From the category archives:
Caregivers for stroke survivors report that the role has been challenging, but has even provided some personal blessings, a study reports.
I found a footnote to the study results the most fascinating part of this research: Apparently, this was first epidemiologically based study that looks at caregivers and stroke survivors. Stroke is one of the most [...]
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An upcoming British study demonstrates that doctors overuse and over-prescribe anti psychotic drugs for Alzheimers — and under-use of effective Alzheimers drugs.
GP newspaper, a publication for British general practitioners, revealed that one in five UK prescriptions for dementia drugs are still for anti-psychotic treatments. That appears to be an unacceptably and high rate, since anti [...]
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Sundowning can drive every caregiver a little batty.
That’s the confused, restless behavior that LOs with Dementia can demonstrate in the early evening. Even the most placid of LOs can become agitated and anxious as the sun begins to set. Often, they will pace up and down the hallway, repeatedly ask to “go home” even when [...]
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Think carefully about looking at the claims of alternative “natural products” for your LO.
Recently, the claims that gingko bilabo can sharpen memory and cognitive skills were disproved by a study. At the worse, taking gingko turns out to be a waste of time and money, according to the study. At best, it provided a placebo [...]
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Last weekend, an International Film Festival on Aging was held in the Bay area in California. It sounds like a great idea — I hope it will be replicated around the country.
This was the first festival like this. The festival organizers explained the mission of the event on the web site. A curator explained, “Life [...]
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Some facts and figures about home health care aides:
The occupation of home health care aides is expected to be the 2nd fastest growing occupation in the U.S. between 2006 and 2016.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects home health care aids to grow in number from 767,000 to 1.15 million jobs by 2016.
More companies are [...]
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In my experience with multiple Medicare-contracted agencies and hospice aid workers, we do need a) more caregiver aides, and b) better trained caregiver aides.
We struggled for over a year to find an agency that would provide us with reliable aides who would actually show up and take care of my ailing GFG. I couldn’t blame [...]
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Don’t you hate the “wandering time”?
That’s my name for the episodes when a GFG in a bout of dementia, will wander around the house, opening closets, cabinets, doors, windows — well anything with a latch!
It can drive you crazy with anxiety. What if GFG gets out of the house and gets lost? What if GFG [...]
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A study has disproved the popular notion that ginkgo biloba pills can help ward off Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
A large, multi-year trial of the popular supplements was tried with healthy 70 and 80 year olds.
The trial, headed by Steven DeKosky, who is now dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, did not [...]
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A little bit of sunshine can brighten the mood, build bones — and maybe reduce a little bit of the mental confusion that comes with age.
A large-scale study that will be be published in the Journal of Geriatric Psychology and Neurology used data on almost 2,000 adults aged 65 and over who participated [...]
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