Minding Our Elders®

Elders Covering for Each Other Can Hide Dementia Symptoms

Long married couples are often said to “finish each others sentences.” They work as a unit, and friends and family members are used to this interaction. This ability to work as a team is a wonderful thing until one of the team isn’t functioning well and the other is in denial. When couples cover up for each other, precious time can be lost. So, adult children need to be on the lookout for signs that things aren’t going well. 

Deciding when to act

Healthy aging brings with it some losses, but if seniors have a mate, they often can live independently for a longer time as they fill in the gaps for each other. Dad’s hearing is getting dim, but Mom coaches him and he does okay. Mom’s driving is questionable, but Dad does most of the driving when they are in high traffic areas, so she still gets around fine.

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Caregivers Coping with Criticism from the from the Care Receiver

Each care situation was different. I started with an aged neighbor, then moved on to a childless aunt and uncle, my in-laws and eventually my parents. All of them appreciated me. However they each had moments when, because of their own misery, they’d lash out at me in some way.

When I returned to full-time outside employment, I was still caring for three elders, though they were in a nursing home. I’d spoiled my elders by being with them every day no matter how much outside help they had. With full-time employment mixed in, I still visited almost every day and attended to every request. However, from my elders' perspective, my nearly exclusive attention from my pre-employment years was missed and noted.

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The “Hidden” Costs When We Quit our Jobs to Care for Our Loved Ones

I don’t need a study to tell me that leaving the workforce to become a family caregiver has cost me, financially. All I have to do is look my puny projected Social Security. Over two decades of my adult “productive” years have been spent caring for elders and children while not working at paid employment. Eventually, I did go back into the workforce, even though I was still a primary caregiver for three elders and one young adult with health issues. While I certainly was aware that I wouldn’t get any Social Security or retirement benefits for the years outside the traditional workforce, I also knew that our family didn’t have the money to pay agencies to do what I did for my loved ones.

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FTD Rare Form of Dementia: Could be Treated With Malaria Drug

Accepting that a loved one has any type of dementia can be difficult. When someone we care about develops frontotemporal dementia, the shock can be particularly hard to absorb, because one of the defining characteristics of frontotemporal dementia is personality change. Spouses of many years will often feel that their husband or wife has totally changed, and they are at a loss to explain the "stranger" their spouse has become.

Frontotemporal dementia is thought to be caused by a breakdown of nerve cells in the fronto-temporal lobe of the brain.  The early personality changes can help doctors differentiate between frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's, since memory loss is often the earliest symptom of Alzheimer's  disease, while personality change is generally evident from the start of frontotemporal dementia.

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Internet Series “Ruth and Erica” Focuses on Family Dynamics and Alzheimer’s

 “Ruth & Erica” launched this week on the YouTube Internet channel WIGS, which, according to the press release, is now the most popular channel for scripted drama on YouTube. The show portrays the dynamics of a family facing the challenges that often accompany aging and ill health.

When I asked author and director Amy Lippman (Party of Five) what prompted her to write a drama about aging, she told me, “Over the past few years, I've become increasingly aware that my conversations with my friends were veering away from our usual talk about our kids to talk of our parents, how they were aging, and how their aging was affecting us. We were constantly seeking advice from each other: what were our responsibilities toward our parents?

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Management Sundowning in People with Alzheimer's without Drugs

Sundowning, sometimes called Sundown Syndrome, is the label given to late day anxiety, irritability, disorientation and general agitation in people with Alzheimer’s. Sundowning frustrates home caregivers and professional care staff alike, as they often feel completely unable to comfort the person affected. Researchers and care staff alike are looking for answers. One nursing home in particular has made some dramatic changes in end-of-day care, resulting in a major reduction in the need to medicate residents for late day anxiety. Home caregivers can learn from their work, as well.

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Time to examine Medicare Plans

DEAR READERS: Whether for yourself or to assist your parents or other elders, it’s time to review Medicare options if you want to make changes from the 2012 policies. Medicare annual open enrollment begins Oct. 15 with new benefit choices taking place Jan. 2013.

During the Medicare annual enrollment period, which is Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, all Medicare beneficiaries may change their Medicare coverage for the coming year. This includes anyone enrolled in traditional Medicare, Medicare D (prescription drug coverage) or Medicare Advantage. No action is necessary if you are happy with your coverage as it stands.

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Tips on How To Cope With Elder's Eating Problems

Often, whether from physical problems or lack of appetite, eating loses its appeal to frail elders. Regardless of the reason their loved one has for not eating well, caregivers can be stressed by the situation. We know the value of nutrition. We know the feeling of hunger. We want to help them stay nourished.

Professional caregivers, such as those in nursing homes, also struggle with the issue. However, nourishment needs to be provided in the right way, which often depends on why the person has trouble eating.

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Reminiscing Powerful Treatment for People with Dementia

I love stories. When I was a teenager, I’d encourage grandparents to relate stories of their young years struggling to survive on the wind-swept prairie. When I grew older, I was fascinated by the stories my parents and in-laws told of their early years of growing up during the Great Depression. Little did I know at the time that peoples’ stories would become the springboard for my life’s work. Now there is mounting evidence that encouraging our elders to reminisce about their past is therapeutic as well as enjoyable. 

Many people around the country are now recording, or even videotaping, their elders as they tell stories about their past. This works for some. However, you need to know your loved ones. Not everyone wants to be onstage, so to speak, and preparing to record, even discretely, could take the spontaneity and fun out of the experience for some. Others may love it.

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Is it Dementia or Something Else Entirely?

Is it Alzheimer's disease? As people age, the rapid mental recall of youth often fades. Yet most aging adults have wisdom and life experience to share and are cognitively sound. With increased awareness of Alzheimer’s disease, however, has come an increased fear that every mental glitch we experience as we age is a sign of AD. So, what is Alzheimer's disease and what could these disturbing symptoms be if they are not AD?

 

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that gradually destroys memory and thinking skills. Eventually the ability to carry out simple tasks is also lost, as is the ability to recognize family members and communicate one’s needs.

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Life After a Dementia Diagnosis

Most Alzheimer’s organizations have found that, in general, people are more afraid of a dementia diagnosis than finding out that they have cancer. One reason for this fear is the stigma that accompanies dementia. While sympathetic to those who have Alzheimer’s and other dementias, people who haven’t been close to anyone with the disease often think that any type of satisfying life is out of reach after such a diagnosis.

According to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) and the Alzheimer’s Association, people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias want others to know that they can still “function.” They can still have a meaningful life. Some develop a renewed sense of purpose because they know that they have a disease that will cause cognitive degeneration, so that every moment they have is precious and should be lived to the fullest.

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Daughter Worries About Dad’s Sexual Aggression

Dear Carol: My father is in a nursing home because of Alzheimer’s disease. He’s become sexually aggressive and often grabs at the aides’ bodies. I get so embarrassed when I see that. The nurses say it’s his dementia and that he’s not unusual, but I wish there was something we could do to stop this embarrassing behavior. He was never out of line before he got sick. When we confront him about his behavior, he denies doing anything wrong. - Karie

Dear Karie: While sexual aggression is hard for the family of a loved one with dementia to witness, it’s only one manifestation of the lack of inhibition that is common with some dementias. Please believe the staff when they tell you that this is not uncommon behavior with dementia. They’ve been trained to handle these situations, so mainly it’s your own embarrassment you need to cope with. Your dad’s hormones are still active, but his brain can’t send him the message to restrain himself. 

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Dental Health Linked to Dementia Risk

It’s been known for years that poor dental health increases a person’s risk for heart disease. In the recent past, poor dental health has been mentioned as a possible risk for Alzheimer’s disease, as well.   Now, a large and lengthy study has confirmed a probable correlation between poor dental hygiene and dementia.

The results of this study conducted by researchers at the University of California have shown that people who brush their teeth less than once a day were up to 65 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who brush daily. 

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Study Shows Rate of Mental Decline in Elders After Hospital Stay Doubles

Years back, my dad came out of the hospital with severe, irreversible dementia. True, he’d had brain surgery. The surgery was meant to correct the effects aging was having on scar tissue from his WWII brain injury. Still, the change in my dad post-surgery was dramatic, to put it lightly. At the time, medical people were not aware – or were not acknowledging – the risks of surgery and hospitalization for elders. 

Through the years, I’ve answered anguished questions from readers telling their personal tale of a mother or father coming home from the hospital dramatically changed. I could empathize and tell them I understood their pain. But until the last couple of years, there’s been little scientific evidence to back up what many family members have witnessed firsthand.

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Hospital Stay Can Prove Fatal for People with Alzheimer’s

Last April, the journal Neurology reported on a study showing that people with Alzheimer’s disease who were hospitalized have more than double the risk of cognitive decline than the control group. Now, newer information makes the case that the hospitalization of a person with dementia presents an even greater risk than previously thought. According to an article in the Seattle Times, people with Alzheimer’s who are hospitalized are more likely to need nursing home care or even die within a year of their experience than those who are not hospitalized. If the person leaves the hospital suffering from a condition known as delirium, which is a state of increased agitation and confusion, the risk is even higher.

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Lack of Oxygen to the Brain Could be Behind Many Cases of Alzheimer’s

Why some elders develop Alzheimer’s disease and others do not remains a medical puzzle, but researchers are coming closer to understanding the process. An article on The Alzheimer’s Forum website reports on the results of two new human studies connecting loss of oxygen to the brain with Alzheimer's.   

Recently, researchers led by Henrik Zetterberg at the University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden, reported that cardiac arrest, an extreme form of hypoxia (loss of oxygen to the brain), causes a massive surge in blood amyloid-b peptide levels which are thought to be central to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

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What If Your Ill Parents Abused You?

We are only as sick as our secrets. That's a popular saying among many therapists and others who work with people who have led less than ideal lives. One of those secrets is that many adult children were physically, emotionally and/or sexually abused by their parents. Then the parents grow old, and often need assistance. Offering help to these parents, or even the decisions about whether to do so, is much trickier for the adult child who has struggled to overcome abuse issues. These are their parents, and many people feel they should do something. But how?

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Arts Improve Quality of life for Stroke Survivors and People with Alzheimer’s

Research continues to show that the arts enhance quality of life for people who have health problems, including Alzheimer’s disease and strokes. New research, presented at the 12^th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing, inCopenhagen, Denmark, reported on the importance of the arts, stating: 

“Patients who appreciated music, painting and theatre recovered better from their stroke than patients who did not…Patients interested in art had better general health, found it easier to walk, and had more energy. They were also happier, less anxious or depressed, and felt calmer. They had better memory and were superior communicators (speaking with other people, understanding what people said, naming people and objects correctly).”

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Early Grief as Our Loved One's Quality of Life Dims

...But underneath, often unnoticed, there's a knot in our hearts. We're grieving the loss – the loss of function that made our parent need to ask for help. Weren't they the ones who helped us? Weren't they the ones in charge?

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National TV talk show looking for siblings who have conflict over caring for aging loved one. If  you are interested, please contact me.

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Hygiene Problem Could be Caused by Depression

Dear Carol: My mom always had pride in her appearance. Even as she’s aged and grown quite heavy she’s liked nice clothes and has always been clean. Now she isn’t  interested in her clothes and won’t even bathe unless we nag her. She doesn’t like to go out with friends, either, and she used to be very social. She often says she’s too tired to have visitors. Mom’s just 75, but she had open heart surgery a few months ago and she hasn’t seemed the same since. Her cardiologist says her heart has healed well and that she’ll be fine with time, so Mom doesn’t think she needs to see another doctor. We disagree because she doesn’t seem to be coming out of the mental funk, even though she’s physically healing. - Jeffrey 

Dear Jeffrey:  It’s common for people to experience some depression after any major surgery, and heart surgery patients seem to be especially vulnerable. I’m wondering when your mother last saw her cardiologist. She may have had her last appointment when she was physically healing well, and the physician thought her progress was normal considering what she’d gone through. 

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