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a special episode :the truth about Alzheimer · Pete Vs Anxiety!!!!!

• peter AI: This has been a special collab of Petevar's Anxiety, Truth Lies, and Alzheimer's and the Shannon Family Network. The follow episode is a special collab of Pete versus anxiety, Truth Lies, and Alzheimer's and my friends from the Shannon Family Network. This is dedicated to anyone who has lost one someone to a brain illness. This A is a matter close to me as I lost my both my grandmas to Alzheimer's and dementia. Love you, miss you both, Grandma Terry and Grandma Betty. This is in honor of you both. Pete "mental Health Champ": Welcome into a very special episode of Peace and Exciting. Before we get started, as always, we got to give a shout out to my partners over at PsychPAL. ⁓ Link will be in the description of this episode for you guys to listen to. Check it out. Click the link. You get 20 % off your first month using the code PEEP. But with that being said, this is a very special episode. My guest today is a very special person. ⁓ This is in honor of Alzheimer's and brain illness awareness in June. Now, guys, we are doing this in May, but my guest today's resume here is, needless to say, nothing but impressive. She is a behavioral specialist and an Alzheimer's expert, a two-time bestselling author, international TED speaker, international conference speaker, host of the top 10, top 10 % international podcast TV show, The Truth Lies in the Alzheimer's Show. Please welcome in the one, the only Lisa Skinner. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Hi everybody. Oh, thank you for that amazing introduction. I appreciate it very, very much. Pete "mental Health Champ": Lisa's here as well as we have a couple friends mine joining David and Ashley from the bad habits network here joining us as well ⁓ Ashley's this topic really just a stone for her as well. So guys say hello to everybody Bad Habits Network SFP: Hello Hi! Hello, everybody! Pete "mental Health Champ": So Lisa, with that being said, why don't you tell a bit a little more about yourself. I know you're also the bestselling author of the book, Not All Who Wander Needs to Be Lost. And it's also just received the award for the Living Now Award as well. So congratulations on that too. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Thanks. Thank you so much. Yeah, that was a surprise. But, you know, my whole objective is to raise awareness about this really heartbreaking illness. And I know you've been through that personally, Pete. So, yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, plus both my grandmother's one Alzheimer's one is dementia. So yeah, I've experienced both sides of the coins and it's hard to watch. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yep, same here. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Me too, plus seven more family members and a dog. I had a dog with doggy dementia. It's a real thing. Yeah. Either did I until he... Bad Habits Network SFP: Oh wow. I didn't know dark ski that. Yeah. My two boys is uncle too. I didn't know that neither. That's interesting fact. Maybe that's what's wrong with ours. No, my two boys is uncle at 46 years old, passed away from Alzheimer's. So like it's yeah, it runs in their family. They actually all go get tested and that for it to make sure to see if they carry it. Um, and to see, you know, what they can do about things and that sort of thing. So yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: So you know somebody who had a dog with it too? Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. That's crazy, I've never heard of that. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: ⁓ I'm so sorry to hear that. Bad Habits Network SFP: I also worked in a nursing home on the ⁓ Alzheimer's ward taking care of people with Alzheimer's. like, Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's not for the faint of heart. Like, they're amazing people, but you have to be able to stay patient and kind to them and be extremely understanding because they're, like, one person is completely different from another person. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Okay, so you have definitely been in the trenches. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: No. Bad Habits Network SFP: Like, you know, my grandma reverted back to her childhood with hers, my one dead. My other one, it was just basically, you know, silence all the time, but carrying around a baby doll. So like, was, Yeah. So yeah, it was extremely hard to watch, you know, a loved one go through that, but you get attached to those resonance too that you take care of. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: She found a purpose. She found her purpose, yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: And so it's hard to watch them go through it. And I had one, she was amazing and she'd get on the piano and play on Wisconsin over and over and over again. And if you try to get her to stop, know, say, Hey, it's dinner time or we've got to get back to your room and do your routines and things like that. She, she'd get combative. So like you had to be prepared for that. I got whacked a good one across the face a few times by her. So, and. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: You wanted to take her away from her happy place, I guess. It happens, yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah, exactly. You evil person. I know. So. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, mine I remember I told the story of my one grandmother and my stepmom side. She actually tried to kill my sister one time. She was like, my sister had the door locked because she forget who she was and she didn't realize somebody's in the house and thought it was an intruder. So she went defensive mode. And she said one night if she didn't have the door locked that she probably wouldn't have been here because she was trying to come after with a knife because she thought she was an intruder and forgot who she was. Now, my grandmother and my mom's side, know I actually have her memory book in my room now. but I have the book where she kept forgetting everybody who they were. So she had pictures of all of us. So she knew who we were. So she could flip through and see us, you know, remind yourself of who we are and things like that too. But my aunt actually took care of her and told me some stories like, know, she just watching her deteriorate little by little was just hard to watch because we always known her as just a very outgoing woman, very exciting to see you all the time, very loving, always came up with the most creative gifts all the time. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: ⁓ yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: is sad. Pete "mental Health Champ": You know, and things like that too, man. then to turn into just like, can't remember who anybody is, forgetting who everyone is, gets very upset easily, you know, and things like that too. It's just hard to hear because it's like, you know, you, you know them as one thing. And then when they start dealing with this terrible disease, it's just, it's just horrible to watch them as it's just start deteriorating and you can't do anything about it, you know, and you're just watching it slowly happen. Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Doesn't it feel, I mean, you guys have been through this just like I have with eight family members, it runs in my family too, but doesn't it feel like you lose your loved one twice? First, when they're deteriorating, they're still all, you know, with us, but because they lose their memory, we lose them ⁓ as the person that we once knew. Pete "mental Health Champ": Mm-hmm. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yes. Pete "mental Health Champ": Exactly. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: And then we lose them again. So we have to go through anybody going through this, you know, the aggression of these dementia diseases. You have to go through that grieving process twice. Did you, did you feel that? sure did. Yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yep. Yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. God, but you've been through it like almost eight times. It's crazy though. That's insane though. Lisa, you've been through it eight times. I don't, listen, you're stronger than most people. Eight times it's hard to watch because if you think about it, that's 16 if you're watching it twice technically, because you're watching them get it and then watching them just start deteriorating. Like how did that not affect your psyche at all? Like you had me going through it rough all the time. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah, and it's extremely hard. I know. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Five of those were blood relatives. So it obviously runs in my family on my mother's side. And then the other three were husbands of blood relatives. they were married. Well, no, one was my mother-in-law and the other two were husbands of family members. ⁓ It's probably what drew me to do this professionally because Pete "mental Health Champ": Wow. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: I've had so many people, I've been doing this professionally for 30 years and I have had so many family members tell me that the resources that have been available over 30 years has been so limited they didn't know who to turn to or what to do. that really was a lot of the inspiration. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. That's crazy though. It's 30 years and they still have not a lot of information out there. It's insane though. Is that what developed your podcast on me? Because now you can reach people on a broader scale though and get that information out to people that don't know about these things. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: wanted desperately to be a reliable resource for people so they didn't have to feel completely helpless and hopeless. yeah, that was behind the podcast, the TV show, the books. ⁓ you know, if every time I get to speak about this and... ⁓ raise awareness for even one family, then I feel like I've done something that is really valuable for at least somebody out there. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, yeah, you know, well, I mean, go ahead, Dave. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah, cause I, I can imagine, I can imagine it can't get any easier because every single case of Alzheimer and dementia that, mean, everything's always different. So it's not like you can really get like a set plan on how to deal with this because you're always going to deal with something different. Cause mean, I had an uncle that when he was at the end of, you know, going through everything, I'd show up to say hi and he was my great uncle. So he'd always think I was my grandpa and he'd call me by my grandpa's name. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yes. Bad Habits Network SFP: And my aunt would be like, no, no, no, this is your nephew. This isn't your brother. And I mean, it really was hard because you're always trying to figure it out and trying to figure out how to deal with it. But yeah, every case is always different because it's not like regular, I guess it's not like some other, you know, mental illnesses to where you can kind of get an idea of how that person's going to react and how that person's going to think while they're starting to go through it. But with this. It's totally different because you don't know how that person's going to either revert back to a child or, you know, completely forget everything or where their mindset is actually playing out. Pete "mental Health Champ": Well said. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yeah, and I think we can all agree that on a day-to-day basis, what we're going to come up against is completely unpredictable. But we need to be better prepared so we can be more proactive in our response approaches than on that constant proverbial hamster wheel of just being in a constant state of Reacting, reacting, reacting. Because when we're put in that situation, we instinctively want to react in a way that's probably more harmful than we even realize, and that's to try to fix them or correct them. And that doesn't work. We know that now. So ⁓ being prepared and taking a deep breath and going, OK, this is what I need to address. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yup. Nope. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: what's the most effective way to do that and then being empowered with effective responses versus ones that just escalate the situation into becoming, you know, a total meltdown or something like that, which, I mean, we've all seen, right? Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. So Lisa, let me ask you though, since this being an awareness episode, what are some things that you want people to take away though? Like they wouldn't know about Alzheimer's because a lot of people really don't know what it is. They just know they've heard it before. They know a little bit about it. But what are some of the most things that people don't understand about it? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: That is probably one of the best questions that anybody could ask me because, and as I mentioned, I've been doing this professionally for 30 years. And what there's kind of been a common theme ⁓ with the majority of the people that I've worked with, and that's thousands of families and caregivers. Most people associate Alzheimer's disease and other brain diseases that cause dementia. ⁓ with short-term memory loss and extreme confusion. And when you really peel back the layers that complicate this disease the way it does, ⁓ I want people to understand and to realize that it is so much more complex than just sheer memory loss and confusion. this disease, and you're right, it does vary from person to person. We have a saying in my world, if you've met one person with dementia, you've met one person with dementia because it is absolutely the truth that everybody progresses through it, through the stages differently. And then another complication that's thrown into the mix, and I don't know if any of you are aware of this, but it's actually more common than most of us would think that people actually live with more than one of these brain diseases at exactly the same time. It's developing in different parts of our brains and it's damaging the different parts simultaneously. So you can have Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia at the same time. So that's more common than we would want to realize. Pete "mental Health Champ": Cheers. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: but it's the truth. And then trying to diagnose ⁓ these diseases is also makes ⁓ things even that much more challenging. But because it impacts and affects most of our cognitive abilities throughout the progression and as we progress from early stage to mid-stage to severe stage, ⁓ it's... people are losing more and more and more of their cognitive abilities. So it affects reasoning and our judgment and our ability to what we call task sequence. So what I mean by that, I'll give you an example. ⁓ Most of us are taught to brush our teeth from the time that we are really little toddlers. And by the time we grow up and it's something we do one or two times a day, It's second nature. We don't even think about the process that we go through, the steps that we go through to accomplish that task. When people are living with ⁓ mid to late stage dementia, they forget the steps that are involved in completing any task. So, Pete "mental Health Champ": Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: You can walk into a bathroom and stare at your toothbrush that's sitting in that holder and you don't remember what the heck it's for or what you're supposed to do with it. And that's true of pretty much everything. You know, how to push the lever down on your toaster because you can't even remember what that appliance does, let alone how to work it or your coffee maker. So these are some of the examples of the cognitive functions that people are robbed of and it impacts their daily lives from doing the simplest, the simplest of tasks. That's another example or another, let me give you one more example because I could go on and on and on, but ⁓ one of the most dangerous ones is we lose our ability to use sound judgment about putting ourselves in harms away. So, Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Another thing we're taught from a very young age is before we ever cross the street, I don't care if the green light's with us or we're jaywalking or we're going against the red. We were taught and conditioned to look both ways to make sure no cars are coming in our either direction. Dementia robs us of that ability. So you could just step off. Yeah, the stove. Yeah. So these are all. Pete "mental Health Champ": Mm-hmm. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah, safety becomes a problem. Yeah, I know, because my grandma, was the stove. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: components of dementia that people aren't connecting those dots with. And so they don't, even if they're seeing these things happen, a lot of people aren't making that ⁓ association that this is the disease we're looking at guys. This is part of the disease. They just think, I've had people say to me, ⁓ yeah, my mom has dementia and she forgets things all the time and she gets really confused. But She's also going crazy because she does all these other things. So they're thinking, okay, she's got mental illness and dementia. No, this is all part of the same brain disease is what we're all witnessing. So I would say that that's the biggest takeaway that I really want to emphasize is this is guys, a complex disease. And there's so much more to it than just confusion and. Pete "mental Health Champ": Ha ha ha. Bad Habits Network SFP: Okay. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. So. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: losing memories. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, finding words is another thing to list here. I'm looking at some scary facts here, guys, OK? So more than 6 million people are estimated to be living with Alzheimer's. That's 6 million people, OK? The next thing is really going to be scary, according to what my complexity is. Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: The newest report just came out from the Alzheimer's Association. 7.2 million Americans are living with it right now. Pete "mental Health Champ": Isn't it scary? Yeah, let's see what the ones I'm looking at here is from using my perplexity on my browser right now. It is saying though is also a major cause of death in adults. That's that's scary. And we don't know people don't know a lot about it though. But it's a major cause. Like that's that's that's really just kind of like it's so mind blowing that that if it's a major cause, why don't we know more about it? Lisa, that's the scary part about this thing is that Don't you think we should be educating more people sooner about this to look out for the earlier signs of these things? You would figure there'd be a bigger push for people to be like, hey, listen, this is a major cause. Maybe we need to do something about it instead of letting it just progressively getting worse. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: And the reason why that's not happening, Pete, is because it's so difficult to differentiate between normal aging forgetfulness and the earliest signs of dementia because they look a lot alike. So even doctors, most doctors don't even attempt to make a diagnosis until somebody's well into their mid-stage when the symptoms and the behaviors and the signs become blatantly obvious. So that's Bad Habits Network SFP: You know, my grandma didn't get my one grandma wasn't until she was about 80 years old that she was diagnosed and we had already seen the signs of it because of my mom and I working in healthcare. And, you know, it's like, but we had to go through multiple doctors, you know, to get all this taken care of. It was a lot of work. Like, you know, and I get the whole wordplay thing, like them forgetting words and stuff like that. We used to put post-it notes everywhere for my grandma. Like, Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: when she was still, you know, in her moments of with it, like, you know, not reverting back to the childhood type thing. And even when she did revert back to her childhood, we didn't tell her, hey, that's not true. Like, you're not hearing what you're hearing. You're not seeing what you're seeing. Like we would tell, like for her dog, Spot, she'd, no, was it, yeah, Spot. She'd tell him to shut up because he was barking. And I'd go, okay, grandma, I'll go tell him to be quiet. Like, you know, I didn't tell her, no, he's not there. You're crazy. This is just in your head. You can't do that sort of thing to them. Now, there exercises? Is there exercises and stuff when somebody starting to go through it and if they do catch the signs early enough that can help kind of, I guess, prolong staying more with it instead of like just falling into it? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: You cannot. Pete "mental Health Champ": Ooh, David, really good question. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: There actually, there are, there's ⁓ evidence-based science that, ⁓ and this has been around for decades, that we now know, which we didn't know like 30, 40, 50 years ago, that there actually are a lot of things that we can do to ⁓ help prevent or help slow down developing Alzheimer's disease by to 45 % and the Lancet Commission just came out with ⁓ an updated ⁓ percentage. Just, I don't know, six months ago it was 40 % and just recently it's now they've increased it to 45%. So there's a huge list of risk factors, but ⁓ the more of these risk factors that apply to any one individual increases. Bad Habits Network SFP: Cool. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: each individual's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. ⁓ Only four of them are what we call non-modifiable, you can't change them, but all the other ones can be managed or treated. So if people are aware of what the risk factors are and the things they can do to ⁓ manage the different risk factors, we can minimize that or reduce our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Bad Habits Network SFP: So there's hope for you, You're... Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Mm-hmm. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, very funny. Very funny, okay. So Lisa, I did want to ask you about one of your books I didn't list. Your latest book, Truth Lies and Alzheimer's, it's Secret Faces. Can I ask what inspired you to write that? Now I know there's David or Douglas W. Collins' list as well. Is that one of the co-authors of the book too? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: He ⁓ contributed quite a bit to this version. This is an ⁓ updated version of the original book, The Not All Who Wander Need Be Lost. And then we added more information and more chapters because of the time difference between when the first book came out and the second. So it's an updated version. So ⁓ what really inspired me? Pete "mental Health Champ": Okay. Awesome. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Do I have time to tell a quick story? Okay. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, definitely. ahead. I was going to ask you, though, can you give us a little more information about Douglas, too, when you're you're done sharing your story? I'd love to know a little more about him as well. Bad Habits Network SFP: Good Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: ⁓ sure. Okay, so ⁓ my very first introduction to Alzheimer's disease was, I hate to admit it, but it's going back 50 years. I was a teenager. I had just gotten my driver's license. My grandma only lived a few miles from my family home. So I wanted to go over there and show off that milestone accomplishment. I told my mother I was going to drive over there and she says, okay, have a nice visit. So I go over there and my grandmother answers the door. Just everything seems normal. We go into her living room and right out of her mat, she starts frantically telling me about these birds that are living in her mattress and that they came out at night and pecked on her face. And she was terrified. And then she pointed to the living room floor and asked me if I saw the rats running around her floor and that they were invading her home and she didn't know what to do about it. And then her last, probably most far-fetched story I was being introduced to at the time was that men were constantly breaking into her house. They were stealing her jewelry, her... possessions and they were eating all her food. So she never had anything to eat. She even said they were leaving her the crust of the bread or the ends of the bread is what she said. So who wants to eat their sandwich with the end pieces, right? But I mean, I'm being a little facetious, but she really believed all these things. And the only thing that saved me from saying to her, grandma, what? Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: In the world are you talking about, these are the craziest stories I've ever heard. I came from the generation where we were conditioned. You don't argue with your elders, you respect them. What they tell you is the truth, just accept it. And so I was afraid to confront her or to argue with her or to disagree with her, even though I'm sitting there thinking, None of these things could be true. Nothing even makes sense. So that was my first experience. I went home and I confronted my mother. said, I told her the stories and I said, did you know there was something wrong with her? Because I sure was caught off guard. She goes, oh yes, your grandmother's been diagnosed with senility. That's what they called it back then. And we're not going to talk about it. I'm like, what? So. And then again, seven family members followed in her footsteps. I, ⁓ before I started doing the podcast and all the speaking engagements that I currently do to raise awareness, I used to counsel and help families ⁓ with one-on-one ⁓ counseling and direction and care plans and teaching them, you know, the most effective ways to respond to these situations. ⁓ I was called over to a client's house and she was referred to me by another client. So I went over to her house and she ⁓ sat me down. She and her husband, her husband's mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about two years earlier and her father had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about two years earlier. And for the next two and a half hours, they picked my brain and just asked me question, peppered me with question after question after question. And after two and a half hours, she stops me and she said, Lisa, I just want to take a second to tell you. You have provided us with more helpful and valuable information in the two and a half hours you've been here than we've gotten anywhere else in the last two years. And then this is Bad Habits Network SFP: ⁓ wow. It's amazing. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: going to answer your question. And then what came out of her mouth was my aha moment. She said, you need to write a book. I'm serious. She said, you know so much about this and it would be selfish of you if you didn't share what you know with the families like ours who are struggling every single day trying to get through these diseases. And I had other people had said that to me, but the way she presented it to me just really struck a chord. And seriously, it was after that visit that I put pen to paper and started writing my first book. And I knew she was right. I knew there was limited resources out there. I knew my family struggled with trying to know what to do day after day after day with our family members. So I made it happen. I've never looked back. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now number one bestseller and the recipient of an award too now. I mean, it's amazing though, you know, because, you know what saying? Like you didn't have any idea what was going to happen after you wrote this book. Now, now, like I said, now you're a bestseller and you want an award for it as well for just trying to bring, put the message out there that not a lot of people are talking about this thing. And then your podcast is doing phenomenal. You're in the top 10 % international. Bad Habits Network SFP: That's awesome. That is phenomenal. Pete "mental Health Champ": Like that's some big numbers right there for you to take the time and come talk to us. This is like, wow, you know, it's been, it's great having someone right here with all these resources, you know, that just didn't give up, you know, because podcasting for a lot of us was a start. We all didn't know what to do. You know, tell us, tell us what it's like in the beginning. it something like, what, what even came up with that idea? Because you know, podcasting is a lot harder for a lot of people than they realized. Did you, did you even know what podcasting was where you started? Was it just something that you're like, Hey, listen, you know what? I'm going to reach people on a bigger scale. Let me go to something I know that a lot of people use these days is, you're using Spotify all the way down to PandaRain. All these people can listen in all these different ways. Did you do a lot of research in the beginning stages of this thing or was it one of these things that somebody brought to you? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Doug actually helped launch our very first podcast. It was actually on Riverside too. use, yeah, because he ⁓ had a recording studio for years, five years, I think. So he knew all about this. And I realized that ⁓ this was the best. Pete "mental Health Champ": Oh, this is where Doug comes in. Okay, now I see where we're leading. Okay. Okay. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: platform available to us for getting the message out, for raising awareness. And so we started it together and then ⁓ I took it over from there. And then I recently launched a ⁓ television show. So I still have my podcast. I've been doing it for over three years. ⁓ Huge following. And that tells me that so many people are looking. Pete "mental Health Champ": Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: for information about this and honest and accurate information. Somebody that's, know, I have a, it's the same name. I decided to keep the name the same because if somebody Googled it, then, you know, they could find either or, but it's a, an actual stream, a television show that is streaming on a network called E360 TV, which has millions of, of, of, Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm-hmm. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, definitely. Definitely got something not to talk about a lot. So now you have the TV show too, which is really cool as well. Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: viewers and ⁓ just out of the gate. mean, my numbers are growing every month. I think I'm in my sixth or seventh month, ⁓ but they already had an audience. So all I needed for people to do is find out that the show existed and the numbers just keep growing and growing and growing every month. So it was a really good platform for me. And I'm the only host. Bad Habits Network SFP: ⁓ wow. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: that does a television show about Alzheimer's disease and the other diseases that cause Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, was going to say, that's not really big topic for people. So you're killing a market that not a lot of people are even in, which I'm surprised with it being a major cause of death in adults that more people aren't making an effort to talk about these things. Bad Habits Network SFP: That is amazing. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: They are. I think I give the credit to the media for that because I've been around this for 30 years. And I actually, I've been to, you know, when I first, when I went to my first summit, it's where I met you, I had hosts tell me, least I think it's a really important topic that you're talking about, but my, my audience wouldn't be open to it. It's just too heartbreaking. It's too sad. And this last one that I went to February, I had say 80 % of the people wanted me to come on their show and talk about it. So that's a huge, huge change from when I first, when I went to my first summit, which was, I don't know, seven years ago, maybe it was a very, oh, it was in 2020, it was in 2021 because, Bad Habits Network SFP: Cool. That's amazing. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: I was supposed to go to New York to the live one that they used to do in New York every year, and it was canceled because of COVID. So that was six years ago. And boy, have things changed now. it's the reason why is because the media is bringing to all of our attention the celebrities that have been diagnosed, have passed away, like Glenn Campbell and ⁓ Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: all the celebrities and Bruce Willis, he's still alive, but ⁓ now they've given us permission that it's now okay to acknowledge that we're dealing with these diseases and it doesn't have to be shameful. And that's the way it was, like with my mother and why she said, we're not talking about this. Bad Habits Network SFP: Bruce Willis and stuff like that. Yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, exactly. Bad Habits Network SFP: Well, shameful taboo, yeah. Yeah, that was something I was about to ask. Like when you were back, when you were telling about your story with your grandma, now, like Alzheimer's and that stuff was more or less kind of taboo or hidden underneath the rug, kind of like autism and stuff like that used to be. mean, even certain mental health disorders or ADHD or back then it was ADD. Like people didn't want people to know about that stuff. It was just like he said, brush turned into carpet. Was it more along the lines like people were Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Bad Habits Network SFP: I guess, I don't, guess lack of better words, kind of embarrassed or what, why would they have like, why is it just now coming to light? Why wouldn't it have came to light, you know, years ago? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: That's a great question and what I have discovered just through my own experiences and being involved for 50 years that way back when it was considered a mental illness. People didn't understand that this was actually an organic brain disease, that a disease entered part of our brain and was damaging it. So the association was made with craziness and nobody You know, once somebody found out, let's say they found out that my grandmother was telling everybody about birds living in her mattress. In fact, the police, she was calling the police ⁓ every day with these stories. And they went out to investigate the first time she called and they realized that there were no birds living in her mattress. There were no rats running around her for And you know, they dismissed all the stories that she had told them. And then they stopped, they dismissed her after that. And then one day the police office, the chief of police showed up at my family's home looking for my mom. And he comes in and he said, you need to do something with your mother. She's a nutcase. And I just happened to be standing right there. And that never has never left me. That had such an imprint on. the way I viewed, the way other people viewed this disease, that it all just started to make sense. They associated it with people being crazy. And this is not mental health. This is brain disease. There's very different things. But back then, and he just didn't hesitate for a second to call my grandmother a nutcase. And this is the chief of police who's supposed to be there to help and protect and you know, she was terrified because she believed that these things were true. This was her reality and that's what happens with dementia is they believe whatever it is that they're hallucinating or they're having a delusion about is the absolute truth and there's nothing anybody, as you guys know, there's nothing that we can say to convince them otherwise. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: They just figured they were delusional. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, very true, very true. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: until they drop it and decide, you know, maybe move on to something else. yeah. So yeah, it was associated, that was the stigma. Okay, you've got ⁓ mental illness running in your family. We already know about one nut that's in your family. Mine, was my grandma and then seven more to follow. And ⁓ that stigma, yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah, that's just... Bad Habits Network SFP: I do. Mm-hmm. Pete "mental Health Champ": Had a whole baseball team almost over there. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: That stigma has ⁓ affected and harmed so many families and people ⁓ from being willing to talk about it. But the truth be told, it has been a proverbial elephant in the room. It's staring all of us in the face. It's not going away. And we got to pull our heads out of the sand and... ⁓ and admit that this is part of our lives. the number of people we're being told that are going to develop Alzheimer's in the next 24 years, if a cure or a treatment's not found, is expected to triple from the number of people who, yeah. So anyway, thank the media for, huh? Pete "mental Health Champ": I believe it. I believe it. We went from six to seven million now. I said we went from six to seven million. If that isn't a fair enough number for people to understand that this is something we need to do something about now, I don't know what else to tell people at this point because that's way too many. One million more people? That's a million more people that have just been diagnosed with it. And we've got to do something, man. Raise more awareness or something. Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Pete "mental Health Champ": Like people need to talk more about these things. It's just, to me, it's just baffling with all the media we have that this topic doesn't come up more than just your show alone. That's the part that still baffles me is that you're the only person out here really talking about it. And then everybody else said, ⁓ that's a great one. But then they don't want to talk about it. You see how everybody got so scared of it. The first few panels you went to like, well, I don't know, Lisa, that man. Yeah. But when I talk more about it, think about it, you could be the first person to talk more about these things. And none of these people saw the saw the bigger picture of it like Hey, listen, she's onto something. she's out here seeing these things for this many years, like it's to me, it's just like when, we met, I was like, dude, I'm all over this one. I'm like, I liked it. This is, he is as close to me. Like I said, I shared it with you though. Then my grandmothers both had dealt with brain illnesses and things like that too. And then when I know when you reached out to me about this great idea for June and I was like, you know what, this is a stellar idea. And then I was talking to David. And I told him about it and he told Ashley about what we were going to do. He's like, listen, I was like, listen, you want to come be a part of this thing? Come on, let's go jump in this thing. Is it more voices in this conversation? You know, so. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yeah, I'm so glad you guys are all ⁓ supporting this because everything you're saying is 100 % right. Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm. Well, that's something too we've got to watch with what's going on with. Well, I have, well, second stage now, Jelial blastoma, but I also deal with leukemia and I have microvascular disease and I deal with lupus and all sorts of things. and we've got, that was going to lead into my next question for you actually. Because what is it like? other brain disorders or medical disorders or brain diseases, even cognitive disorders, like, are you more likely going to have dementia or Alzheimer's because of this? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Genetics does play a role. You talked about it earlier. There is a gene called the APOE4 gene or allele that is passed down by our parents. So ⁓ you can inherit one gene from your mother and you can also inherit another gene, the second gene from your father. That's rare, pretty rare for people to inherit the gene from both parents, but one is not Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah, and see my father's mother actually passed away from it and then my mom's mom passed away from it. So it's like, you know, the likelihood. Yeah. Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: ⁓ So there's that gene. Well, it increases our risk, but it still doesn't mean we'll get it. It could pass us over and then it stops because it just goes from parent to offspring. But that APOE4 gene that can be passed down to the ⁓ next offspring, ⁓ that's the genetic component. then there's also the fact that it does run in families. So I can test negative for that APOE4 gene, but having five blood relatives that have developed Alzheimer's disease, that just raises my risk exponentially. ⁓ So I think that, you know, really at the end of the day, it's all about Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Knowledge. Knowledge is going to give all of us our superpower to know how to live out the rest of our lives with the least amount of risk of developing it and then the things that we know we can do that can slow down the progression. And how are going to accomplish that? By talking about it, right? Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah, exactly. That's the only thing you can do is talk about it. That's only way to ⁓ raise awareness. I can't apparently talk today, sorry. Pete "mental Health Champ": Exactly. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: just did a docu-series with another one of the E360 hosts that's going to air in the next couple weeks. And we decided to do the last episode on busting myths, like you're crazy if you have Alzheimer's disease. We had 40 myths that we went over, 40. That's how Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Jesus. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: much stigma is attached to ⁓ Alzheimer's disease and these other brain diseases. And I mean, that can only be confusing for people because who do you believe? What do you believe? And I've been aware of these myths for decades. Bad Habits Network SFP: Exactly. Yeah, because I was told by my neuro-oncologist that with my gelioblastoma that I could have a higher risk of developing dementia, ⁓ especially because it does run in my family too. ⁓ And I do have a lot of issues. ⁓ I have to write things down a lot. ⁓ It's like the daily routine has to pretty much stay the same. I find myself, know, remembering things here and there. And like, I can't remember like things that he remembers from a few years ago. Like it's, you know, ever since I was diagnosed with all this. so it does get frustrating, but it's also scary at the same time because you know that you had family members pass away. And you know, we've done genetics testing on my youngest son. for to find these things out too because he's got a lot of medical issues and he's got Down syndrome and autism and epilepsy and microvascular disease and you know, so it's just like we might want to cross our T's, dot our I's here and just make sure what's going on and we also had to find out like the mutation going on with his chromosomes with the Down syndrome. So we did genetics testing anyways to see and Fortunately with Alzheimer when he was good. So like I was thankful there. But it's, know, I unfortunately carry the gene. And so it's like, you know, that's scary when you have a doctor tell you that. And, you know, so it's like, okay, I pray I don't ever get it, but I have a lot of patients and know what it's about and can tell if things are going to start happening and open my mouth sooner than later. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yeah, but just to reassure you, because I don't want anybody who's listening to this to think that if they do or have inherited that gene from either one or both their parents, they may not. It's not a guarantee. It's not inevitable that they're going to develop it. It just raises the risk. So yeah, I hope that that's a little comforting for you that, you know, Bad Habits Network SFP: Right. Exactly. Yep. Yeah, it's just, it scares me. Like I said, you know, it makes you nervous, that sort of thing. But it's just also the fact that I could pass that gene down. Like, you know, it's, it's just scary. But, it's weird because it's only been women in my family that have gotten it. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: More women do, that's a fact. More women do develop Alzheimer's disease than men do. There's a couple theories as to why, but I guess it doesn't really matter because we do. Bad Habits Network SFP: Now, is there? Yeah. It's because she listens to everything and I kind of barely listen. I said, cause she listens to everything and I barely listen. So that's probably why she's got more of a thing going on. Yeah. Haha. You're funny. But, is there any way like, Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: That's been proven. That's evidence-based. I'm sorry, what? Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yeah, you're really knowledgeable. I'm impressed you're knowledgeable about this. Pete "mental Health Champ": I love it. I love it. Bad Habits Network SFP: But is there, is there any way for them to do like brain scans or anything like that to kind of help, ⁓ move forward? ⁓ like if they can scan, see something and be like, okay, we know you're going to run into this. We can start kind of backing it down, but is there any way if they actually like scan your brain, is there any signs physically that they can see, or is it all kind of buried within? Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yes. So as of this conversation, there is not a way to definitively or conclusively diagnose Alzheimer's disease and some of these other brain diseases. We are now at a point where doctors can diagnose it using blood tests and ⁓ cognitive testing and PET scans, which haven't been around that long. ⁓ diagnose it in some people with up to a 95 % accuracy, but not 100%. And so we still see people misdiagnosed. I mean, I've seen a lot of people who've been told they're living with Alzheimer's disease and they have Lyme disease. That's one example. The only way we can conclusively diagnose still, even today, is upon an autopsy because they have to Bad Habits Network SFP: Yep. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: They have to slice the brain and look into all the layers. You can't do that while a person's still living. But, you know, I'll take 95 % because that's a far cry from what we've been able to do before all these other, you know, tools were available. ⁓ But to answer your question, they can actually see the brain atrophying or shrinking, because that's what happens with dementia. Pete "mental Health Champ": Exactly. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: You see holes in the brain. You see the brain shrink to a smaller size. If you ever see a healthy brain and a dementia brain, there's no question the damage that's been done through atrophy and the holes that are ⁓ very noticeable. So that's available in these PET scans and a couple of the other scans. Bad Habits Network SFP: Thank So it's. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: either a CAT scan or an MRI can show some ⁓ damage being done. So that's what's available today. you know, with AI now available, I think that that's only going to improve with feeding this information into, you know, a computer brain that can come up with answers a lot quicker than scientists can with research, but the thing is is even if they come up with some theories, the scientists still have to prove the theories because I just read a study ⁓ last week where there's now a variety of other theories of what's causing Alzheimer's disease, that their original belief of it being caused by these plaques and tangles that form in the brain. Bad Habits Network SFP: Exactly. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: ⁓ may not be the sole cause of it, that it's what they call multi-factorial, that there's different causes of Alzheimer's disease. And then the new theory that those plaques and tangles are actually protecting the brain. So we still don't even know the actual real cause that now they're based on recent studies that have been going on for a long time. These are just the results that ⁓ There's a lot more to it than anybody ever thought. But we don't know what that to it really comes down to. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yikes. Yeah, cause I was just kind of curious too, like, and you said that it shrinks the brain and like kind of the holes in it. Is there any certain spot that it just goes, it like goes after, does it go after like the whole brain in general? It doesn't just pick like the memory sensor or anything. Okay. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: whole brain. So let me give you an example. Let me kind of clarify that. So Alzheimer's disease, the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease is damaging. first attacks our short-term memory center. Lewy body dementia attacks a different part of the brain. Frontotemporal dementia attacks a different part of the brain. Again, people can be living with more than one brain disease at the same time. So there's Bad Habits Network SFP: Gotcha. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: you know, more than one brain disease attacking different parts of her brain. But from the scans that I have seen comparing a dementia damaged brain to a healthy brain, ⁓ you know, so, so each type of brain disease might start in one part of our brain, like let's say the short-term memory, but it works its way to other parts. And that eventually is going to cause the entire brain to shrink. Bad Habits Network SFP: Gotcha. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: And the difference in the size is significant. If you see dementia damaged brain compared to what a healthy brain still looks like, it's significant, the size difference. And then the holes that you see are the entire brain. There's holes in many different parts of the brain. So, you know, it's the whole brain that is ⁓ eventually will be damaged due to. Bad Habits Network SFP: you. Pete "mental Health Champ": Thanks. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: whatever brain disease it is, it literally ravages the brain. And during this process, you're losing more and more and more of your cognitive abilities. Maybe you have Alzheimer's and it starts out with short-term memory loss, but by the time that the progression of your Alzheimer's is complete, Bad Habits Network SFP: That's nuts. Pete "mental Health Champ": to. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: you've lost all those other cognitive functions that we talked about, the judgment, the reasoning, maybe your personality has changed, maybe, ⁓ you know, you see other ⁓ repercussions of the damage. ⁓ So, no, it's significant ⁓ damage being done. And ⁓ fortunately, I've seen those comparisons and ⁓ it's mind blowing. It's mine. The Alzheimer's Association actually sends out a picture of an Alzheimer's brain and compare it to, and I get them in the mail all the time because I'm an Alzheimer's Association member. So I, you know, they still send me ⁓ fundraising solicitations and things like that. And tucked inside the envelope is a picture of ⁓ one of these scans. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Bad Habits Network SFP: Mm-hmm. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: that compares a healthy brain to an Alzheimer's brain. And it's pretty mind boggling. Bad Habits Network SFP: ⁓ wow. Pete "mental Health Champ": Yeah. Well, Lisa, I wanted to thank you so much for inviting me to come do this with you. It's a great honor to see you again. I absolutely love what you're doing. Before I wrap up this special episode, I'm going to ask you the same question I ask all my guests, and David and Ashley. You better be ready because I'm asking you the same question. So have your answers ready for this one, OK? All right, Lisa, your question is that if your mental health had a song, what would that song be? Bad Habits Network SFP: Okay. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: about hope for tomorrow. Pete "mental Health Champ": All right, Dave, you're up. What do you think? Can't look at it for an answer. You got to answer this one. Bad Habits Network SFP: Well no, I was just hoping she was gonna go first. I didn't know mine. Pete "mental Health Champ": Whoever wants to go first? Go ahead guys. I'm asking everybody this question. This is always interesting to get everybody's responses. I figured, you know, after we just had a very dark, of like real serious episode, it'd be fun to end it with a real fun question. So guys, whoever wants to go first? If your mental had a song, what would your song be? Bad Habits Network SFP: Probably popular monster by falling in reverse. Pete "mental Health Champ": that one okay? Ash you're up what do you got for us? Bad Habits Network SFP: Mine is fight song. Fight song. Pete "mental Health Champ": Okay, I like that one. I like that one for sure. Well, Lisa, again, thank you so much for inviting me to come do this with you. I really appreciate you reaching out. I've been been a great honor having you guys. ⁓ what's mine? ⁓ wait, wait a minute. Okay, so. So there's two songs, okay. So my anxiety song is ⁓ artificial suicide by bad omens. Okay, because the way I describe my anxiety is at a constant rapid pace. So that constant Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: song. Bad Habits Network SFP: Yeah. Yeah, what's yours? Wait a minute. You didn't tell us yours. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Yeah, what's yours? Bad Habits Network SFP: Ha ha! Pete "mental Health Champ": in the beginning of the song, okay? So my depression song is two, all right? So the answer I gave originally was, the Light, Lead the Light on, Talk Away the Dark by Papa Roach. And then the other song as well is A Different Kind of Pain by Cold. Bad Habits Network SFP: Nice. Pete "mental Health Champ": same. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: I think every one of our songs is totally relevant to this topic. ⁓ yeah, we still need to hold out hope and all the things that everybody said. Yeah. Pete "mental Health Champ": Right. But yeah, but Lisa, I agree. I agree 100%. We need to start talking more. I agree. Well, Lisa, let me just say once again, thank you so much for being here. David, Ashley, thank you so much for joining me for this special edition of Pete First Anxiety, guys. Before we sign out, Lisa, go ahead and let everybody know where they can find you. Where's the podcast and everything else? Go ahead and plug it for everybody. Bad Habits Network SFP: welcome. Thank you. Lisa Skinner, CDP, CDT, CPD: Okay, my website is mindingdementia.com. My television show, a new episode airs every Sunday, but it's always available on my YouTube, on their YouTube, and ⁓ on their streaming network, E360 TV. ⁓ And then my podcast, and I've got 160 something episodes I think now. So good resources for people. And I research the heck out of everything to make sure I'm staying as up to date and accurate as possible. And those are found on all 40 of the platforms that air podcasts. So hopefully that'll be good resources for everybody. Bad Habits Network SFP: ⁓ Pete "mental Health Champ": That's awesome. Definitely guys, I will have a link to her website, everything else, her YouTube, all that stuff in the description. Dave and Ash, you want to sign off where everybody can find you as well? Bad Habits Network SFP: Cool. Want to, or you want to? Go on. All right. So you can go on Facebook. You can find us under Shannon Family Products, Bad Habits Network. You can go under Facebook, Shannon Family Products. Anything, you know, Shannon Family Products or Bad Habits Network. You can find us on YouTube, Shannon Family Products, SFP or BHN. TikTok is Bad Habits Network, SFP. I know her handle is ash. 2220 yeah Let's see for a living well with bad habits. Yep was Spreaker if you go on there just look under SFP bad habits network and we're on everything from I heart to And now I'm drawing a blank so there's a lot of them but run about 11 12 13 different platforms I forget what they're all on and you can also find Pete's show on that platform as well with us you So Instagram, Bad Habits Network. ⁓ That's about it. Pretty much. Pete "mental Health Champ": All right. Well, guys, with that being said, we're going to wrap up this episode of Pete first anxiety in order to find me a piece of society on X all the way down to tick tock. I'm on Spotify all the way down to Panto radio. And as always, say it costs nothing. Absolutely not to be kind to somebody. One kind act you could do could save someone's life or hell, can make their day. I'm Pete first anxiety sign off saying don't ask how your day is today. Say hey, how's your mental health?