The Alzheimer’s Association’s local chapter has announced several free programs designed for family caregivers of people in any stage of dementia or individuals who are in the early stages of memory loss and their care partners.

The Desert Southwest Chapter has shared this valuable information with me and I would like to pass it along to those in the State of Arizona.  However, for anyone throughout the United States, The Alzheimer’s Association is a fantastic resource for support and information.    For more information on any of these programs, please call (602) 528-0545.

Connections Plus:  This program is intended to empower people with early dementia through social connections with each other.  Connections refers to individual matches between a person with early stage memory loss with another person who is also in the early stage, to facilitate one-to-one informal social interactions and support.  Plus refers to scheduled group social outings in the community for participants in the program and their care partners.

Early Stage Partners In Care – EPIC:  This program is intended to assist people with early stage memory loss and their care partners by providing free early stage related education and training workshops designed to reduce stress.  The EPIC program is a series of seven workshops (one a week for seven weeks) for people in the early stages of dementia or memory loss and their care partner.  Participants will learn about early stage memory loss and its impact; how to mange concerns, stress, and distress; how to prepare for changes because of memory loss; and how to stay engaged and plan for the future.  This program is researched based out of ASU.  Theis program is intended for people in the very early stages of dementia and their care partners.

Care Partners Reaching Out – CarePRO:  This program comprises of workshops and support calls to teach family caregivers the skills to handle the stress and frustration related to caregiving.  Five workshops are held over ten weeks (one every other week).  Respite and transportation assistance may be available to assist caregivers attend the workshops.  This program is for caregivers without the person they are caring for.  To be eligible, caregivers must provide at least four hours of supervision or direct assistance per day for a family member with dementia or memory problems.  Please not that the workshops are intended for family caregivers, not caregiving professionals.  Caregivers will learn about dementia and its impact; how to manage frustration, irritation, and stress; how to communicate with their loved one; and how caregivers can take better care of their own health.  This program is researched based out of ASU.

Please call Mindy at  (602) 528-0545, extension 210 for more information or to start the enrollment process!

http://moneyover55.about.com/od/postretirementplanning/a/How-To-Find-Quality-Care-For-An-Elderly-Parent.htm

Caring for Caregivers

I don’t think there’s any more appropriate use of the  airplane metaphor–the one about placing your own oxygen mask on your face before your child’s — than that of being a caregiver.   Caregivers often forget to breathe deeply.  Caregivers have high rates of both physical and emotional dis-ease.  And it’s no wonder.  It’s exhausting and demanding.  But like other life challenges, it’s also an opportunity for growth.  Whatever else it may be (and each person’s situation is unique), to be a caregiver, to take on the responsibility of managing many aspects of the life of a parent, especially when one feels overwhelmed by other responsibilities, requires self care.   The following list provides some suggestions:

-Physical self care. Exercise, eat healthy meals and get plenty of sleep; have regular check-ups with trusted physicians and dentists and attend promptly to any necessary treatments and procedures.
-Spiritual Conditioning.  Nurture a faith life.  Utilize prayer, meditation or twelve step programs.
-Address your emotional needs.  Use counselors and therapists to help work through past resentments, to cope with a wide range of emotions, to set limits, and to learn some new skills. Use a spiritual director or clergy person to help deepen your faith life.
-Develop a trusting relationship with a financial advisor (and your parent’s financial advisor) and be sure your own fianances are well managed.  Have a financial plan that includes long term care insurance and know what your reasonable limits are for assisting family members.
-Be sure you have your own will and trust in order, and educate yourself about your parent’s will.  If they haven’t put their “affairs in order”, your doing yours is a good time to discuss their doing theirs.  Even if you have prepared well for end of life, seek expert advice about putting closure on all the details.
-Educate yourself about whatever disabilities or diseases your parent may be suffering; learn how to prevent a medical crisis and about resources available to you –online resources, agencies, health care providers, etc.
-Be aware of the signs which indicate it might be time for your parents to downsize.  If and when it is time to consider moving into a retirement community or assisted living facility, utilize the expertise of a professional specialist who can not only provide a wealth of information about communities, but can help address many aspects of this major life transition.
-Keep connected to a caring community–church, synagogue, neighborhood, club, etc.
-Make time for other relationships which nurture you and let go of relationships that drain you.  If you are in a couple relationship, be sure to “protect” it by setting aside specific time for relaxation and play.
-Share meals with friends!
-Identify people, places and activities which bring you joy. Make them priorities.  You NEED these in your life!
-Hire help for what you can afford and don’t have to do yourself.  This includes cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.
-Set limits with other people regarding what you are able to do.
-If there are other family members involved in sharing responsibilities, be collaborative, organize family meetings and provide a structure for ongoing communication.
-Push yourself out into new places or your world might become too small.  Find places to awaken your spirit and sense of adventure.
-Laugh, Breathe……

Jane Davis, licensed professional counselor
9260 E. Raintree Dr. Ste. 130, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480-443-2566

Thankfully, I have seen a very positive trend in assisted living communities during the past few years.  Communities are recognizing this important, life enhancing relationship and, more and more, are becoming pet friendly.  Allowing a person to keep their pet, which they almost always identify as their child, gives them a sense of hope and purpose.

If you are considering moving a loved one to assisted living and they own a pet, please do your research and try to locate an appropriate community that will allow them to keep the pet.  It will do wonders for their qualify of life!    ~ Becky

I cannot tell you how many times I ask a client if their loved one has a dementia and am told “No, they don’t have Alzheimer’s Disease.”  So many people don’t understand that dementia is really a symptom or presence of symptoms caused by many different circumstances, including Alzheimer’s Disease.  Here is a great article that defines dementia and what can cause it.   ~ Becky

Dementia – Beyond Alzheimer’s Disease                                           Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, but it’s not the only one.  From Parkinson’s disease to stroke, find out which other conditions are associated with dementia.                                                                                             By:  Madeline Vann, MPH                                                                                   Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH

Alzheimer’s disease causes up to 75 percent of dementia cases – but even though the two conditions are often associated, dementia is not always related to Alzheimer’s disease.

“Dementia is just a fancy word for memory loss,” says Raj C. Shah, MD, medical director of the Rush Memory Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.  “It doesn’t tell you what the cause is.”  In addition to memory loss, dementia also causes difficulty with thinking, reasoning, and decision making.

A dementia diagnosis is based on the presence of certain symptoms, which are then categorized to determine the stage of dementia and the appropriate dementia treatment.  There is no cure for dementia, which is by definition a fatal, progressive disease, meaning dementia symptoms will only get worse over time.  Dementia treatment, however, can help slow the progression of symptoms in some cases.

Possible Causes of Dementia

If someone is diagnosed with dementia, the possible causes include:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain disorder sometimes referred to as mad cow disease that kills most patients within a year
• Frontotemporal dementia, a condition in which parts of the brain shrink, affecting either behavior or speech
• Strokes, in which cause brain cells die because their oxygen supply has been cut off or from bleeding in the brain, sometimes resulting in a condition called vascular dementia
• Traumatic brain injury
• Lewy body dementia, a common type in which Lewy bodies, a type of protein, build up in the brain, causing cognitive and other types of problems
• Parkinson’s disease, which occurs when nerve cells in the brain lose the ability to make a chemical transmitter called dopamine, causing difficulties with movement, as well as dementia.

The Worst Form of Dementia?  Because Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause and the most often studied, people may believe it to be the “worst” form of dementia.

New Guidelines for Diagnosing Alzheimer’s
New criteria and guidelines published

Two years ago over 40 researchers and clinicians around the globe began work to update the guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. By incorporating research advances made over the last three decades they have released the first new criteria & guidelines to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in 27 years.

These new guidelines update, refine and broaden the widely used guidelines originally published in 1984 by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute of Neurological and Communication Disorders and Stroke.

Two of the key points to the new guidelines are:

·         Refinement of the guidelines for diagnosing mild cognitive impairment or MCI. Patients with MCI experience a decline in memory, reasoning or visual perception that while noticeable and measurable is not severe enough to be diagnosed as Alzheimer’s or other dementias. Researchers now believe that everyone who develops Alzheimer’s goes through this stage of impairment, even if it is undiagnosed in most people. However not everyone who suffers from MCI will develop Alzheimer’s disease. The new guidelines designate the minimal impairment that precedes Alzheimer’s as “MCI due to Alzheimer’s disease” and defines four levels of certainty for arriving at this diagnosis.

·         The new guidelines propose that Alzheimer’s begins with a long period during which changes are happening in the brain while patients may have no outward symptoms. This stage of the disease is defined as a “preclinical” stage that could eventually be diagnosed with the use of biomarkers. A biomarker is something in the body that you can measure that reliably indicates the presence or absence of disease, or the risk of later developing a disease. Biomarkers used to indicate the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease so far are brain imaging and spinal fluid chemistry. Biomarkers of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease are still being validated so they are not currently being used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. A research agenda has been proposed to validate the application of biomarkers.

To view the new guidelines and criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease please visit our website here.

For information on how you can participate in Alzheimer’s research studies please visit our TrialMatch page here, or call 1-800-272-3900.

http://home.ezezine.com/25_3/25_3-2011.04.05.05.30.archive.html

We humans often cannot get along with other humans because the tone of their skin differs from ours.  How much can we learn from these two species, whose love for each other spans across species lines?

Orangutan and the Hound.

1.  Why won’t my husband listen to me when I’m trying to help him?  He argues about everything with me and doesn’t believe I know what’s best.

People suffering from dementia, whether it’s Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia, often experience confusion and disorientation.  Their sense of reality can be quite distorted.  As their judgment and ability to reason is impaired, they may no longer understand right from wrong; why they feel the way they do; or, they may not believe that their caregiver is trying to help them.  It can be helpful to build a network of people through their doctors, clergy, friends or anyone else that they have trusted in the past to help support your caregiving decisions.  In many situations, I suggest to the caregiver that they allow someone else to be the “bad guy” in relating information or care that the recipient is resistant to, such as taking the keys away from someone who should not be driving but insists they are quite capable of it.  Let the doctor insist they take a driving class knowing full well they may not pass it an then the caregiver is not the recipient of the anger that may follow.

2.  My mother has early stages of dementia, but last week her dementia progressed rapidly and she has been acting out towards me and the staff?

The first thing I suggest is that my clients insist on a physician or a nurse taking a urine sample to make sure that the patient does not have a urinary tract infection or some other condition such as dehydration that could be causing the accelerated dementia.  Dementia does not come on rapidly unless there is an underlying medical condition.  I have seen it over and over again where a client will follow this advice and it is discovered that there is a UTI or something else going on and once it’s treated, their loved one may revert back to the stage they were in prior to this.

3.  My wife becomes very agitated and then curses and throws things at me.  How do I calm her down?

The last thing you want to do is to react in a similar fashion.  In the heat of the moment, it can be easy to forget that your loved one may be incapable of reasonable thought and that they are expressing themselves in the only manner they might be capable of.  In fact, they may not be capable of understanding why they are angry or uncomfortable.  It’s important that the caregiver remain calm and gentle.  Acknowledge that they are upset.  If you are able to see that they may have a physical discomfort going on such as they have slid down in their chair and are uncomfortable or they struggling to eat or drink, address that and their anger may subside quickly.  However, if you can’t identify what is wrong and they aren’t clear as to why they are angry, distraction is a wonderful tool.  Find something positive to say and guide them into a discussion or activity that you know they usually enjoy.

4.  My spouse has become physically violent towards me.  Help!

No one should ever have to exist in an environment where they don’t feel safe.  This includes the caregiver.  If you feel that your loved one is a threat to their own safety or that of others, intervention must be taken.  There are often signs before a big incident that trouble may be coming.  If you have these warning signs, put together a plan of action by talking with their doctor about what you are seeing.  Perhaps, there are medications that can control the behavior.  Review your legal documents such as power of attorneys and find out if you are mental power of attorney and have the authority to commit them to a hospital or move them to a more qualified care community.  If not, find out what you will need to do to get them the help they need in the near future such as obtaining guardianship.  Don’t wait until there is danger to learn what your options are.  The last thing you want to do is make decisions as a result of a crisis.  If you are already being physically abused, you may have to resort to calling the police to have them committed for evaluation.  It may also be necessary to immediately remove yourself from the situation and have another person who does not illicit this behavior from your loved one step in while you decide what needs to happen next.

It is not unusual for a caregiver to feel that they are in a situation that is hopeless and this does not have to be true.  By reaching out to others and letting them know what you are dealing with, you open the door to options and solutions that could change everything.  The first step is discussing it with someone you trust and being open to the tools that are available.  Remember, that if you do not take care of yourself as well, you will not be able to take care of your loved one!    ~ Becky