Coping with Alzheimer's
When a person that you love comes down with Alzheimer's disease, it is a life-changing experience. It can be truly heartbreaking to see the person that you love beginning to lose their memories, and as the disease wears on, it becomes more and more troublesome to care for your loved one. In this article, we'll give you some basic advice for coping with the trauma that you may go through in this difficult time.
When you first find out that your loved one has Alzheimer's disease, it's important to surround yourself with information about the condition. Heavily research the experiences of others and medical information regarding the disease so that you have a better understanding. The more you know about the condition, the better suited that you'll be to deal with it. You may want to consider joining a support group - it can be very helpful to surround yourself with people that know what it's like to go through the experience and they can usually offer the most pertinent advice. If you can't find a local support group, you may find the relief that you need through joining an online support group.
If you are beginning to care for someone with Alzheimer's, you should do your best to discover which times of the day the problem becomes the most severe, and when your loved one is the most relaxed. You should try to plan your day so that you can get the things that you need to do done within the period of time in which it's most easy to concentrate on yourself. You also need to consider what types of long-term plans you're going to have for caring for your loved one; it's a large financial and emotional burden to handle, but the disease is degenerative and it's a tough fact that you will have to face. It's better to be prepared than confused, and you really need to take charge when helping a loved one with Alzheimer's. Check with medicare, your insurance agency, and other organizations in order to check exactly which types of medical burdens you can bypass financially.
If the burden of caring for your loved one by yourself begins to become too much, you may want to consider the use of an adult day-care in order to give yourself some time. Be sure to heavily investigate any type of care that you may be recruiting for your loved one, but it's important for you to be able to live your own life while still caring for the patient.
These are just a few tips for preparing to care for a loved one that has come down with Alzheimer's. The task that you'll be facing is definitely a trying one, physically, emotionally, and financially. Remember that you are not alone; the problem that you face is one that is happening to thousands upon thousands of families in America alone. Be sure to maintain a balance between caring for your loved one and taking care of the personal responsibilities that you must face in your own life, and never give up.
Alzheimer's Disease on the Web
Famous 1848 Case Of A Man Who Survived A Terrible Brain Injury Has Modern Parallel Poor Phineas Gage. In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his head. As reported at the time, the rod was later found, "smeared with blood and brains... |
New Clues On How ApoE4 Affects Alzheimer's Risk Common variants of the ApoE gene are strongly associated with the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease, but the gene's role in the disease has been unclear. Now, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that in mice, having the most risky variant of ApoE damages the blood vessels that feed the brain... |
Obama's Grand Plan To Cure Alzheimer's Obama's healthcare goals have been controversial at best, and although anti-smoking campaigns and other public health and safety awareness drives have been successful, it's always somewhat dubious when government starts creating grand plans and lofty goals... |
Dementia Sufferers More Likely To Die At Home Than In Nursing Homes A new study from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University has found that, at time of death, individuals with dementia are more likely to be living at home than in a nursing home. This contradicts the commonly held view that most individuals with dementia in the United States eventually move to nursing homes and die there... |
Could A Compound Found In Red Wine And Red Grapes Change The Course Of Alzheimer's Disease? A national, phase II clinical trial examining the effects of resveratrol on individuals with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease has begun as more than two dozen academic institutions recruit volunteers in the coming months. R. Scott Turner, M.D., Ph.D., director of Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, is the lead investigator for the national study... |
Memory Improved In Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment By Reducing Excess Brain Activity Research published by Cell Press in the journal Neuron, describes a potential new therapeutic approach for improving memory and modifying disease progression in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. The study finds that excess brain activity may be doing more harm than good in some conditions that cause mild cognitive decline and memory impairment... |
Middle Aged And Elderly With Depression Have Higher Risk Of Dementia A report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry draws a link between people in mid-life and late-life, suffering from depression and the possibility of them developing dementia. More than five million people in the US alone suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and the health care costs run at a staggering $172 Billion. Deborah E. Barnes, Ph.D., M.P.H... |
Memantine Improves Some Alzheimer's Symptoms But Has No Effect On Agitation A drug prescribed for Alzheimer's disease does not ease clinically significant agitation in patients, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the U.K., U.S. and Norway. This is the first randomized controlled trial designed to assess the effectiveness of the drug (generic name memantine) for significant agitation in Alzheimer's patients... |
Discovery Of Potential Trigger For Alzheimer's Disease A highly toxic beta-amyloid - a protein that exists in the brains of Alzheimer's disease victims - has been found to greatly increase the toxicity of other more common and less toxic beta-amyloids, serving as a possible "trigger" for the advent and development of Alzheimer's, researchers at the University of Virginia and German biotech company Probiodrug have discovered... |
Too Early To Promote Smell Test For Alzheimer's A study published online in The Laryngoscope reveals that current studies do not support the use of olfactory identification tests (smell tests) for predicting Alzheimer's dementia. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that causes loss of brain function and is the most common cause of dementia. The disease is expected to double every 20 years through the year 2040... |
Helping Patients With Dementia Live Well Care Services Minister Paul Burstow unveiled a range of new design prototypes at the Design Council that can help people with dementia to live well, which included a fragrance-release system designed to stimulate appetite, specially-trained 'guide dogs for the mind' and an intelligent wristband that supports people with dementia to stay active safely... |
Strong Support Uncovered For Once-Marginalized Theory On Parkinson's Disease University of California, San Diego scientists have used powerful computational tools and laboratory tests to discover new support for a once-marginalized theory about the underlying cause of Parkinson's disease. The new results conflict with an older theory that insoluble intracellular fibrils called amyloids cause Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases... |
'Use It Or Lose It' - Protecting Your Brain The findings of a new study suggest that the protective effects of an active cognitive lifestyle arise through multiple biological pathways. For some time researchers have been aware of a link between what we do with our brains and the long term risk for dementia. In general, those who are more mentally active or maintain an active cognitive lifestyle throughout their lives are at lower risk... |
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