Alzheimer's is incurable

You heard Glen Campbell has Alzheimer's, right?  Here is a video interview with him:

http://youtu.be/BCBCPVT93eg

Help for Alzhiemer's

Having posted information for the past 5 years, I want to offer you a more direct way to get information:

 I tend to post articles on topics that I think are important to family caregivers.  To be honest, my motives were in part to promote the assisted living communities that I worked at.  My reader's followed me, but as new families came to my community, I could direct them to these blogs, and give them confidence that they were putting their loved one in safe place.  So there was a duel purpose.

But it occurs to me, rather than guess what you might need to know and write an article about it, I could answer you questions directly. 

If you are taking care of a parent or spouse with Alzheimer's, you can write me at askdonahue .  that link is askdonahue@aol.com.  I really look forward to answering your questions...my agenda is only to help.  If you need another email address to reach me for any other reason, you can find me at
donahueg@alumni.usc.edu

yours, Donahue Vanderhider, MSG

caregiverrelief

What The Heck Is A Gerontologist And What Good Are They?

Its a fair question. What exactly makes a Gerontologist any different from other quasi-medical professional?

P.S.  For a short period of time you can get personalized care and coaching from a gerontologist for less than $40 a month!  (This is about a 90% discount).
But its a little complicated.

First sign up for a free membership at http://dementiacaresecrets.com

Second once inside look to the bottom of the page for the words Ultimate Care
and click on the entire paragraph...

Fight or Flight: The Result is The Same

If there is one thing in common for all caregivers it's STRESS! It doesn't seem to matter if you are caring for a parent or spouse or friend; if you are doing it long-distance or you are living in the same house - all caregivers suffer from stress. Call it "worry" , "anxiety", "fear" or any other word, the result is the same.
By result I mean the toll it is taking on your body and on your health. It is proven that long-term stress triggers the HPA response in your body. The HPA response refers to the Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. The end result of which is a triggering of the same hormones and neurotransmitters that are released in the "fight or flight" response.
"Fight or Flight" is the bodies emergency response system designed to survive an immediate threat to life and limb. Which is great, except when it does not turn off. The same response system when left on too long starts to eat away at our immune system, thus increasing the chance of catching colds, flu, and other illness. But that is only the beginning. it also starts tearing away at the body so that what helps us in the short term, starts damaging us in the long run, increasing our chances for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and much more.
Almost every caregiver I ever met, was a caregiver for the first time, on a steep learning curve, and was thrust into the roll unexpectedly. Naturally, it is very stressful: financially, emotionally, and physically. It strains family relationships and disrupts plans and goals.
However, caregivers must remember to take care of themselves. If you are a caregiver you are probably struggling on your own, with little or no help. But if something should happen to you what will happen to your loved one? Do you see why controlling stress is so important. Half of all caregivers pass away before the person they caring for. I don't mean to be an alarmist, but you need to start taking better care of yourself.
How? By taking advantage of all the programs and services that are available for caregivers. Many of them for little or no money. You may be an expert in your field. But I am an expert in this field. If you need to do taxes you go to an accountant, if you go to court you need a lawyer, if you are building a home you go to a contractor. Why would you try to delve into the world of caregiving without guidance?
Do you know how much money you are losing going it alone? First, there are services, products and ideas that you missed because you did not know about them, then there are the cheaper (and sometimes better) alternatives to the things you DO know about, and finally there is the value of all the lost time you spent researching the tasks and services that you did find.
Consider signing up www.EasyCaregiving.com . You may very well be glad you did, and if you learn nothing new or helpful, it cost you nothing to look. In addition, as a Gerontologist, I have website with free membership: SIGN UP Just put your name and email address and get a free stress management recording that can de-stress your day to day frustrations. Later you will get a free ebook on how to handle "sundowning" or wandering, a very dangerous symptom that happens to about 70% of Alzheimer's sufferers.

Assisted Living: taking my own advice

A PLACE FOR MOM is a national referral agency. As an executive director of a large assisted living, I am contracted with about a dozen different agencies like this one.

My dad, who is on a limited budget and cannot afford to live in my building (how's that for irony), was begging me to help him find a new place where the weather is not so hot. He has a sister in Central California, but I did not know anything about communities that far away. So I contacted A Place For Mom as a client, and the shoe was on the other foot, so to speak. I cannot tell you how pleasant the experience was! I did nothing special, I just went on the website, and followed the prompts, and answered the questions.

A very nice counselor called and emailed me, she was not pushy, she listened carefully, and on Wednesday I took my dad to the train station to go see the places that were recommended. My dad returned on Friday, and reported a wonderful experience.
Whether he moves or not is a story that remains to be seen. But I have to share with you that I can with confidence refer you to A Place For Mom

Part 1 of 3 solutions for caregiver stress

Subscribe to donahue101 to see videos on caregiver stress: here is the latest edition that begins the conversation about solutions.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAUzqTUgGyE

New Site

A new site from the Caregiver Relief family is hitting the blogosphere this week. They are just launching, but it looks promising. Even the title gives one hope: http://easyCaregiving.com. So i wouldn't hurt to click and take a look.
I will see you over there...

How long have you been planning to change your diet?

A little bird told me that David Wolfe, the famous nutritional authority for "Boomers", is launching something new. Its called the Longevity Now Program, and its not even public yet. But I can get you a little peak. Go to http://tinyurl.com/pmo7bj

Second bit of news: I am launching a new website too. And I GIVING AWAY my stress management CD just to get charter members. It's still under construction but you can sign up, and I recommend you do, because I am giving the CD to only the next 50 people that join: http://alzheimersecrets.com

I did my homework, now you should do yours

Look down below this post and you will see my last blog about 4 easy steps to prevent Alzheimer's. In a nutshell they are Diet, Exercise (body and brain), Supplements and Stress Management. Thinking about how well I follow my own advice, I thought I should share with you my absolutely most favorite thing. For brain exercise, I use something called Luminosity. It is tons of fun, and good for you too...here is a link: Free Trial.
Try it out! Its free, but even at the end of trial it is pretty darn inexpensive. And afterall what is your brain health worth to you?

4 Easy Steps to delay or even prevent Alzheimer's Disease

Brain Health is important and often neglected. But it is possible to significantly delay or even prevent getting Alzheimer's. Here's how:

Diet:
This is easy, a heart healthy diet is a brain healthy diet. There is a lot of information out there on eating right to protect your heart. Just find it and follow it.
That said, I find that this is also the hardest step to implement. It takes a tremendous amount of will power to change our eating habits...permanently. Anyone who has ever dieted can do things like eat nothing but cabbage soup for a week, or only consume carbohydrates for months at a time. But that "life-time" type of change is another story. Subconsciously, I think we know it and when we are told "change what you eat", we immediately start to lose steam and enthusiasm.
So, let's forgot this step until you have started all of the other steps. Then I am going to ask you to make small incremental changes at your own pace. For example:
* Stop snacking before bedtime. After you eat dinner commit to not having another bite until breakfast.
* Cut your salad dressing use in half.
* Buy some apples and eat at least one a day. Experiment, see which ones you like. Buy Fuji apples one time, Gala the next, and Golden Delicious after that (make it fun).
You will be surprised how a small success like this will give you motivation to push to the next level. Lose just two pounds and your self-esteem will shoot through the roof. And if you have started the steps below you will find a hidden well-spring of desire in yourself. You will walk with a spring in your step and you will find yourself smiling a lot more often.

Exercise:
1. Physical exercise is paramount! You must do something, anything that gets your heart rate up, better still if you can do weight bearing exercise - anything that can either build up a little bulk or just tone what you have is vital for good brain health. If you have the time and money try Pilates. Pilates is great for Boomers because it focuses on core body strength. It's easy to do, and you get fast results.
Or if you can find an hour for yourself, three times a week, join the YMCA. I mention the Y because it is the least expensive gym, and the you will be surprised at the extent of great programs they offer. The YMCA has a lock on community and family building. You will be greeted at the door by real people, and generally speaking their staff are all committed, compassionate folk. There is none of that scrambling for membership dues, and you will never get that suspicious feeling that those "young jocks" are judging you, like you might at those fancy designer gyms.
Best of all you find more programs and lots of genuine support (that you don't have to hire trainers for!). Heck, they even have a pool! A big giant pool, not a funky little lap pool. Everyone knows the best exercise you can do is swimming, because you are not putting a strain on your joints and it exercises your whole body. Summary: Pilates or the YMCA.

2. Mental exercise is also very important: Challenge your brain, do stimulating stuff. The trick with this is to do something NEW! For example, if you have been doing crossword puzzles for 10 years, then you are not challenging your brain enough. By all means continue doing it, but don't just stop there. Learn Sudoku puzzles, learn chess, take a class at a community college.
This part always cracks me up. I advise people to challenge their brain and explain why, and the next time I see them they tell me they stopped because it was too hard. That was the point! Here's a personal example, I finally learned to Sudoku a couple of years ago. I had tried to Sudoku a couple of times before, but it made absolutely no sense, and I swore it was impossible to figure out what numbers went into what boxes (Sudoku is a number puzzle game where you are given a partially completed grid of numbers and are expected to figure out the missing numbers). I even harbored a strong dislike of those puzzles, reasoning that it was a stupid game with ridiculous rules.
What was that except my lazy brain not wanting to challenge itself? Keep that in mind, and if you find yourself, like me, having tried several things and given up, try thinking of your brain as a reluctant little fat kid trying to get out of Gym Class and don't buy into it! Force your brain to learn for its own good.

Supplements:
Most of us take supplements; that's good. Everybody also has their own sources of information for what they should take. However, if you only take one supplement, take Omega 3 Fatty Acid! It is the single most important and effective supplement for brain health.
Make sure when you buy it that it is "molecularly distilled" (this takes out impurities like Mercury). The recommended dose that is most often suggested is 1200 - 2400mg.
That said, here are a some further suggestions: take anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants come in all shapes and sizes. Do your homework (it's good for your brain), start researching which ones you think are most effective. Some good sources are: aged garlic extract, Resveratrol, green tea extract, Vitamins A, E and C, the list is long. Warning: I am not a doctor, therefore I must advise you to check with your own doctor before starting any new supplements. There are good reasons for this, besides strange reactions that you might have, some supplements are very powerful. For example, garlic and ginkgo Biloba are blood thinners, your doctor needs to know you are thinking of taking it as a supplement. Especially if you are already taking a baby aspirin or are on Coumadin.
Be careful, don't be sucked into the next "fad" anti-oxidant. It seems that every week there is a newly discovered anti-oxidant in the rain forest that is a billion times more powerful than any other. That's all marketing BS. Someone is trying to make a lot of money off of you. Before you sign up for that special juice cocktail that gets delivered to your door, ask yourself "am I going to do this for the next 10 years or more?"

Eliminate Stress:
You cannot change your circumstances and the challenges in your life that stress you out. But you CAN change the way you react to it. There is not enough room here for a proper discussion on the topic, but just be aware that long-term stress is a killer. If you are doing everything listed above to stay healthy, stress will undo it! Unfortunately, knowing that you need to change the way you react to stress is infinitely harder that actually doing it. We are all conditioned over the years to react to stressful events a certain way. Changing this with awareness and willpower is nearly impossible. You may disagree, and if you can change just by deciding to not let stress rule you, God bless you. But if you are like me, your stress tolerance is embedded in your subconscious, and the best way to change your subconscious is with hypnosis or guided imagery. I'll tell you why.
Your mind is like an iceberg. About 20 percent of an iceberg is above the water, leaving the vast bulk of it below the surface. Your mind is similarly constructed, your conscious mind is around 12 percent, while subconscious mind is about 88 percent. Your subconscious holds your "life-script" the essence of who you are since you were a child. That "life-script" keeps us consistent, it is the status quo of our self image. Good or bad. Our script limits us to these preconceived notions and does not easily change. So when we decide to make significant changes, like exercising, changing food preferences, quitting smoking, losing weight, attracting a different kind of mate, we have to apply a lot of conscious will power to it, and we have to sustain it for a long time. If we let up too soon, our subconscious drags us back to the more familiar self concept - status quo.
Go back to the iceberg example. Imagine that the wind is blowing North but the ocean current is moving South, which way to you think the iceberg will move? South, of course. The wind is pushing against 20% of the mass, but the current is pushing against 80% of the mass. The wind doesn't have a chance. In similar fashion your mind will have little success when consciously trying to change.
However there is a way to change that "life-script" in the subconscious mind! Hypnosis. Don't let your preconceived notions about stage show hypnotists making someone quack like a duck, confuse you. Hypnotherapy is a well regarded and accepted therapeutic tool. The best part is it works fast. Guided Imagery is a very mild yet extremely effect form of hypnosis. And the beauty of it is you can listen to guided imagery on a CD in the comfort of your own home and realize amazing results.
For more information on this topic start with my website www.caregiverrelief.com. But don't stop there, do a google search on guided imagery and you will find tons of great information. Best of luck, and feel free to write me!

Spouse with Alzheimers

Joan is a new friend. She has an amazing blog that is suited for spouses of Alzheimer’s sufferers. Recently I read the following post and thought to share it with you. Please feel free to go find and read her post, and don’t forget www.caregiverrelief.com for your caregiving needs, and please sign-up for the free newsletter while you are there (you get a very valuable gift when you do!)

JOAN’S BLOG – WED/THUR, APRIL 22/23, 2009 – THE WORST CASE EVER

For those of you who are not aware, my husband has been refusing to take his second daily dose of the anti-rage medication, Risperdal. He was taking the morning pill, but absolutely refused to take the afternoon pill, because he “didn’t need it”. Before you start scolding me that I should have resorted to a variety of deceptive practices to have made sure it entered his body without him knowing it, you must understand his level of functioning. His problems are behavior, impulse control, anger, memory, language comprehension, and processing. He is fully aware of what is going on around him, knows every pill he takes, and would taste the difference if it were crushed up in his food. The repercussions of such deception would irreparably damage whatever peace had been achieved from the medication. Every doctor and social worker agreed – there is no way to get a pill into him if he refuses to take it.

Needless to say, the situation has been deteriorating steadily here since the elimination of that second pill. I could see the anger building; it was just a matter of time, and Tuesday was the day. I suppose I should have been grateful that he woke up refusing to speak to me rather than screaming at me. (No need to wonder why he was angry – it is ALWAYS the same – I destroyed his life, stole his freedom, made him a prisoner in his own home, by taking away his driving. He will never accept it and never forgive me. Period.) By the time we got to our support group meeting, the rage was so apparent on his face that those who know him well, and those who barely know him, remarked to me about it.

If I were in the mood to find humor in this situation, and I am not, I suppose it would almost be funny to say that he has now earned the undistinguished honor of being the worst, most stubborn, impossible to deal with “driving issue case” ever seen by every social worker, psychiatrist, psychologist, and doctor who has tried to deal with him. I have actually had two psychologists throw up their hands and say that there is nothing they can do for him. He is undealable ( I know that’s not a word – I made it up because it seems appropriate to the situation). The only option is to get him on the medication and keep him on it. Catch-22. He won’t take it and no one can make him take it.

What do you do when no professional can handle your situation? You handle it yourself. I spent 25 years dealing with brain damaged, psychotic, violent children, adolescents, and adults. I dusted off my therapist hat, locked my emotions in the closet, and spent 2 ½ hours dealing with the situation. In the end, he agreed to take the second pill, and I agreed to put his “travel” needs ahead of my work, and take him where he wants to go when he wants to go. My end of the bargain is irrelevant, because he will not be satisfied being “carted around by his wife”, as he calls it, but my hope is that the medication will once again smooth him out enough that we can both function at some level of peace.

Feedback to joan@thealzheimerspouse.com

caregiver stress revisited

If you're like many people with Alzheimer caregiver stress, it means you're either the adult child or the spouse of a loved one with this devastating disease. Like many other people in your position you probably worry, "What happens if I become critically ill or succumb to heart attacks, strokes or maybe cancer?"

For many people with these medical conditions (including influenza, diabetes, cancer, etc.) stress played a large role in their circumstance.

An in-depth analysis can be found at www.caregiverrelief.com

Alzheimer Caregiver Stress Is Chronic Stress

First, let's look at chronic stress. Alzheimer caregiving stress, for example, is considered chronic stress because it's the result of constant exposure to circumstances and conditions often beyond your control that cause a hyper-alert state. You're frequently dealing with unpredictable and/or volatile situations and irrational behavior. To compound the problem it's often without reliable recourse that is dependable and consistent.

Living under such trying, emotional pressure has long-term effects on your mental health, with ailments like clinical depression. But it also has bearing on your physical heath.

In fact, the past 20 years of research shows that people who suffer from chronic stress, like caregiver stress, are at much greater risk FOR heart attacks, strokes, and even cancer than others in their age bracket. In fact, according to the Alzheimer's Association, 50% of caregivers die before the person they are caring for. It's theorized that chronic stress, which weakens the physical body, (and dampens the immune system) is one the main culprits for this high mortality rate.

What Happens Physically During Caregiver Stress?

First realize that stress is not an emotional state, but rather a physiological reaction that occurs in your body. Doctors refer to it as the hypothalamic pituitary axis; the connection between the hypothalamus, pituitary and the adrenal gland.

These three 'elements' work together in a stressful situation to put the body into a heightened state of preparation to overcome a potentially life threatening event. This stress reaction is actually a left over from a survival mechanism called, "Fight or Flight."

When faced with tremendous stress, where survival might hang in the balance, humans have one of two instant reactions – run from the situation (flight) or meet the challenge head-on (fight).

How a person reacts will differ from one to the next. But the thing that is consistent is the hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) itself. Everyone has the HPA and it regulates:

• Blood Pressure
• Heart Rate
• Body Temperature
• Sleep Patterns
• Hunger and Thirst
• Among many other activities

When stress becomes great, the HPA system takes over in a matter of seconds. Blood circulation is diverted from the extremities to internal organs. Adrenaline is secreted in massive amounts for instant energy. The adrenal gland starts producing and releasing steroid hormones, including the primary stress hormone cortisol. This hormone travels to all areas including the heart, lungs, circulation, metabolism, immune systems and skin.

Now, if a bear in the wild (or a thug on a street city corner) attacks you, then this HPA system can literally be a lifesaver. But here's the problem as it relates to Alzheimer caregiver stress…

When stress is routine, so is this constant biochemical release that, over time, actually harms the body in various ways such as:

• Decreased immune system
• Greater chance for infection and disease
• Digestive tract problems like ulcers
• Lung problems like asthma
• Heart disease, which causes strokes and heart attacks

The HPA system is an intelligent design within the human race. The problem is it doesn't automatically distinguish caregiver stress that is continuous, day after day, from a bear attack, which is temporary. That means the stress that caregivers endure is chronic, and therefore, more debilitating to the human body. The good news is there are ways to combat its effects.

It's called stress management.

How Does Stress Management Help with Alzheimer caregiver stress?

Good question! And that's the main purpose of my website www.caregiverrelief.com, because caregiver stress is practically unavoidable.

Alzheimer's Caregiver Stress rears its ugly head

Stress Management and Alzheimer Caregiver Stress

If you’re like many people with Alzheimer caregiver stress, it means you’re either the adult child or the spouse of a loved one with this devastating disease. Like many other people in your position you probably worry, “What happens if I become critically ill or succumb to heart attacks, strokes or maybe cancer?” For many people with these medical conditions (including influenza, diabetes, cancer, etc.) stress played a large role in their circumstance.
An in-depth analysis can be found at www.caregiverrelief.com

Alzheimer Caregiver Stress Is Chronic Stress.

First, let’s look at chronic stress. Alzheimer caregiving stress, for example, is considered chronic stress because it’s the result of constant exposure to circumstances and conditions often beyond your control that cause a hyper-alert state. You’re frequently dealing with unpredictable and/or volatile situations and irrational behavior. To compound the problem it’s often without reliable recourse that is dependable and consistent. Living under such trying, emotional pressure has long-term effects on your mental health, with ailments like clinical depression. But it also has bearing on your physical heath. In fact, the past 20 years of research shows that people who suffer from chronic stress, like caregiver stress, are at much greater risk FOR heart attacks, strokes, and even cancer than others in their age bracket.

In fact, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, 50% of caregivers die before the person they are caring for. It’s theorized that chronic stress, which weakens the physical body, (and dampens the immune system) is one the main culprits for this high mortality rate. What Happens Physically During Caregiver Stress? First realize that stress is not an emotional state, but rather a physiological reaction that occurs in your body. Doctors refer to it as the hypothalamic pituitary axis; the connection between the hypothalamus, pituitary and the adrenal gland. These three ‘elements’ work together in a stressful situation to put the body into a heightened state of preparation to overcome a potentially life threatening event.

This stress reaction is actually a left over from a survival mechanism called, “Fight or Flight.” When faced with tremendous stress, where survival might hang in the balance, humans have one of two instant reactions – run from the situation (flight) or meet the challenge head-on (fight). How a person reacts will differ from one to the next. But the thing that is consistent is the hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) itself. Everyone has the HPA and it regulates:

• Blood Pressure
• Heart Rate
• Body Temperature
• Sleep Patterns
• Hunger and Thirst
• Among many other activities

When stress becomes great, the HPA system takes over in a matter of seconds. Blood circulation is diverted from the extremities to internal organs. Adrenaline is secreted in massive amounts for instant energy. The adrenal gland starts producing and releasing steroid hormones, including the primary stress hormone cortisol. This hormone travels to all areas including the heart, lungs, circulation, metabolism, immune systems and skin.

Now, if a bear in the wild (or a thug on a street city corner) attacks you, then this HPA system can literally be a lifesaver. But here’s the problem as it relates to Alzheimer caregiver stress… When stress is routine, so is this constant biochemical release that, over time, actually harms the body in various ways such as:

• Decreased immune system
• Greater chance for infection and disease
• Digestive tract problems like ulcers
• Lung problems like asthma
• Heart disease, which causes strokes and heart attacks

The HPA system is an intelligent design within the human race. The problem is it doesn’t automatically distinguish caregiver stress that is continuous, day after day, from a bear attack, which is temporary. That means the stress that caregivers endure is chronic, and therefore, more debilitating to the human body. The good news is there are ways to combat its effects.
It’s called stress management.

How Does Stress Management Help with Alzheimer caregiver stress? Good question! And that’s the main purpose of my website www.caregiverrelief.com, because caregiver stress is practically unavoidable. But what we can do is minimize it as much as possible. There are two ways to do that:

1. Seek out and learn about as many services, programs and products as possible. Armed and educated, we can choose the ones that will save us money, or save us work, or help us be better at what we do for our loved one.
2. Find ways to lessen our remaining stress, turn off that HPA system, enjoy life, and find better ways to cope.

Proven relaxation techniques include:
• Guided Imagery
• Meditation & Prayer
• Utilizing Adult Day Care
• Asking Friends and Relatives for help
• Listening to Music
• Going to the Movies
• Humor
• Massage Therapy
• Going for a Walk
• Exercise

The bottom line is simple…if you don’t accept help or address your stress your HPA system will tear down your body. With 50% of all caregivers dying before those they care for, it’s important that as caregivers you make sure that care includes yourself too. If you end up as one of the 50%, you won’t be there for your loved one; therefore defeating your original commitment to your loved one.

So always take some time to focus on you. That’s why at www.caregiverrelief.com you will find guided imagery CD’s, prayers, inspirational quotes and links to other sites that are humorous or relaxing. They’re all designed to help you – the caregiver. Most of all, for lasting results, we recommend guided imagery. But be sure to visit our other pages as well since you’ll find options for hands-on training and guidance in reliving your Alzheimer caregiver stress.

In the next post I will tell you the one professional that will give unbias information and save you potentially thousand of dollars. Please sign up for my blog so you don’t miss it. And come see me at www.caregiverrelief.com

I absolutely detest junk mail, I will not give or sell you email information to anyone else - ever. You have my word on that.

Martha Stewart testifies to Congress on behalf of Caregivers

Marta Stewart testifies to Congress on behalf of Caregivers

A couple of months ago Martha Stewart appeared in front of the US Special Committee on Aging. That’s right! Martha Stewart is a caregiver! Who would have imagined it? She testified before congress and shared her experiences as a caregiver of her mother. It was through her experience that she was compelled to start the Martha Stewart Center for Living, which is a clinic for coordinated outpatient geriatric services at Mount Sinai in New York. Her testimony was proffered along with testimony from Gerontological experts just two days after the release of a government report about the worsening workforce crisis in America.

coming soon: Special 2008 report by the Alzheimer’s Association!