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In the normal scheme of things, parents and grandparents take care of children when they’re sick or need help or sustenance. But in well over a million American families, this pattern is reversed, with children as young as 8, 9 or 10 partly or fully responsible for the welfare of adults or siblings they live with.
They may have to shop, prepare meals, clean house, do the laundry and tend to the hygienic needs of family members unable to care for themselves.
Men who lose Y chromosomes from their blood cells as they age may have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.
The study of more than 3,200 men found those who already had Alzheimer's were nearly three times more likely to show a loss of the Y chromosome in some of their blood cells. What's more, older men with that "loss of Y" faced a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's over the next eight years.
When a loved one has Alzheimer’s there are five situations that may occur that are especially difficult to come to terms with. These include 1) when it’s time to move the person to a facility, 2) if the person finds a new love interest, 3) when the person no longer talks, 4) when the person no longer recognizes you, and 5) when it’s time to engage hospice care services. This article will look at that last item.
The need to involve hospice can be extremely difficult and even depressing. It’s common to dwell on dark thoughts of impending death. Some families delay ordering hospice care because it would force them to acknowledge that the end is near and they just can’t deal with that.
Sitting on a bus the other day, I couldn’t help but overhear two women discussing their friend, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. They expressed concern that they wouldn’t be able to talk to her anymore, that she’d no longer be able to join them for lunch or trips out. Their perception of Alzheimer’s was that it was like a particularly virulent form of cancer - that it would rob them of their friend in a matter of months.
When it comes to caring for a loved one with dementia, there is one behavior that many experts will fail to prepare friends and family members for- aggression. This is an often undiscussed yet very important side effect of Alzheimer’s disease and it is one that often catches many people off guard. While there are ways to manage aggressive behaviors that typically come with dementia, many doctors worry about over-medicating individuals with this condition and prefer to take a more hands-on, natural approach to managing aggression.
Has caregiving left you physically drained, mentally exhausted and spiritually numb? Are you feeling isolated, depressed and angry?
If so, you are experiencing the major red flags that you need a break from caregiving’s demands and responsibilities.
“Unlike the Energizer™ bunny — it goes and goes and goes — caregivers’ batteries do run down,” says Elisha Beard, the supportive services coordinator for the Adult Day Program at the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. “And when they do, caregivers need respite.”
A Canadian health organization is launching a call to action for long-term care homes, to change the culture of prescribing antipsychotics to residents who may not need them in the first place.
The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement hopes to shine a spotlight on non-pharmacological therapies for residents with dementia, which in turn could save money on prescriptions and hospital visits.
NHS chiefs have called in a comic to try to help prevent vulnerable elderly patients being abused by their staff.
Rob Gee has spent the past ten years on the comedy circuit, working with a host of top names, from Jo Brand and Sarah Millican, to Russell Howard and Frankie Boyle.
But he’s now been recruited by Leicestershire NHS Trust to run a series of dementia care workshops.
Last year, in an operating room at the University of Toronto, a 63-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease experienced something she hadn't for 55 years: a memory of her 8-year-old self playing with her siblings on their family farm in Scotland.
The woman is a patient of Dr. Andres Lozano, a neurosurgeon who is among a growing number of researchers studying the potential of deep brain stimulation to treat Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. If the approach pans out, it could provide options for patients with fading cognition and retrieve vanished memories.
We love mom. Or, at least, we like the idea of mom — even if, as countless writers have taken to pointing out, being a mother is as complicated a job as it ever was.
Even recognizing the hardships of life in parts of the world — too-early marriages, too many pregnancies too close together with too little prenatal care, too little opportunity to make decisions for oneself, let alone for one's children — still, there are plenty of things to preoccupy us in the wealthy and healthy (by comparison) U.S.
A new study finds that the healthier we eat over the years, the better shape our brains will be in as we age. In the new research from McMaster University, people from all over the world who kept a Mediterranean-style diet in middle age had a reduced risk of cognitive decline as they got older. What was the magic food? There wasn’t one, and the study didn’t try to find one. Much like other areas of health, it’s not one thing – it’s a combination of things. And that’s true whether we’re talking about body health or brain health.
The team tracked the health and habits of almost 28,000 people, 55 and over, who were taking part in two international studies across 40 countries. The team rated how healthy each person’s diet was overall: Healthy diets tended to consist of higher quantities of vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts, soy products, and moderate alcohol intake. The unhealthy foods were things like red meat, deep-fried foods, and sweets.
Oftentimes it’s difficult to know the best way to interact and communicate with a person who has Alzheimer’s. And so I’m going to let people know in advance how I would like to be treated should I develop this disease.
First of all I want to be placed in a care facility, and it should be the best one available that I can afford. I don’t want anyone making the supreme sacrifice to care for me at home. Besides, it’s quite possible that I will receive better care if I’m some place where there are numerous people involved in my care, rather than having one person who will try to do it all.