Therese Silva Johnson
Copyrighted August 2002
Treating Alzheimer’s Disease with Reiki
Gerontology is the scientific study of the phenomena of old age. I am a certified gerontologist. I have been owner operator and administrator of a six-bed 24-hour care home for six years. I specialized in Alzheimer’s (dementia) care patients. I cared for Alzheimer’s patient’s that where in the 3rd and 4th stages of the disease. (For description of Alzheimer’s stages see Appendix A)
Over the years I noticed that some of my patient’s responded exceptionally well to being touched, especially in areas of the body where they had pain or injuries. Having trained at Therapeutic Body Center in California with Sister Mary Mebane in the use of Reiki, I initiated the use of Reiki as a form of therapeutic touch and found it to be more effective than the previous form of informal healing touch I had been using. I decided to use Reiki with all my patients.
A German doctor named Alois Alzheimer first discovered Alzheimer’s disease in 1906. It is a disorder of the brain, causing damage to brain tissue over a period of time. Alzheimer’s 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. At present there is no known cause or cure. The disease can linger from 2 to 25 years before death results. Alzheimer’s causes a global loss of intellectual abilities, which is severe enough to interfere with daily functioning. Initial symptoms are subtle; the person may show signs of personality change, memory loss, poor judgement, 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. Although in the early stages of Alzheimer’s the victim may appear completely healthy, the damage slowly destroys the brain cells. This hidden process damages the brain in several ways:
( neurofibrillary tangles)
Understandably, as the brain continues to degenerate, there is a comparable loss in mental functioning. Since the brain controls all of our bodily functions, an Alzheimer victim in the later stages will have difficulty walking, talking, swallowing, controlling bladder and bowel functions, etc. They become quite frail and prone to infections such as pneumonia.
To complicate matters further, there are numerous conditions that mimic Alzheimer’s disease. Conditions such as stroke, vascular diseases, toxins, nutritional deficiencies, infections, etc. can all have symptoms that mimic Alzheimer’s. For this reason it is important that a doctor’s exam and tests be done to rule out any treatable condition. 1 Traditionally, there are no treatments for Alzheimer’s victims, only options for care. Current options for care are; In- home Services, Day Care, Assisted Living Facilities [that is the type of care I provided also called Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE)]and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF).
I would like to share two of my most important Reiki patient experiences to date. For the purposes of this article I will refer to patient A as ”Mary “and Patient B as “Rose”. Patient A ,Mary , is a 77 year old Caucasian female diagnosed primarily with dementia and hypertension, DJD and Torticollis .DJD and Torticollis are muscle and tendon conditions affecting the neck, head and jaw. DJD and Torticollis caused a strained distortion of her head and neck positioning (whereby she was continually forced to look at the ceiling) which was relieved 75% with just four 10 to 20 minute treatments of a combination Massage and Reiki and lasted for six months.
Mary was in the 4th stage of Alzheimer’s disease when she came to my carehome.
Mary suffered from the following symptoms:
Footnote: Doctors do not generally give a specific diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease as it can only be verified via an autopsy so they just diagnose as dementia as a rule.
#1 Alzheimer’s Aid Society of Northern California
Certain of the above listed symptoms are especially distressful to caregivers.
Mary was completely incontinent. The Alzheimer’s disease progressed in Mary but she did not have to suffer the traditional degree of symptoms of anxiety, agitation, pain and physical discomfort due to her Reiki treatments. She was under my care from1999 to 2001 when she moved to another care home. I closed my care home to pursue a full-time Reiki practice.
Mary suffered from severe agitation, anxiety and restlessness and would continually pace the floors and grounds of my carehome. It took four different low doses of sleep medication for her to sleep at night. Fortunately, she tolerated some sleeping medications but little other type of medication as is common in many Alzheimer’s patients. Many are sensitive to medications and so medication is not always an option to aid them with their medical problems. For example she could not tolerate medication for anxiety and agitation. As Mary continued to deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease her pacing ( as is commonly the case) became such that she could not even sit down long enough to eat her meals due to the severe anxiety and agitation she suffered. She had lost weight , become frail, malnourished and underweight by the time she had arrived at my carehome.
Nursing homes often tie their patients with agitation and pacing behaviors to their dining table chairs or to a wheelchair so that they cannot move in order to feed them. (They are required to have a doctor’s order to do so.) Assisted living facilitators are not allowed to restrain residents to feed them. At this stage of the progression of the disease for Mary we had to follow Mary around with a straw in a glass full of a supplement drink trying to get her to drink. Needless to say this was very difficult and frustrating for my nurses and me.
About this time Mary’s pacing activity increased. I began giving her Reiki treatments. I waited to catch her when she would sit down, which was usually not for more than a minute or so. I found that while I laid hands on her (I used whatever hand position was comfortable at the time depending on how and where she was sitting) she would sit still and not move for me and stay as long as I gave her Reiki. She became completely relaxed, and would become lucid and more present. When I stopped giving her Reiki she would get up and follow me (not a usual behavior for her) sometimes saying, “come on” (she rarely spoke to communicate) motioning and implying to me that she wanted more. While most of us would like to say “don’t stop“ when we’re receiving Reiki, this was quite exceptional coming from a person who was generally unable to communicate her needs, likes or dislikes and as demented or lacking in presence of mind as Mary . Mary did not just respond with this comment on one occasion but whenever I gave her a treatment and stopped, she would suddenly become lucid and present, sometimes demanding that I continue.
I then gave Mary Reiki treatments at mealtimes for approximately 10-20 minutes and was able to get her to sit perfectly still while she was fed. She ate better too!
This was a tremendous help in maintaining her weight and keeping her physical health from declining. We know that once Alzheimer’s patients’ physical health begins to deteriorate their overall condition generally deteriorates much more rapidly. ( Making them at risk of being patients who end up in a convalescent nursing hospital in the fetal position.
Her improved lucidity or “moments of clarity” as I call them ( which where far and fewer prior to the Reiki treatments) come to her when I gave her Reiki.
I also began treating the injuries that Mary got on a regular basis. Elderly Alzheimer’s patient’s sometimes have very thin skin and get skin tears from even the slightest brush against a wall etc. Many of them run into walls and sliding glass doors as a result of distorted spatial perception and vision. We could not use Band-Aids on Mary as she was much like a two-year-old and would pull off the Band-Aids, making the skin tear worse. I used a product called Liquid Band-Aid along with Reiki which would stop the bleeding almost immediately .The skin tears would re-adhere almost as fast. Using Reiki healed the skin tears in half the time with daily 5-10 minute Reiki treatments.
Patient B ,“Rose “ was an 87-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Rose suffered from the same symptoms described as Mary, but not quite to the same extent. Additionally, she suffered from symptoms of:
Rose was able to feed herself and was semi-incontinent of urine. She could speak and communicate somewhat for the first year that she was my carehome. After that, most of what she said did not make sense. She would become frustrated and discouraged because she was cognizant most of the time of her language disability.
While Rose was with me from 1998 till 2001, she was on a medication called mellaril to control her combative behavior. The most distressing behavior for her caregivers was her wandering. Rose would leave the carehome every chance she could get. We constantly had to redirect and refocus Rose from wanting to leave. She would be lost as soon as she left but was convinced that she was going to see “someone”. She continually accused others of stealing from her (which is a common and difficult Alzheimer’s behavior). She paced all day and into the evening. She sat down to eat and only briefly throughout the day when she wasn’t trying to leave.
Rose also did not like to be touched or helped with daily activities of living such as bathing, dressing, and grooming etc. She definitely needed to be in control and wanted to control others. I learned much about how not to be with my children and others in my life. This work teaches about patience and tolerance.
She was consumed with being in control and thus a very difficult patient to assist in her needs. She was ornery, full of spit and vinegar. But I loved her as much as frail Mary and her presence made for never-a-dull-moment at my carehome.
I began giving Rose Reiki in short intervals. She allowed me to touch her and give her Reiki by placing my hands on her shoulders or on the crown or back of her head while she was sitting in a chair. These were the only positions she would allow.When I first started, I explained to her what Reiki was and asked for her permission. She said okay but every time I gave her Reiki, she would say “ that’s enough “ after 3,5,or 8 minutes. It appeared to me that this was consistent with her need to be in control at all times. I knew she could feel the Reiki by her body language, aphasia (that I was able to decipher) and the way she looked at me. Her paranoia symptoms sometimes began and she would ask what I was doing to her.
I also gave Rose long distance Reiki treatments while in the same room by sending the Reiki through my fingertips like laser beams. Rose enjoyed this better without my actually touching her.It was more conducive to her behavioral symptoms and condition. I gave her 20-minute treatments 2-3 times a week for 6 weeks, and then once a week for several weeks.
The combination of Reiki treatments and validation therapy conducted simultaneously was very successful. I had previously used Validation alone with minimal success.
I combined an additional Reiki treatment with a technique called “Validation Therapy”.2
I used it on her on a daily basis for 8 minutes a day, for about 3 weeks. The patient then weaned to 3 times a week for one month.
After a month of starting the Reiki and Validation treatment combination, Rose ‘s daily efforts to leave the carehome declined to once a month . I gave her Reiki ”tune-ups “and then she was good for up to 3 months. This was a great relief to me as it allowed me to keep staff who might have previously quit because they could not deal with the stress and frustration caused by Rose’s wandering . Another result of the treatments was an increase in compliance with her caregivers and I to assist her in her daily activities of living. She almost completely stopped accusing people of stealing which was a great relief to the other residents and staff . This in turn created a tremendous amount of harmony in the environment of my carehome.
#2 Validation Therapy is a method used to converse with certain Alzheimer’s victims who exhibit “classic” Alzheimer’s behaviors. For more information I recommend Naomi Feil’s book “The Validation Breakthrough”, Simple Techniques for Communicating with People with “Alzheimer’s-Type Dementia” available from The Alzheimer’s Aid Society of Northern California.
I became so excited by the successful results I was obtaining with my Alzheimer’s patients that I decided it was important to spread the news of the Reiki techniques to a wider audience by developing an Alzheimer’s Reiki research program.
I experienced a tremendous amount of personal spiritual growth. I truly feel
“on fire “ with Reiki , described by Frank Arjava Petter in his book “Reiki Fire”. Reiki has become a wonderful way of life for me. As a result I have closed my carehome and am currently pursuing a full-time Reiki practice . By devoting myself full-time to practicing Reiki I am able to develop a detailed Reiki therapy plan that can be used by Alzheimer’s caregivers. The Reiki therapy plan will benefit Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers by reducing or eliminating detrimental symptoms see appendix A and thus resulting in a higher quality of life for both the Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.
I am pursuing an Alzheimer’s research grant in order to develop and implement this Alzheimer’s Reiki therapy plan. The plan will , in addition to giving Alzheimer’s patients much needed symptom relief , improve caregiver morale, attendance, attitude, and length of employment.#3 The plan will be useful to many other patients who suffer from similar symptoms , such as those who struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, mental illness etc.
I have been President of a group called Foothill Association of Careproviders for the Elderly (F.A.C.E.S) and have made arrangements to contract with another carehome provider to offer Reiki treatments to their Alzheimer’s patients. I am currently seeking grant monies in order to conduct Reiki research to offer Reiki treatments to patients of assisted living carehomes or RCFE’s .I am also contracting with a published naturopathic doctor who is a registered nurse and certified nutritionist.
The specific research project we are developing utilizes Quality Care methods for Alzheimer’s patients, mandates behavioral health research and prescribes delivery of health care by creating a new model of health care for Alzheimer’s patients.
I have had great success in reversing and/or halting Alzheimer’s disease in a select number of patients .I have provided an environment that enabled the Alzheimer patient to maintain a higher functioning. I am currently creating a model for Residential Care Homes for the Elderly that will provide care specifically for Alzheimer’s patients. To date, the research has been in two specific areas. The first is of diet correction, supplementation, and detoxification remedies with patients in an array of care settings all over the world conducted by the naturopathic doctor I mentioned. The second arena has included behavioral therapies in a controlled environment using a Alzheimer’s RCFE. A wide range of therapies will be used , such as reminiscence therapy, pet therapy, art therapy, validation therapy, music therapy, aroma therapy, plant therapy, massage therapy, Reiki therapy, as well as social activities, field trips and exercise.
#3 Sixty-six percent of family caregivers die before the patient members.
The two approaches will realize better results in creating the kind of care that could maximize independent function and include return of cognition, mobility, and socialization for Alzheimer’s patients.
We are seeking $ 79,800.00 to develop our program. We are requesting additional grant monies to implement ($1,832,740.00). The combined research project called ‘The Alzheimer’s Reiki Program Incorporated” will be conducted in a well-established Alzheimer’s RCFE, with the capacity to use other affiliated RCFE’s.
I am also collecting personal stories using Reiki with Alzheimer’s patients.
(Please e-mail personal stories to; silvat@jps.net or fax (530) 823-0646.)
May all those working and caring for Alzheimer’s patients come to know the blessings and wonders of using Reiki as I have and may they experience the healing love and mercy of God. I wish love and peace is ever foremost in your life.
By Therese Silva Johnson