What Is Palliative Care and How Is It Different from Hospice?
Hospice care is palliative care, but palliative care is not hospice. The difference between these two types of care is something that I have found difficult to clarify myself let alone explain to others. However, this care is a fundamental part of treating any chronic or terminal illness.
Read full article on Agingcare about the difference between hospice and palliative care:
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Telling a Loved One That Hospice Is the Next Step of the Journey
Caregiver Struggles With S...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 13, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Protection for Nursing Home Residents: Will New Rules Remain?
New rules for the protection of nursing home residents have been implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Many of these rules provide answers to concerns that have troubled families with loved ones living in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), generally called nursing homes. I emailed Medicare expert Ginalisa Monterroso for an update on these rules and what they mean for nursing home residents and their families.
Read full article on HealthCentral about protections for nursing home residents:
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Source: Minding Our Elders - March 12, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Can Weather and Lunar Activity Affect People Living with Dementia?
Dear Carol: My mother lives in an assisted living facility. She has arthritic pain and is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, but she usually does well with the support that she has. When I visited her last Saturday evening she seemed upset and confused and she told me that she didn’t feel well. I suggested that she rest and reminded her that I’d see her in the chapel the next day for services. The next morning it seemed like a lot of the residents in the chapel were disgruntled, including Mom, who hadn’t improved overnight. We’d had a huge air pressure change in the last day, and I began to wonder if weath...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 11, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
6 Tips To Help Modify Financial Drain on Alzheimer's Families
...Also, Alzheimer's and dementia caregivers had $9.3 billion in additional health care costs of their own in the same year. Nearly 60 percent of Alzheimer's and dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of caregiving as high or very high, and more than one-third report symptoms of depression. Remember, this is just the cost for caregivers.There’s also the possibly bankrupting cost of medical and other care for the person with the disease to consider. The Alzheimer’s Association and the ADEAR Center, which is the Alzheimer’s research arm of the National Institute on Aging, have suggestions that can help.
R...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 10, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
The Root of Alzheimer's: Could Infection and Inflammation be Part of the Equation?
When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, a number of researchers think that it’s time to reconsider the idea of infection as a root cause. Scientists are now pointing to studies that reveal the presence of a microbe as a possible trigger for the disease. The theory is that microbes "find their way into the brain via the bloodstream and lie dormant until triggered by aging, immune system decline or by different types of stress…once they are activated, the microbes then damage brain cells - either directly or via inflammation.”
Read full article on HealthCentral about a new look at the root of Alzheimer's:
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Source: Minding Our Elders - March 9, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Heart and Brain Health Closely Related
For years the Alzheimer's Association has made good use of the catch phrase "what's good for the heart is good for the brain." As additional research is conducted in both areas, that simple phrase is proving to be solid thinking. The startling admission of notable researchers who attended the 2014 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Copenhagen that a healthy lifestyle is, at this point, the best hope we have to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s symptoms underscores this concept. Not surprisingly, the lifestyle recommended for preventing Alzheimer’s disease is also the lifestyle that is recommended for stavin...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 8, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
How To Get People With Dementia To Take Pills
Dementia care demands incredible creativity. The ever changing needs of the person who has dementia challenges family caregivers and professionals alike. One particular frustration is getting important medications into their loved ones who either can’t or won’t cooperate when it comes to taking pills. As Alzheimer’s spreads throughout the brain, logic departs. The ability to understand one’s world disappears, understandably being replaced by fear and suspicion. These emotions are often blamed by caregivers when the person that they love refuses to take needed medications.
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Source: Minding Our Elders - March 7, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Tai Chi Reduces Falls and Improves Brain Function
Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese practice, is a self-paced system of movement where you perform a series of postures in a slow, graceful manner. This form of gentle exercise helps lower stress levels and encourages focus. Recently, the National Institutes of Health has said that tai chi has the ability to help reduce falls in older people, as well.
Read full article on HealthCentral about Tai Chi and its ability to help the body and the brain:
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Proper Dementia Diagno...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 6, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Caregivers Confess: Thoughts We Aren ’t Proud Of
Wouldn't it be nice to be a caregiver who had only loving thoughts every moment of the caregiving day? Maybe there are caregivers like that. If you are one of them, I truly congratulate you. Most of us who have been through years of caregiving will not fall into that category. Here's a sampling of caregiver thoughts that I've heard people talk about. You'll likely feel better just reading them.
Read full article on Agingcare about those little thoughts that we wish we didn't have:
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Source: Minding Our Elders - March 5, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Major Changes Like Moving Can Set Back Health of Some Elders
Dear Carol: My mother’s memory has gotten very poor, her arthritis puts her at risk for falls, and she has severe asthma, so she decided that she’d be better off in assisted living. My brother and I were in agreement and we went with Mom to look at available facilities. We were thrilled with what we thought was the perfect home. Since the move, though, Mom has lost interest in everything. She won’t do her once cherished crossword puzzles, even when I bring the newest ones published. Her magazines pile up unread. She won’t participate in any of the interesting activities that the facility offers and has...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 4, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Alzheimer's Apathy Preventable with Stimulation
Lack of enjoyable, stimulating activity can lead to apathy for anyone but particularly those with Alzheimer’s disease. According to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), apathy is one of the most common neurobehavioral symptoms in dementia. Strong, focused stimulation can help people with Alzheimer's disease overcome apathy. People with mild dementia will decline more quickly into severe dementia if they also suffer from apathy, therefore engaging, stimulating activities are especially vital to this group.
Read full article on HealthCentral about how apathy in people with AD may be preventable:
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Source: Minding Our Elders - March 3, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Fitness and Aging Well: A Vital Correlation
How vital is fitness to aging well? Very. A recent study of participants in the 2015 National Senior Games, also known as the Senior Olympics, revealed that the typical participant had a fitness age of more than 20 years younger than his or her chronological age. According to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, fitness age is determined by a measure of cardiovascular endurance and is a better predictor of longevity than chronological age.
Read full article/interview on HealthCentral about staying healthy to age well:
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Source: Minding Our Elders - March 2, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Our Parents are Human: What Mom Got Right and What She Got Wrong
I have experienced the shock of watching my parents age before my eyes. Even though I lived in the same community as my parents and saw them often for the greater part of my life, their aging came at me like punches to the gut from time to time. You may be experiencing a similar reaction. These people once took care of our needs. Now they need—or may soon need—our help. While it's not a logical train of thought, we can feel a little betrayed when we find ourselves in this situation. The child inside of us rebels. We don't want our parents to grow old and frail, for their sake and for ours. We can begin to feel kind of ...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 2, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Memory Loss: Lack of Awareness Points to Dementia
Middle-aged and worried about your memory slips? You probably don’t have dementia. The majority of the memory slips that concern this age group, and even those significantly older, are due to stress and other factors rather than impending dementia. However, researchers have now found that people who are suffering from memory loss but are unaware of their problem are most likely developing the disease.
Read full article on HealthCentral about memory loss and awareness of the problem:
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...
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 1, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Predicting Alzheimer ’s: Biological Age Overrides Chronological Age
Increasingly, Alzheimer’s specialists and researchers stress the importance of early detection. In fact, most drugs now considered as possible methods for holding off Alzheimer’s symptoms seem to be dependent on starting the drug early – as much as a decade earlier than symptoms appear. The question that travels hand in hand with these studies is who should start these drugs if they do prove to be effective? It’s not prudent to simply give the drugs to the whole aging population.
Read full article on HealthCentral about how biological age can make a huge difference in your AD risk:
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Source: Minding Our Elders - February 28, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
