Learning and sharing information to support loved ones with Alzheimer's and Dementia--
My Mom was a girlie-girl. She stood 5′ 2″ with ivory skin, blue eyes, permed- blonde curls and a constant smile. Mom didn’t smoke or drink or abuse her good health. Even into her 70′s, she ate an apple every day, swallowed a vitamin every morning and weeded a gorgeous Rose garden with agile fingers. [...]
Actually, I consider myself a wimp–somewhat. I’ll run a mile to avoid confrontation or verbal battle. On the other hand, just because I don’t like confrontation doesn’t mean I don’t see barbs when they’re slung my way. I’m not sure I accept a new study that found Early Stage Alzheimer’s might show itself as the [...]
A Guest Post by Frena Gray-Davidson “What’s the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia?” asks a sensible middle-aged woman in my Alzheimer’s Boot Camp class for start-up family caregivers. I’m always still amazed to find that is the most common question I get asked. So, writing as a non-medical long term dementia caregiver, here goes. [...]
When we can’t remember what happened in the past, we lose a “sense of time.” A “sense of time” is formed by multiple memories which create an “internal clock” that tells us when it’s time to get up, go to work, have lunch or go to bed. We do all these things because we’ve formed [...]
For persons with dementia, receiving the initial diagnosis can be difficult. However, it is better to receive a diagnosis early on than to suffer with little understanding as to why one is experiencing such strange changes in thinking and behavior. Likewise, the sooner a diagnosis is made, the better chance one has of treating the [...]
It isn’t easy to tell the difference whether early signs and symptoms of failing memory are due to aging or Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. For that same reason, Alzheimer’s generally goes undiagnosed for many years. It is true, most of us would not want to know that we had Alzheimer’s since there is no cure–so [...]
As I was writing the previous post about Mom’s visit to our home, I remembered another incident with dresser drawers that finally makes sense now, all these years later. At the time, I don’t think Alzheimer’s had been diagnosed nor was I aware of Mom’s severe memory issues. Though Mom and I lived in the [...]
As Mom’s loss of memory slid from early stage to middle stage Alzheimer’s, she became plagued with bouts of colic as bad as any newborn baby would suffer. She would call her neighbor, who would call an ambulance, and off she would go to the hospital emergency room. Despite my pleas for them to call [...]
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE Steven Godlewski – Author Alzheimers disease robs you of intellectual and social abilities and interferes with regular life. About 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimers Disease. The disease usually affects seniors over the age of 65. As the population ages this number is expected to quadruple. There is no cure for Alzheimers disease. There [...]
Testing For Alzheimer’s Disease Using A Simple Word Test You can use a simple word test when testing for Alzheimer’s disease. You will be surprised to learn the relationship between word recall and Alzheimer’s disease. Get out your pen, paper and stop watch. See how you do. Early testing for Alzheimer’s disease can have a [...]
