Submitted by administrator on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 4:08pm
Memory Care San Marcos Texas
More and more people are needing to step up and take on the role of providing care for familiy members who have developed Alzheimer's Disease or other forms of dementia. These same people are often still employed and need to remain employed in order to earn a living, keep their health insurance or any of a number of other reasons.
Today, I came across lifemeetswork.com, a website that provides information to employers and empoyees to assist in embracing flexible work. Since many family caregivers struggle trying to balance work and commitment to their caregiving roles, it seemed appropriate to share this great resource.
Take a look at this short video which presents the case for Flex work. You may find it helpful if you need to negotiate with an employer in order to be BOTH an contributing employee AND a devoted caregiver.
Submitted by administrator on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 3:04pm
Memory Care New Braunfels Texas
Linda Born is the caregiver of her mother who suffers with Alzheimer's Disease. Linda is a blogger who shares her personal experience and her spiritual insights into Alzheimer's Disease. Her blog, God, Mom, Alzheimer's, and Me, is a inspirational and informational resource. She recently posted a piece about the most challenging phase of caring for her mother that I believe offers some thoughts that would be helpful for most people in the situation of dealing with a new diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.
I have written about our relative easy caregiver/patient relationship in this blog, but perhaps I do not share that initial time of struggle often enough. This difficult transition to the role of caregiver and patient is the subject of the devotions in my book, and I'm in a different place in my caregiving journey now.
I want people who are coping with that transition to understand that your challenges are not unique. Mom felt so angry and resentful toward me, and I was so hurt. I was horrified by her cognitive decline and overwhelmed by terrible love for her along with intensive grief as I lost the mother who had once been my firmest supporter and confidante. It was awful!
Read more here. You can read her helpful PowerPoint presentation, "When a loved on ia disagnosied with dementia"here.
Submitted by administrator on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:45pm
Memory Care Waco Texas
Not too long ago, we shared an article discussing the decision to have diagnostic testing done to predict the development of Alzheimer's Disease. The article explored the decision process and response of two people who chose to pursue genetic testing. The experience appeared to be rather positive for both of the people, regardless of the nature of the news they were given. A more recent Huffington Post article again poses the question and reaches a different conclusion.
Let's imagine the following scenario:
You're 55, it's time for your annual checkup and, in addition to the chest X-ray, EKG and blood work, your doctor tells you that a scan is now available to assess any preliminary buildup of plaque in your brain. Your internist says that, "just like the X-ray checks for spots on your lungs, it's a good idea to have this PET scan."
Would you take the test?
We appreciate the author's assessment that until there are significant treatment advances available for Alzheimer's, few people will likely be pursuing diagnostic testing.
Submitted by administrator on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 2:17pm
Dementia Care Victoria Texas
If you have done much reading about Alzheimer's Disease, you know that beta-amyloid accumulation is the culprit which breaks down the communication which happens between neurons in the brain. While there are many mysteries still in the way of our full understanding of Alzheimer's, we do know a good bit about things which make us more at risk for developing the disease.
Submitted by administrator on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 11:37am
Memory Care Victoria Texas
Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph wrote a lovely song as a goodbye to his granddad who had Alzheimer's. The words are powerful. I wanted to be able to include a video of his performing the song, but couldn't access one. Here are there lyrics:
Martyn Joseph - Carried in Sunlight
And you’re long gone now.
I know you’re still here.
Your world is peaceful,
mine is full of fear.
And it’s warm down in your valley
But without you it’s so cold.
I guess we’re carried in sunlight
When the mind begins to fold.
What takes the place
Of memories and faces and places you’ve been?
And who is it now
Who you see before holding your hand?
Try as I might, could I reach you
To give you back some pride.
You’re long gone now.
I know you’re still here.
Your world is peaceful,
mine is full of fear.
And it’s warm down in your valley
But without you it’s so cold.
I guess we’re carried in sunlight
When the mind begins to fold.
I see the boy
Runs down the road kicking dust with his feet.
And I see the man
With hands to move mountains and rock me to sleep.
As sure as the sun will be rising
There’s another time.
You’re long gone now.
I know you’re still here.
Your world is so peaceful,
mine is still full of fear.
And it’s warm down in your valley
But without you it’s so cold.
I guess we’re carried in sunlight
When the mind begins to fold.
And one day I guess
Someone will come along and sing this for me.
And there we will be
Running and jumping and sailing the sea.
And there you will teach me the knew things;
To grow but never old.
You’re long gone now.
I know you’re still here.
I know your world is so peaceful,
mine is still full of fear.
And it’s warm down in your valley
But without you it’s so cold.
I guess we’re carried in sunlight
When the mind begins to fold.
You’re long gone now
I know you’re still here.
Your world is peaceful,
mine is full of fear.
And it’s warm down in your valley
But without you it’s so cold.
I guess we’re carried in sunlight
When the mind begins to fold.
Carried in sunlight
When the mind just gets too old.
You can enjoy a snippet of the song here. Scroll down the page to "Mp3 Song" and click the play button beside Carried In Sunlight.
I'm sitting here remembering the way back when. Way back when I didn't know anything about Alzheimer's. Remembering how I stayed up until 1, 2, 3 AM reading everything I could find that might help me care for my mother, Dotty.
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
Back in those days Dotty would get up at 7 or 7:30 in the morning, and still be up at 11 PM. So I had to do my research in the early AM.
My very first decision was that I needed to take my then 88 year old mother into the gym for some real exercise. Dotty had never been in the gym in her life.
Short version. Time to go the gym Dotty. Dotty says, I'm not going to the GD gym. Dotty in the car on the way to the gym, I'm not getting out of the car when we get there. Dotty on the way into the gym, I'll go in but I am not going to do anything. This along with some choice curse words and the usual, kiss my ass.
By the time we were into the gym, Dotty wouldn't talk to me, she wouldn't look at me, and was meaner than a junkyard dog (this did change over time).
On the way out of the gym, Dotty would be standing up taller, walking more confidently, and would be smiling. As it turned out, this was not the cure. But, the effect of the gym usually lasted a few hours before the hellishness of it all set back in. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed life during those few hours.
It didn't stop there. I became more and more determined to find the way(s) to turn those few hours into an entire day. It wasn't easy, it took years, but I did it. You can too.
I slowly but surely became convinced about how you go about doing good caregiving.
Now I am becoming convinced that while you can't stop Alzheimer's, can't prevent Alzheimer's, you can delay the onset of Alzheimer's.
Who knows, maybe you delay Alzheimer's and get lucky -- you die before it gets bad because you are older when AD strikes hard. Don't cringe at me. This is reality right now.
Pay attention to the research below, it might make a difference in your life.
Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading Room
Email:
Lifelong brain-stimulating habits linked to lower Alzheimer’s protein levels
A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, provides even more reason for people to read a book or do a puzzle, and to make such activities a lifetime habit.
Brain scans revealed that people with no symptoms of Alzheimer’s who engaged in cognitively stimulating activities throughout their lives had fewer deposits of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that is the hallmark of the disease.
While previous research has suggested that engaging in mentally stimulating activities – such as reading, writing and playing games – may help stave off Alzheimer’s later in life, this new study identifies the biological target at play. This discovery could guide future research into effective prevention strategies.
“These findings point to a new way of thinking about how cognitive engagement throughout life affects the brain,” said study principal investigator Dr. William Jagust, a professor with joint appointments at UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, the School of Public Health and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “Rather than simply providing resistance to Alzheimer’s, brain-stimulating activities may affect a primary pathological process in the disease. This suggests that cognitive therapies could have significant disease-modifying treatment benefits if applied early enough, before symptoms appear.”
An estimated 5.4 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, but the numbers are growing as baby boomers age. Between 2000 and 2008, deaths from Alzheimer’s increased 66 percent, making it the sixth-leading killer in the country. There is currently no cure, but a draft of the first-ever National Alzheimer’s Plan, released this week, revealed that the U.S. government is aiming for effective Alzheimer’s treatments by 2025.
The new study, to be published Monday, Jan. 23, in the Archives of Neurology, puts the spotlight on amyloid – protein fibers folded into tangled plaques that accumulate in the brain. Beta-amyloid is considered the top suspect in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, so finding a way to reduce its development has become a major new direction of research.
The researchers note that the buildup of amyloid can also be influenced by genes and aging – one-third of people age 60 and over have some amyloid deposits in their brain – but how much reading and writing one does is under each individual’s control.
“This is the first time cognitive activity level has been related to amyloid buildup in the brain,” said study lead author Susan Landau, research scientist at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the Berkeley Lab. “Amyloid probably starts accumulating many years before symptoms appear. So it’s possible that by the time you have symptoms of Alzheimer’s, like memory problems, there is little that can be done to stop disease progression. The time for intervention may be much sooner, which is why we’re trying to identify whether lifestyle factors might be related to the earliest possible changes.”
The researchers asked 65 healthy, cognitively normal adults aged 60 and over (average age was 76) to rate how frequently they participated in such mentally engaging activities as going to the library, reading books or newspapers, and writing letters or email. The questions focused on various points in life from age 6 to the present.
The participants took part in extensive neuropsychological testing to assess memory and other cognitive functions, and received positron emission tomography (PET) scans at the Berkeley Lab using a new tracer called Pittsburgh Compound B that was developed to visualize amyloid. The results of the brain scans of healthy older individuals with various levels of lifetime cognitive activity were compared with those of 10 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 11 healthy people in their 20s.
The researchers found a significant association between higher levels of cognitive activity over a lifetime and lower levels of beta-amyloid in the PET scans. They analyzed the impact of other factors such as memory function, physical activity, self-rated memory ability, level of education and gender, and found that lifelong cognitive engagement was independently linked to amyloid deposition.
Notably, the researchers did not find a strong connection between amyloid deposition and levels of current cognitive activity alone.
“What our data suggests is that a whole lifetime of engaging in these activities has a bigger effect than being cognitively active just in older age,” said Landau.
The researchers are careful to point out that the study does not negate the benefits of kicking up brain activity in later years.
“There is no downside to cognitive activity. It can only be beneficial, even if for reasons other than reducing amyloid in the brain, including social stimulation and empowerment,” said Jagust. “And actually, cognitive activity late in life may well turn out to be beneficial for reducing amyloid. We just haven’t found that connection yet.”
Other study authors include researchers from UC San Francisco’s Memory and Aging Center and Department of Neurology, and Rush University Medical Center’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago.
The National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association helped support this research.
(Pope and Laura)Our 12 year old granddaughter, Laura ask her mother if it was strange that she couldn't talk about her feelings, but she could write a story about her feelings ..... Here's the sweet story she wrote about David (her Pope).LOVE On one summer day, Anna Grace was walking to her favorite spot by the creek. When she got there, she sat under the old willow tree, which has been there for over 20 years. Anna was thinking, ever since her grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, things were hard for the family.She was only three when her grandfather was diagnosed. She didn't understand it. She didn't get it. Now that she was twelve, the memories she has of him, were slipping away very slowly. As she was thinking, she saw a little wooden box.She went over to pick it up. As she did, she was aware of a tiny little voice, ever so small, calling, "Help me!" As she opened it, a boy stood up. He was five inches tall and one and a fourth wide. He had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes; he was wearing an orange t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. "Hello, my name is Jason, what's yours?" he asked. "Anna Grace, " she said, recovering from her shock. "What are you?" Anna asked. "I'm a nymph," Jason said proudly. "Really? I've always read that nymphs.....well, look different.""Well, you can't always believe what you read, should you?" Jason asked a bit hurt. "Now, since you saved me from that wood thing..." "A box," Anna corrected...."whatever.""Would you like to make a wish?" Jason asked. "Yes, I would please" Anna said excitedly. "I wish that my grandfather didn't have Alzheimer's and that my mom won't get it and there will be no such thing as Alzheimer's!" Anna cried.Jason snapped his fingers, and it happened just like that. "Did it work?" Anna asked. "Yes," Jason said. Now, the healing of memories will take a day or so. When you ask him a question his mind should be working as if it had never stopped. Now then, off I go. Good bye Miss Anna Grace. See you next time. And just like that he vanished.(Laura) Anna ran to her house. The next day, when her mother, father, and she arrived at her grandparent's house, Anna asked everyone to follow her to grandfather's couch. She asked, "Grandfather, what is 5 x 5?" Mother looked astonished at the question, but grandfather simply said, "25". Now everyone was astonished. Then, Anna asked the question that has been nagging her for years, "Do you know us?" "Of course I do silly; you're my granddaughter, daughter, and son in law, and wife. Why are you asking me all of these questions Anna?" There were tears in mother's and grandmother's eyes. "It's a long story" Anna replied. (Pope and Laura after a swim)Oh, how I wish this were true! However, I do know that one day he will be whole again. All things sad will be gone.
