Dear Scared: This must be not only distressing for you but as your signature tells us, scary. I’m so sorry that you’re going through such a hard time. Your Dad's behavior change could stem from any number of things, but they will all need medical intervention, so you’ll likely want to set up an appointment – by video if that’s necessary – with his doctor. Read more →

“While it may be overwhelming at first, urinary incontinence is the most common type of incontinence among adults. Other common types of incontinence among adults include urge incontinence when you have a strong impulse to use the toilet but cannot get there in time; overflow incontinence, which involves urine leakage resulting Read more →

gain, no one, including the NIH, is suggesting that people should not take the potentially life-saving drugs listed. They are simply encouraging older adults, or caregivers of older adults, to make it routine for the doctors to regularly review all medications, many of which may have been prescribed years ago, to see if they could now be having negative effects on the patient’s health. Read more →

Dear Worried: One of the vital things that we do as caregivers is helping our older adult family members take necessary medications as prescribed, and question prescriptions that could be unnecessary. Questioning doesn’t mean that we should be antagonistic toward a doctor but asking details about prescriptions is just common sense. T Read more →

Dear Scared: This must be not only distressing for you but as your signature tells us, scary. I’m so sorry that you’re going through such a hard time. Your Dad's behavior change could stem from any number of things, but they will all need medical intervention, so you’ll likely want to set up an appointment – by video if that’s necessary – with his doctor. Read more →

In the past, piling up medications seemed to be nearly automatic because physicians are pushed for time, so they reached for the prescription pad when a new ailment is reported. As the years or even decades went by, the prescriptions keep getting filled without much thought. Read more →

“Pharmacologic agents including oral estrogens, alpha-blockers, sedative-hypnotics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, ACE inhibitors, loop diuretics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and calcium channel blockers have been implicated to some degree in the onset or exacerbation of urinary incontinence.” Read more →

There might be other reasons related to incontinence that would make it wise to review medications, as well. According to UsPharmacist.com, there are a number of drugs that can cause or exacerbate incontinence. Read more →

Dear PR: Your parents aren’t alone in coming to a sudden recognition about the need for having the right documents in place for this extraordinary time. They may have refused in the past, fearing as many do that acknowledging Read more →

I’m a strong believer in families being realistic. Your parents should have a Power of Attorney for health care with a health directive or living will. This is the document where people assign someone else to make decisions for them should they become unable to do so. Read more →