My Last Really Bad Day

There are times that I want to pull out my hair, times I want to run, times that I feel selfish, and times that I hate myself for feeling all those things.

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The Alzheimer's Caregiver Can Become the Patient

In some cases, adult-child caregivers with siblings feel resentful if they must bear the brunt of their parent's care ... If the adult-child caregiver is the only sibling living in the same city as the parent he or she often feels isolated, overwhelmed and under appreciated.

Previously I wrote, Where are the Alzheimer's Caregiver Helpers? 

The Alzheimer's caregiver can become the patient. I don't think this is well known by families of caregivers. 

Over the last few years I heard too many stories of caregivers going it alone while their family looks on. Patting the caregiver on the back while you sit on your butt is not enough. 

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that caregiving needs to be done in teams. Don't get me wrong here, I do know families that work together when someone becomes ill; but, this seems to be the exception rather then the rule. 

How else can you explain why more than 60 percent of stand alone Alzheimer's caregivers say they need help?

Continued on the Next Page

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My Best Day as an Alzheimer's Caregiver

My mother, Dotty, didn't laugh or smile for two years. It was killing me. I couldn't get away from it. Just one look at her staring into space and it all came raining down on me.

By Bob DeMarco 
Alzheimer's Reading Room
June, 2011 

I'm fortunate. I received a great education, learned how to do research, and I like to gobble up information. 

So when it came time to figure out Alzheimer's, what it is, and what I could do to best care for my mother, I was ready to go.

I am referring here mostly to science and scientific research. I made a very good decision early on. I put together a sophisticated alert system using Google, and then almost everything that had to do with Alzheimer's and dementia came pouring into my email box. Over time, I continue to improve my systems.

Many times, you get an article or research report and it leads you to investigate additional information. This is what happened to me and lead to what is really my best ever caregiver moment.


Continue Reading  My Best Day as an Alzheimer's Caregiver

Problems with Balance, Walking and Falling Can Be an Early Sign of Alzheimer's

Balance and walking problems often present before the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's or dementia...

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

When I first came to Delray Beach to take care of my mother, she was falling down all the time. Once, I found her laying in the parking lot and she could not get up. She was shaking like a leaf. Another time she fell down and broke her little finger. It took us over ten hours in the emergency room that time around. She would fall and couldn't get back up.

Predicting the Rate of Decline In Alzheimer's Dementia Patients

Readers often ask, what stage of Alzheimer's is s/he in, and how will the Alzheimer's disease progress?.....

By Bob DeMarco

I think most Alzheimer's caregivers wonder about how Alzheimer's disease will progress in their loved one. Do you?

As far as I know there is no answer to this question.

I know I wake up wondering every single day if this will be the day my mother takes a big down turn in her cognitive health. Some days I think she is worse than others. I often think on a real bad day, this is it. But somehow she bounces back the next day.

Life book to help Alzheimer's patients

clipped from www.craegmoor.co.uk A charity dedicated to Alzheimer's disease has dreamt up an innovative idea which could help to reassure sufferers and help them to remember. Alzheimer's Support, a charity in Trowbridge, has created the concept of a 'Life Book', which comprises both a photo album and a scrapbook to help patients remember important occasions and events in their life. The Alzheimer's charity helps patients to put the Life Book together themselves, picking out key pieces of information from their lives. "Being a carer for someone with Alzheimer's is extremely physically and mentally stressful. I have to be with Don at all times. If he is left on his own he suffers extreme anxiety and descends into a wild panic. At night he wanders around the house and looks through cupboards."It is devastating to have to deal with this and I am extremely grateful that I have Alzheimer's Support to help me. "We had a great time doing it and Don responded really well."

Memory And Thinking Problems Decline Among Older Americans

clipped from www.alzheimersanddementia.org clipped from www.medicalnewstoday.com A new US study suggests that brain health is improving among older Americans as demonstrated by a decline in thinking and memory problems in this group. The researchers said improved cardiovascular care, better education, and being financially better off could be the main reasons. The researchers found that: About 40 per cent of the decrease in cognitive impairment over the decade ending in 2002 was likely due to increases in education and personal wealth. They found this by comparing two groups of seniors, one at the start of the decade and one at the end. School attendance requirements, graduation rates in high school, enrollment rates in college or technical school, all went up in the period when the adults in the study were children and young adults. 72 per cent of people aged over 65 living in 2003 had a high school diploma compared with 53 per cent in 1990. The proportion of college-educated elderly also went up during that time, from 11 to 17 per cent.