Abbrev

In caregiving circles, there are lots of shortcuts by which we communicate.

This is not a glossary, just some abbreviations that come to mind:

• DH (dear husband) & LO (loved one)
• Pwd is your person with dementia
• AC stands in for adult children, who often don’t stand up when needed
• LBD [Lewy Body Dementia] also DLB [Dementia with Lewy bodies]
• PD [Parkinson’s Dementia]; FTD [FrontoTemperal]; AD [Alzheimer’s]

We never seem to shorten (seems right as the work isn’t shortened) caregiver or caregiving.

There are lots of symptoms that also maintain their long form.

Reduplicative paranesia is a mouthful explaining a complex but common delusion.

There’s the autonomic nervous system that acts involuntarily and can wreak havoc on our LO’s lives. The plaques behind the disease, alpha syneuclin Lewy bodies, is also a long wording.

Hallucinations are a long story in our household, as are delusions. We use no shorthand for either of these.

We (or at least I) just hope they remain benign.

The agitation that sometimes comes with them can be hard to calm. That’s unduly hard on my pwd LO and on his caregiver.