, 2016). The disease creates a significant burden on the person and the relatives who have to take care of them. With time, LBD patients progressively become disabled, requiring help from the people with whom they frequently interact. As the disease advances, some people become restless and wander about, often calling out. The caregivers have a hard task to calm them down and maintain them in one place for a considerable time (Pace, Treloar, and Scott, 2011). According to the National Health Service (2016), there is no cure for LBD currently. However, there are drugs that help manage the symptoms and reduce the rate at which the disease progresses. There are medications to manage hallucinations, insomnia, and difficulties in movement. There are also psychotherapies, physiotherapies, speech and language therapies and memory cafes to help stimulate their memories. Different people respond to treatments in different ways.
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Many people who have the disease develop stress and depression for they find it difficult to come to terms with a condition that limits their life. The ability to memorize things exhibited by LBD patients makes the condition worse since they know and understand what is happening to them. Patients understand that they can no longer live their lives fully again; they need a close watch by family, medical personnel, or colleagues. Their life has to be tied to someone else's permanently for they frequently require with activities as simple as sitting up, bathing, walking, etc. Dementia has an economic burden as well. The individuals suffering from the disease can no longer work effectively, terminating their ability to earn and maintain a quality life. Secondly, the medication requirements are also many, forcing the person and their families to spend a significant amount to ensure the disease progresses slowly.
For some time, it was believed that Robin was suffering from Parkinson's disease. He spent a good fortune and time to manage Parkinson's, a disease as limiting as LBD. As Williams states (2016), "He had been struggling with symptoms that seemed unrelated: constipation, urinary difficulty, heartburn, sleeplessness and insomnia, and a poor sense of smell—and lots of stress. He also had a slight tremor in his left hand that would come and go" (p.1308). They tried managing the condition with psychotherapy as he exhibited problems with paranoia, delusions and looping, insomnia, and memory. Whenever he had a panic attack, they used psychotic drugs which, as his wife states, restored the situation but worsened other aspects (Williams, 2016). He was devastated when he learned that he was having difficulties memorizing a single line for his scenes. Robin found it hard to live with the disease and sought to end his life (Magee, 2015). However, his family, particularly his wife, has come out to talk about the disease that killed him to help people know about it and seek help in time to avoid such endings. Schneider, Robin's wife, tells a story of her husband's demise from the disease that affects many people in the United States today. Millions are suffering and Schneider's message to them is that t they are not suffering alone. People have them in mind and sooner or later, their plight will be solved. The condition affects many but the problem is its diagnosis. Like Robin, many people live with the condition yet they do not know that it is LBD. Probably, they are diagnosed with Alzheimer's of Parkinson's and are being treated or managed of the same. Robin's condition was only determined by an autopsy after he had died. Susan has since written a paper, The terrorist inside my husband's brain, exploring the heart-wrenching details of Robin's illness and creating an awareness of a disease that is mostly misdiagnosed.
Robin suffered from LBD for a long time without knowledge of the same. He underwent a lot of pain trying to understand what was happening to him and eventually took his life after failing to know the cause of his loss of memory, tremors, and anxiety. LBD is a condition that affects many people and the often misdiagnosis makes it difficult to manage. More often, people are managed for a wrong condition and when the LBD is established, it may be too late to give them a substantive remedy. Like Robin, it would be difficult to live with a condition that one does not know of. The symptoms come, get worse and eventually disable someone without a pinpointed cause. That makes life difficult and living with it would be difficult. However, should it be established in time, it is possible to engage all concerned professionals to get the best solution and minimize the symptoms as well as maintain a quality of life.
References
Magee, A . (2015). Lewy Body Dementia: The Disease That Killed Robin Williams . The Telegragh. Retrieved April 22, 2017 from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/health-advice/lewy-body-dementia-the-disease-that-killed-robin-williams/
Pace, V., Treloar, A., & Scott, S. (2011). Dementia: from advanced disease to bereavement. Oxford University Press.
Williams, S. S. (2016). The Terrorist Inside My Husband's Brain . Neurology, 87(13), 1308-1311.
National Health Service. (2016). Dementia with Lewy bodies. Retrieved April 22, 2017 from: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/dementia-with-lewy-bodies/Pages/Introduction.aspx
