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"Alzheimer's Patient Gets No Relief"
I have to agree in part with the pharmacist giving feedback to Dr. Gott regarding his advice on pain management for the person with dementia. Of course these special people experience "psychological" pain. I don't think you'll find anyone who will dispute that. But there is not an absence of physical pain, just difficulty in identifying it in someone who is unable to be subjective about it. I have seen special people in the end stages of a dementia disease writhing in pain. At this point massive amounts of brain tissue have died. I would find it very hard to believe these folks were not experiencing a certain level of pain when they are so clearly exhibiting it. Identifying pain in a person with dementia is no different than in anyone else who is unable to be subjective. An experienced practitioner will look for all physical signs of pain, such as the person keeping a hand on a particular area, furrowing their brow, etc. To deny pain management on the basis of "all persons with dementia experience psychological pain" is doing a huge disservice to the population suffering end-stage dementia of any kind.
Kristi Huffman, L.P.N.
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