Treating Alzheimer’s Disease with Reiki

by Therese Johnson |

Alzheimer’s disease 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.

It is a disorder of the brain, causing damage to brain tissue over a period of time. 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 judgment, 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.

As a Gerontologist, Administrator and caregiver of a six-bed Alzheimer’s care home, Reiki treatments have proven to be successful. A technique called “Validation therapy” by Naomi Feil is used in combination with Reiki, which provided the best results for eliminating many difficult Alzheimer’s behaviors.

The difficult behaviors successfully reduced and or eliminated using Reiki and Validation therapy were wandering, paranoia and pacing.

In addition the Reiki improved residents lucidity or “moments of clarity” when they received Reiki on a regular basis.

One resident was in the fourth stage of Alzheimer’s and suffered from many symptoms including severe agitation, anxiety and restlessness and would continually pace the floors and grounds of the care home, she could not sit down long enough to even eat her meals. She had lost weight, become frail, malnourished and underweight by the time she had arrived at my care home.

Nurses would follow her around with a straw in a glass full of a supplement drink, trying to get her to drink, which was very difficult and frustrating. Her pacing activity increased until she received Reiki treatments. She then would sit perfectly still while she was fed.

This was a great improvement and provided tremendous help in maintaining her weight and keeping her physical health from declining. Once Alzheimer’s patients’ physical health begins to deteriorate their overall condition generally deteriorates much more rapidly, leaving them at risk of becoming immobilized patients who end up in a convalescent nursing hospitals.

Another resident suffered from wandering, paranoia, and pacing. This patient made numerous daily efforts to leave the care home (with no idea where she was going) but after a month of starting the Reiki and Validation treatment combination, her efforts to leave the care home declined to once a month.

The successful results obtained using Reiki with Alzheimer’s residents led to nutritional and holistic remedies being added to create a whole body, mind and spirit program.

Providing Reiki along with an environment that enables the Alzheimer patient to maintain a higher functioning with diet correction, supplementation and detoxification remedies conducted by a naturopathic doctor and nutritionist has provided great success for these individuals.

References:

1. To read the complete article “Treating Alzheimer’s Disease with Reiki” and more information visit the authors website at www.reikimastertherese.com.