Archive for the ‘Memory Care’ Category

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Alzheimer’s Camp Benefits Patients and Caregivers

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 by Jacqui Tom

A unique weekend sleepover camp for Alzheimer’s patients, sponsored a few times each year by the Family Caregiver Alliance, provides a much-needed break for caregivers and provides an enriching experience for patients. The retreat, which is held at a conference center near San Francisco, doesn’t focus on memories lapses or cognitive decline most patients experience as a result of the disease. Instead, the aim is to leave participants with a general feel-good sensation, according to Caitlin Morgan, the gerontolgist and social worker who leads the event. memories

The good feeling lingers after the camp has ended, and it can even improve daily functioning, participants report. While they may not remember specific events or details that occurred during the three-day camp, Morgan says, but they can relate to the general feeling of well-being they’re left with and know that something good happened during their stay.

This program is based on expert advice related to tapping into emotions to help prevent Alzheimer’s patients from withdrawing into themselves. Communication is emphasized, such as recognizing memory gaps, particularly among newly diagnosed patients.

Some helpful advice is offered on communicating with Alzheimer’s patients, which includes validating and redirecting when patients have misconceptions, because contradicting and correcting can cause needless frustration. For example, instead of insisting that your loved one is not eight years old and late for school, simply say that today is a holiday. Offering simple choices is also helpful, because it helps patients feel empowered and in control while not overwhelming them (offering a choice of two shirts, for example).

Morgan also says that she frequently hears patients say they want to be useful — so offering meaningful activities is crucial. Let them wash the dishes three times in a row. Activities don’t have to be complex to be engaging. Exercise can improve sleep quality, and simple activities like easy walks and reminiscing with friends stimulate the body and mind.

Read the related article on NPR.org

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84-Year-Old Scientist Discovers Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Target

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 by Jacqui Tom

Alzheimer’s disease has certainly had its share of news recently, and a new discovery by an 84-year-old scientist just added new hopes that new treatments could delay or halt the onset of the disease. Dr. Paul Greengard identified a new protein that activates gamma-secretase, responsible for making beta-amyloid, the characteristic plaque that accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. The research is published September 2, 2010 in Nature, the International Weekly Journal of Science. Alzheimer's research

Dr. Greengard has studied Alzheimer’s disease for more than 25 years, after discovering that his father-in-law had the disease, according to a report from The New York Times. His work is funded by a philanthropic organization and federal government grants.

This discovery is promising for the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers can now develop new pharmaceutical treatments that specifically inhibit the gamma-secretase activating protein, potentially blocking the formation of the plaques that cause the disease. An effective treatment would mean a huge victory in the field of medicine and for the many families who struggle with the disease. Alzheimer’s care costs are skyrocketing, so many families attempt to care for their loved ones on their own. The stress of caregiving and coping with role changes can quickly take its toll. 

Dr. Paul Aisen of the University of California, San Diego, says Greengard’s work is strong and convincing, noting that it creates a truly new approach to treating the disease. There are currently about 100 drugs undergoing clinical trials that hope to alter the course of Alzheimer’s disease, and about 200 papers are published weekly. There is certainly no shortage of interest in discovering an effective treatment for this devastating and as-of-yet incurable disease.

Current treatments focus on gamma-secretase, but this enzyme is believed to be responsible for other important roles in the body, such as fighting infection. Blocking the enzyme would cease the production of plaque-forming beta-amyloid, but it is likely to cause other harmful effects. But the gamma secretase activating protein discovered by Dr. Greengard plays no other role in the body other than telling gamma secretase to create beta-amyloid, so completely blocking this enzyme would theoretically halt the production of brain plaques without affecting other body systems.

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New Guidelines May Pave Road for More Effective Alzheimer’s Treatments

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow

Soon, new technologies may be used along with new guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, resulting in earlier diagnosis and two to three times as many people diagnosed with the disease (over the 5.3 million Americans who already have it), according to the New York Times.

A drastic rise in the number of Alzheimer’s diagnoses seems like a bad thing, but in actuality, this earlier diagnosis paves the way for improved treatments that could alter the course of the disease by attacking it sooner. Using brain scans, a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease could be made before the obvious symptoms, such as memory loss, appear. This is significant, because many experts say that Alzheimer’s disease actually takes hold up to a decade before these symptoms become apparent.  

The National Institute on AgingAlzheimer's research and the Alzheimer’s Association assembled a panel of experts about a year ago to begin working on new diagnostic guidelines. Currently, patients must already be exhibiting a number of obvious symptoms for a diagnosis to be made, including significant memory impairment and a loss of ability to complete activities of daily living. A definitive diagnosis is currently not possible until after death, when the brain can be examined for the presence of telltale plagues.

Under the new guidelines, a patient could be diagnosed with one of three stages:

  1. Preclinical disease
  2. Mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease
  3. Alzheimer’s dementia

The changes will allow researchers and drug-makers to focus on developing treatments that can used earlier, thus slowing the progression or altering the course of the disease entirely. But earlier diagnosis isn’t without its downsides. An earlier diagnosis is always a less certain diagnosis, meaning a greater margin for misdiagnosis.

Eventually, researchers have hopes of routinely testing people in their 50s for Alzheimer’s biomarkers, according to Dr. Paul Aisen, Alzheimer’s researcher for the University of California in San Diego, and a panel member. If tests show that a patient is developing Alzheimer’s, the patient could be started on drugs that would halt the development of the disease.

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Dementia Simulation Helps Caregivers Connect

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow

One of the biggest challenges faced by dementia caregivers is a lack of understanding of what their loved one is going through. Reading the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia is one thing, but nothing can offer the same level of understanding as a firsthand experience. That’s exactly what Immersion Reality Education aims to offer caregivers in its unique Dementia Reality Tours, offered at Modesto assisted living facilities and in surrounding areas.glasses

A Dementia Reality Tour was recently held at Quail Park Retirement Village in Visalia. The Visalia Times-Delta reports that caregivers were outfitted with glasses that obscured thier vision, gloves that made their hands feel heavy, inserts that made their feet uncomfortable and earphones that “blasted cacaphony,” all specially designed to mimic the sensory experience of a person with dementia. After they’re geared up, participants are asked to try to perform simple tasks, such as folding laundry.

Caregivers exhibit a range of emotions after the experience, from crying to enthusiastically wanting to share the experience with other family members. In any case, it’s an eye-opening experience that enables caregivers to better care for patients with dementia, after a new understanding of the difficulty patients face even trying to complete mundane everyday tasks.

Other types of training for dementia caregivers focus on identifying behavior triggers, such as certain words or phrases that often spur an argument from a dementia sufferer, and focusing more on the person. For example, an article on AikenStandard.com points out a useful dementia safety tip: If your loved one likes to rummage, set up a room specifically for that purpose. You’ll avoid the struggle of trying to stop the behavior, instead allowing the patient to do what they want to do, safely.

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Taking Stock of Safety for National Home Safety Month

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow

June is National Home Safety Month — a great time to evaluate the safety of your aging loved one’s living quarters, whether they live in your home, in their own home, or in an assisted living facility. Regardless of the living arrangements, safety hazards could still be lurking in inconspicuous places.

GTR Newspapers does a nice job of summing up some common — but frequently overlooked — hazards that could be potentially dangerous for those you care about. The article quotes Andrew Garrean, owner of the Tulsa area’s local Home Instead Senior Care franchise, who notes that the elderly have both a lifetime of accumulated possessions and the same daily influx of junk mail that we all deal with: catalogs, magazines, newspapers. And if your loved one hesitates to discard unused or old items, that can spell disaster as clutter builds, increasing the risk for both fires and falls.clutter

Look for signs of clutter in your loved one’s home, such as piles of unopened mail, cluttered closets, jammed kitchen drawers, cluttered kitchen cabinets, and stockpiles of never-used items in attics or other storage areas. If your loved experiences frustration when he tries to organize, that’s also an indication of a potential clutter problem.

How to help your loved one eliminate clutter

You can help your loved one maintain safety in their home or other setting by helping them clean out clutter. If your family member is resistant to throwing away items, insist that they be reorganized, moved to storage, or relocated to a location that won’t pose a fall or fire risk.

Make sure rugs have rubber backing so they won’t slide, or remove them altogether. Never allow cords to run across the flow of traffic, whether across a hallway, through a doorway, or across a room — even if under a rug.

Knick knacks and excess furniture should also be removed to improve the flow of traffic. You shouldn’t have to navigate around furniture to move from one room to another; ensure there’s a clear path. Knick knacks can be easily broken and hard for an elderly person to clean up, so they then pose a cutting risk as well as the possibility of slipping or tripping on shattered pieces.

Want more home safety tips? See our articles on dementia safety and assisted living safety.

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NIH Finds Many Alzheimer’s Treatments Ineffective

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow

A panel of fifteen experts examined the available treatments for Alzheimer’s disease in a three-day meeting for the National Institute of Health, according to the Wall Street Journal Health Blog. The experts concluded that the available research doesn’t indicate that any intervention actually prevents the disease — interventions include both medications and herbal supplements.

Specifically, the panel’s report states, “There is insufficient evidence to support the use of pharmaceutical agents or dietary supplements to prevent cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease.” However, the report goes on to say that current studies show promise in the prevention of the disease (and/or the delay of cognitive decline), including those of antihypertensive (high blood pressure) medications, omega-3 fatty acid, physical activity, and cognitive engagement.

Even analyzing the available data proved to be a challenge, due primarily to the fact that the definition of Alzheimer’s disease isn’t consistent across all research. We mentioned in a previous blog post that the diagnosis of the disease is based on a cognitive assessment which tends to be subjective, and even researchers will use slightly differing standards to define the disease.

The wide variety of possible risk factors and causes also cause problems for experts attempting to disseminate the information. Determing whether a given factor is a cause or merely an association can be difficult, because so many factors are inter-related. For example, higher education may be linked to a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but higher education is also associated with cognitive engagement.

Here’s what the panel found among a few prominent factors:

  • Omega-3 fatty acids – such as those found in fish – have shown a decreased risk for cognitive decline in several longitudinal studies.
  • A number of cardiovascular conditions have been linked to an increased risk of cognitive decline. High blood pressure shows the strongest association.
  • Depression and depressive symptoms have a consistent correlation with cognitive decline.
  • Socioeconomic factors show little correlation with cognitive decline.
  • Physical activity and participation in leisure activities can help preserve cognitive function.
  • Current smoking can increase the risk of cognitive decline, but no association was found with alcohol use.
  • There is some evidence that a gene, ApoE, could be linked to an increased rate of cognitive decline. Study results thus far have been inconsistent, however.

If you have a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia, visit our Memory Care Checklist for what to look for when visiting memory care facilities. You can also find tips for dementia safety and learn about Alzheimer’s care options at our Memory Care Center.

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Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Possible with New Technology

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow

Early detection of Alzheimer’s disease could soon be possible, thanks to the development of chemical agents that can be used to detect the disease on a brain scan. Companies like Bayer and General Electric, that produce medical imaging equipment, are forging the trail in the development of this new technology, according to the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA).

Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Offers Many Benefits

Early detection could mean a major step towards treating the disease, and will certainly aid in prevention. Current treatments, like the pharmaceutical product Aricept, have been shown to slow the progression of cognitive decline, but are indicated for patients already exhibiting symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. They also only slow the progression of the disease, but do not reverse it. According to the Wall Street Journal, some experimental drugs are proving effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease very early on, but are too weak to treat the stage at which most patients are diagnosed today.Alzheimers

New imaging technology will also offer practitioners the ability to make a definitive diagnosis, whereas current diagnostics are based solely on an assessment of memory and cognitive function, which can be somewhat subjective. In fact, the Wall Street Journal notes that 15-20% of Alzheimer’s patients have been misdiagnosed. Even post-mortem analysis of brain tissue can’t lead to a definitive conclusion; even if the plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease is detected, it hasn’t been proven conclusively to be the cause of the disease.

Finally, early detection can aid families in making plans for long-term care needs, giving patients the opportunity to actively participate in the decision-making process. Families can work together to create a financial plan for saving for assisted living or  nursing home care, or create alternative plans for aging in place.

Avid recently presented results from a phase 3 trial at the American Academy of Neurology annual conference in Toronto, which showed promise by correctly indicating which patients had the disease. Bayer is also conducting late-stage clinical testing of an experimental imaging compound, while GE has a compound in the mid-phase testing. Final results from these studies are expected over the next several years (some as early as 2011), and favorable findings could potentially lead to an approval in the near future.

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Research Suggests Alzheimer’s Care is More Stressful

Monday, May 10th, 2010 by Stuart Grinnell

Steven Zarit, professor and head of the Human Development and Family Studies department at Penn State University, recently led a study of caregiver stressors. The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Benjamin Rose Institute and other colleagues, focused on dementia caregivers and the unique stressors they face.

Because caregivers of dementia patients find themselves in the role for five to seven years on average, but up to ten to fifteen years in many cases, the effects of caregiving for this population can be particulary stressful, Science Daily reports.

The study found that participants experienced a wide range of severity of stress among the fifteen most common stressors experienced by caregivers. The stressors studied included frequency of help from family and friends, financial stressors, time demands, and patient behaviors.

Many barriers to overcoming caregiver stress

While interventions could help, this research notes that interventions are typically cause-specific, and therefore won’t work across the board. Teaching caregivers how to cope with and modify patient behaviors won’t be effective for family caregivers who don’t experience behavioral issues, and it also won’t help caregivers deal with other stressors they may be experiencing at the same time.

In addition, most family caregivers are somewhat isolated, providing care in the home. Intervention programs are expensive and many fail to reach the in-home population. However, Zarit recommends preventative interventions that help caregivers deal with various stressors before they reach a threshold that can cause depression or breakdowns. He also advises that adaptive interventions are best, because they’re modified to address the unique risk factors and circumstances faced by each individual.

Zarit is currently researching adult day care services, and based on positive feedback gathered so far, recommends this approach to families who can afford it. Even a few days per week can provide some much-needed relief and help avoid the burnout that comes with geriatric care.

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Painting Helps Alzheimer’s and Dementia Patients Bridge Memories

Friday, April 9th, 2010 by Angela Stringfellow

MercuryNews.com recently featured an article highlighting a unique program run by the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California. The Memories in the Making art program is operated in 30 assisted living, independent living, nursing homes and adult day programs in the Bay Area, in locations such as Los Gatos and San Jose.

Art helps patients communicate

The Memories in the Making program helps patients with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia regain their ability to communicate, even if they have trouble verbalizing or are unable to speak at all. The article featured on MercuryNews.com says art provides patients a way to express themselves and can often help stimulate dormant memories. The program is open to people in all stages of dementia, and many participants have never painted before.

The program is self-sustaining, too. Each year, some of the artists’ work is auctioned off as part of annual fundraising efforts. This year’s event, held on March 5, 2010, earned $111,000. Some incredible works of art are produced through this program, with one piece going for $5,000 at this year’s auction.

Is there a program like this in my area?

You can find out if there’s a similar program in your area by visiting the Alzheimer’s Association website and searching for your local chapter.

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