Dementia is an umbrella term for conditions that impair a person’s ability to think, reason and remember to levels that interfere with daily life. Although the risk of dementia rises a great deal after age 65, it is not an inevitable part of aging. It’s important to know it’s a disease; it’s not just normal aging or getting old. Dementia can be caused by several different diseases, including Alzheimer’s. At the core of any dementia, brain cells die. In the early stages, a person initially can compensate, by using labeled pillboxes, for example, or keeping notes, and often still can function. But gradually — often over years — the person begins to have trouble doing things for themselves.
Alzheimer’s disease is by far the most common form, causing 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. But there are other forms, each with different causes and sometimes strikingly different symptoms. These include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia. Some people can suffer from a combination of two or more of these, a condition known as mixed dementia. What these illnesses have in common is that they result from a progressive destruction of brain cells, affecting thinking, memory and behavior in various ways.
Dementia is not the same as mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, an early stage of memory and cognitive loss not serious enough to impair a person’s daily activities. Some people with MCI — 10 to 15 percent — will progress to full-blown dementia each year. Others will not.
With Alzheimer’s, people “have trouble remembering the answers to questions, so they end up asking them again and again and again. Other times, patients with Alzheimer’s can have false memories. For example, someone could have watched a TV show about going on a trip to Europe, then tell their family they went on this wonderful trip to Europe.
Dementia in its various forms can impair judgment, affect mood and personality, prompt odd behavior and distort how a person perceives what he or she sees. Occasionally forgetting a name or misplacing a set of keys is normal as we age. The deficits associated with dementia are greater, and more devastating, since they seriously affect how a person lives and functions.
What causes dementia?
Dementia occurs when neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain quit working. They lose their connection to other brain cells and eventually die. We all lose neurons as we age, but the loss is much greater in dementia. Some risk factors for dementia, such as age and genetics, are impossible to change. But there are other factors that you can act upon — including diet and exercise, hearing loss and social isolation.
How is dementia diagnosed?
There is no single diagnostic test to say whether a person has dementia. So doctors use a variety of tests and tools to learn what’s going on with the patient, look for signs of disease and, most importantly, rule out other treatable conditions that may be causing the cognitive problems. Brain scans may be used, as well as other tests — on blood and spinal fluid — to detect changes within the brain and identify the presence of certain substances associated with dementia. Paper-and-pencil or computer-based tests of memory and thinking are also often used to help make a dementia diagnosis.
Reducing risk for dementia
Researchers say there are things you can do to reduce your risk, along with avoiding head injuries and maintaining hearing. These include stopping smoking, eating a healthy Mediterranean-style diet and exercising, controlling diabetes and managing heart disease risks, such as high cholesterol and hypertension.
Since last month was all about love, it made me think… what comes to mind when I think of March? The first thing I thought of was happiness. I mean, how could one not be happy when winter is almost behind us, all the beautiful spring colors are popping, and the weather is warming up!
Thanksgiving is a great occasion to get together with family members, young and old. It’s one of the most enjoyable holidays of the year, but it can also bring its share of challenges. With some advance planning, it can be a very special time for you and your loved ones.
Regions around the country are starting to experience their first tastes of the cooler temperatures and shorter days fall has in store for them. Don’t miss this quick essential checklist for seniors looking to safeguard their health and safety this season.
The feeling of being out of breath (dyspnea) is a sensation that is well known to those who suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Although it is common for those experiencing shortness of breath to use oxygen therapy (oxygen tanks) to cope, the downsides can include fatigue, headaches, and dry or bloody noses. Further, when depending on oxygen tanks as a primary oxygen supplement, there exists a severe risk: the body can learn to actively suppress its natural respiratory system. Following is a list of 5 natural ways to improve your oxygen levels that should help in reducing your dependence on tanks.
Lisa Bailey is a kindergarten teacher and caregiver to children and her husband who is undergoing cancer treatment. She shares her top coping strategies in this article for living a balanced life as a caregiver. You may find some of these strategies helpful in your own journey.
Summer greetings from the Home Care Aide team! In June 2019 our department celebrated the retirement of our Hiring Recruiter, Angela Spinelli. She will be greatly missed, but we wish her all the best with her retirement. We are excited to announce that her position has been filled by Racheal Gonzalez. Racheal is doing a wonderful job as our new recruiter and is continuing to hire fantastic caregivers.
Promoting independence and “successful aging” is a laudable goal for many. But it’s not the reality for people caring for anyone diagnosed with a terminal illness or a relative who struggles to manage day to day as a result of debilitating health conditions and growing frailty. Most people would prefer to talk about wellness rather than illness, so we tend to avoid planning for advanced illness and ultimately death. One valuable, often overlooked, and generous Medicare benefit for those caring for a family member or friend is hospice care.
Although life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900, our “mindspan”—how long we stay cognitively healthy—hasn’t kept pace. Forgetfulness, slower processing and feeling less sharp plague most of us as we age. One in five people develops mild cognitive impairment, a decline in thinking skills beyond normal aging, which may or may not advance to dementia. After 65, your odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease are one in 10. It doesn’t have to be that way, mounting research suggests.
For many older adults, mobility limitations, health issues and low energy can keep them from the social engagement they once enjoyed. Especially in seniors who live alone, social isolation can lead to loneliness, depression and poor physical health. Pet therapy has been shown to benefit seniors by improving depression and anxiety symptoms, increasing self-care, and even improving heart-health. It turns out giving and receiving unconditional love is literally good for your heart.
Many caregivers are perpetually tired from the demands that result from caring for their loved one. Just the thought of your normal routine plus decorating the house, attending special events, shopping for gifts, and preparing special food for the holidays can be overwhelming.
We find ourselves in a world-wide genealogy craze, as a variety of DNA testing options have become available and increasingly affordable, and a wide array of genealogy websites invite those who are mildly curious about their ancestry to dive in—sometimes hooking them into a life-long passion. But what many people discover when they begin their genealogy research is that the most important source of information about your family is your living relatives’ memories—of their own family experiences as well as the stories passed down to them through the generations. Increasingly our Greatest Generation is passing on, taking vital information about relatives and our family stories with them.
A trip to the emergency room made me realize why caregivers are advised to organize heath information. When Mom broke her hip, I called an ambulance. When it arrived, I confidently recited Mom’s Medicare number. When asked what medications she took, I pulled out our basket of pill bottles. At the hospital, the questions got more complicated. Still, I knew enough to fill out the forms.
Of the many challenges that family caregivers must face on a daily basis, perhaps the greatest—and least addressed—is the mental and emotional health of the caregivers themselves. Self-care is often the last thing that caregivers address, and living with stress, a sense of overwhelm, and bouts of depression seem to come with the job description. But self-care is not something to ignore. Just as a parent is instructed on the airplane to put the oxygen mask on themselves before their child, we must build self-care into our routine, not only for our own well-being, but for the ultimate benefit of those we care for.
When Kay Olson checked her husband, John, age 66, into Lakeview Ranch in Dassel, Minnesota, caregivers greeted both of them with a hug. They immediately helped John into the bathroom, washing him gently. He came out crying what he told Kay were “happy tears.” John, who suffers from dementia, was kicked out of his previous facility for aggressive behavior. He would strike out at staff members, especially if someone tried to back him into a corner to force him to take medicine. That doesn’t happen at Lakeview, where caregivers sit with residents, holding their hands or tucking them into bed at night. Since John’s eyes are often closed and he rarely talks, touch “comforts him and makes him know he’s not alone,” Kay says. Judy Berry, founder of Lakeview Ranch, says touch is an integral component of her care. She is one of many who have seen the positive impacts of touch. A growing body of research is demonstrating the merits of this basic approach.
There are obvious reasons to declutter. Safety: Clutter can trip us up. Efficiency: With declining eyesight, it gets hard to find things we use everyday. Focus: Messy environments can make it hard to process information.
No one wants to think about dying, but it’s going to happen to each of us sooner or later. While approaching the topic of death and dying may be difficult for caregivers, family members as well as the elderly should try to organize and prepare for the end ahead of time, to reduce the stress, confusion and the necessity of making serious and sometimes confusing decisions regarding the care and disposition of a loved one.
