REV. KATIE NORRIS

If you have been following me for a while, way back when I had my blog, Bipolar Spirit, then you know I have been on dozens of medications to treat my bipolar II disorder, PTSD, panic disorder, binge eating disorder, ADD, and cognitive decline and none of them worked. I have been in different kinds of therapy for over twenty years, and while I slowly got better in some ways, my brain still was just not working correctly. While I intellectually had healed a lot of the trauma a

(Photo of a Paleo version of chicken and waffles from Mission Heirloom, one of our favorite restaurants in Berkeley, CA.) Chronic illness is one of the main reasons many people have turned to a Paleo diet and lifestyle. The Paleo diet has been effective in treating everything from eczema to multiple sclerosis and, due to such great results, people who live with mental illness are now also using it as part of their treatment plan. Mental illness affects about 61.5% of American

Dear Will Ferrell and Mike Rosolio, I was in shock when I heard that Mr. Rosolio wrote this script and somehow thought that making fun of Ronald Reagan’s dementia was at all okay. I was saddened to hear Mr. Ferrell supports this and will produce and star in the film, “Reagan.” (“Set at the start of the ex-president’s second term when he was suffering from Alzheimer’s, “Reagan” follows the commander-in-chief as he succumbs to dementia and is convinced by an ambitious intern th

I can’t remember how to clean the black markings from pots off of a white porcelain kitchen sink. My mom would know how to do that. I remember her doing it when I was young, but I can’t remember what she said to do. I could have called my mom to ask her, but not anymore. Not for a while. Loosing a loved one to dementia is difficult because you grieve different types of loss at different times. Loosing someone to Alzheimer’s disease has often been called the “long goodbye” bec

On January 20, 2015, a grassroots campaign to raise funds for and awareness about Alzheimer’s and end stigma was launched by the release of the song “Remember Me,” sung by Chris Mann. Proceeds from the sale of the song go to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund (CAF). “Cure Alzheimer's Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research with the highest probability of preventing, slowing or reversing Alzheimer's disease through venture-based philanthropy.” Since the founders of

On January 18, 2015, at 77 years old, my Mom died peacefully at home from Lewy Body Dementia. My Mom was a beautiful person, inside and out. She was our Snow White. Snow White was her favorite Disney princess who was also “born” the same year as Mom- 1937. Mom was smart and sassy, with a great sense of humor that not everyone saw. She could be totally spiritual and totally irreverent at the same time. She loved her family fiercely and always strove to make home a beautiful pl

Still Alice is a novel by Lisa Genova. It follows a woman, Alice- Harvard professor, wife, and mother- who gets early onset Alzheimer's disease. The story is told from Alice’s perspective. Right off the bat, what I think is vitally important is the name of the book and the fact that it is all told from Alice's perspective. Few books about dementia are written this way, even fiction. This is in part because we really do not know what goes on in the mind of someone with demen

[Image: FaceTime with my mom, dad, and sister. I love this photo because it shows that there is much more connection when you can see each other than when you just call.] My husband, son, and I were able to go to my parents home last week since my Mom, who has Lewy Body dementia, declined. She stopped eating and drinking, then ate and drank a bit, but then stopped again. My family and I had to go back to our home, across the country, and I am really sad that I cannot be there

[Image: Thanksgiving 2014. Rev. Katie's Mom sitting in a wheelchair by her grandson while watching television together.] Yesterday I wrote a post about how to decide if you will go home to be with your dying parent/loved one. I talked about how that post was written to focus mainly on the last few days or weeks of a person’s life and that overall if the relationship to your loved one is important to you, you will want to visit them often before it even gets to be their last d

My dad told me a few days ago that my mom has gotten much worse and is not taking any food and very little water. She has become mostly non-responsive, but is not in a coma. It looks like she might be actively dying, but we have no idea if she has days or weeks left. I then had to decide if I wanted to and could go home to be with her. I want to be clear that this is just a thought process around the very end of life. If we want a relationship with our loved one, then truly t