Caregiver StressMeter

To help you determine what level of stress you may be experiencing in your role as a caregiver, a group of leading eldercare and caregiver stress experts have developed this brief survey.  Your answers are completely confidential and there are no right or wrong answers. Once completed, an assessment of your responses will give you the resources to help you make your personal caregiving experience more rewarding and maintain your own health and spirits!!


Follow this link
http://www.caregiverstress.com/stress-management/stress-symptoms/caregiver-stressmeter/

Alzheimer's or "Just" Old Age?

Q: My mother is 71, and she has been forgetful for years, but it seems she is getting worse and repeats herself all the time. Is there a way to distinguish between Alzheimer's and just old age? Is there a test or something? 


A: When memory loss and other problems of brain function occur, it is important to secure a comprehensive evaluation by an internist, geriatrician, neurologist, and/or psychiatrist. It is necessary to rule out various treatable brain conditions that can mimic Alzheimer's disease. Examples of disease that can be mistaken for Alzheimer's include Lyme disease, certain metabolic disorders, and even depression. There is specific testing for Lyme infection; if the test is positive and treatment allows for troublesome cognitive symptoms to disappear, one could rule out Alzheimer's. Tests can be performed for metabolic conditions such as thyroid dysfunction. Psychiatric evaluation includes the use of specific depression scales such as Beck Depression Inventory to further differentiate Alzheimer's disease from other mental conditions.

A final, unequivocal diagnosis of Alzheimer's, unfortunately, can only be made by the direct pathological study of the brain after death (on autopsy). There are no specific tests for Alzheimer's disease, so one should be wary of claims of any specific mental or physical test. For example, there is a high association between apolipoprotein E-4 and Alzheimer's, but this association only defines susceptibility. It is neither specific nor predictive of who will develop the disease.

You may soon hear about a new imaging test that can diagnose Alzheimer's disease at an early stage, but the test is not yet available in the clinic. It entails injecting radiochemicals, which are agents that bind to targeted abnormal tissues — in this case regions of the brain associated with Alzheimer's. The radiochemicals light up and can be seen on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This new kind of imaging tool is very valuable for research purposes. It allows researchers to follow the disease course and to test proposed new drug therapies. I consider the testing potentially very advantageous, as it would allow us to diagnose and introduce treatment early. But we do not yet have effective treatments and the testing is very expensive, so it is not clinically useful at this time. It is hoped that in the not-too-distant future the diagnostic imaging test will move into the clinic and we'll have more effective therapies to offer patients

An expert in Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Robert N. Butler was a gerontologist and a professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai Medical Center before passing away from acute leukemia at the age of 83

Senior Moment - Libby Deege

Seniors may be just as mentally agile as younger people. The reason their thinking appears sluggish is they mull things over longer, a new study shows.

Researchers have found that when people aged 60 and older are asked to make quick decisions, they respond as slowly as young children. And both groups react much more slowly than young adults, according to the study published in Child Development.

The slow response times in children are the sign of brains that are still maturing, said Roger Ratcliff, a study co-author and professor of behavioral and social sciences at Ohio State University. But the apparent sluggish thinking in the elderly may simply be the result of seniors emphasizing accuracy over speed when they deliberate.

The new research could have important repercussions for seniors worried that their thinking has become too slow to allow them to continue driving safely or performing other tasks that occasionally require quick reaction times. 

Ratcliff and his colleagues have been studying the impact of aging on mental agility for the last decade. In their new study, they looked at how seniors and other adults compare to children.

They ran several experiments designed to rate mental ability and agility across all ages. In one, for example, more than 300 study volunteers watched as a group of asterisks flashed up on a computer screen. The number of asterisks ranged anywhere from 31 to 70. The volunteers were told to quickly decide whether they’d been shown a small number (31 to 50) or a large number (51 to 70) of the star shaped marks.

When the researchers looked over the responses they found that response times and accuracy both improved with age, up to a point. Accuracy remained good even among older volunteers, but response times in general suffered as people got older. Of course, in some cases, early dementia or the effects of medication may be the cause of slowing mental agility, but in healthy seniors, slow reaction times among the elderly can often be improved, Ratcliff said. In another set of experiments, he and his colleagues coached older volunteers to obsess less about accuracy and to focus more on speed.  In the end, his seniors were able to react just as quickly as college students.

Ratcliff suspects that other age related deficits, such as declining memories, make seniors less sure of themselves and that makes them want to deliberate longer so they won’t make mistakes.

“Older people don’t want to make errors, so what they do is adopt a more conservative decision criteria and that slows them down,” he explained.

By Linda Carroll

What's the Difference Between Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia?

On a cold, snowy winter day, a bowl of soup sounds good.

"What’s the soup of the day?" you ask the waitress at your favorite restaurant. A few minutes later you are enjoying a steaming cup of clam chowder.

"Soup" is a general term for a category of food. Soup comes in dozens of flavors, like chicken noodle, tomato, clam chowder, or mushroom. Every can of mushroom or tomato soup is soup—but not every can of soup is mushroom or tomato.

This simple example, first used by Canadian dementia expert Carol Bowlby Sifton, is an elegant way to describe the differences between dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Like "soup," the word "dementia" is an umbrella term for anything that can cause issues with brain functioning such as confusion, memory loss, or loss of problem solving ability. While Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia in older persons, there are many more varieties, including Lewy Body dementia, vascular dementia, or frontal lobe dementia.

Families often say that they struggle to understand what doctors mean by dementia. That's why it's important to ask the doctor what type of dementia is being diagnosed. David Troxel, a noted dementia expert who worked with Home Instead Senior Care to develop its Alzheimer's and Other Dementias Training Program, emphasizes that the doctor should be able to tell you the specific diagnosis and the reason for that diagnosis, just like the waitress should be able to tell you the soup of the day and how that is different from other soups.

"It's important to know the type of dementia being diagnosed," Troxel said, "because different dementias have different characteristics, and family members need to know what to expect." Persons with frontal lobe dementia, for example, often undergo profound personality changes and can get very disinhibited and outrageous. Persons with Lewy Body dementia may have profound visual hallucinations, including talking to little people in the room or seeing animals that are not really present. "It can be very helpful and reassuring for families to know that a particular behavior is part of the disease process, not just 'bad behavior'," Troxel noted.

In addition, different dementias may call for different medicines. Individuals with pure frontal lobe dementia often don't do well on the typical memory medications like Aricept, Exelon & Razadyne, but they may respond to an anti-depressant. Persons with Lewy Body dementia seem to be very sensitive to mood-altering medications like anti-psychotics. In fact, an old nursing phrase says, "start low and go slow" when giving psychotropic medications to a person with Lewy Body dementia.

Finally, when the physician gives you a specific diagnosis it's a sign that you’ve seen a medical provider who understands the contemporary best practices surrounding diagnosis. You can feel that you and your family member are in good hands.

Likewise, other professionals you may work with to care for your family member, such as professional in home caregivers, should be trained to understand the distinctions between various dementias. Paul Hogan, chairman of Home Instead Senior Care, says "Our CAREGivers are trained to understand the differences between Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. We want our clients' families to know that we are here for them no matter which dementia diagnosis they face."

Family caregivers can form a care team with the senior's doctors, pharmacists, and other care providers focused on providing the best possible care and that focus needs to include an accurate understanding of the diagnosis, its symptoms, and its possible treatments. "Until we find a cure, the best approach to any of these dementias is engagement, activities, communication and loving care," says Hogan

Couple Married 72 Years Dies Holding Hands - Libby Deege

This has been going around online I thought I had to share! Who wouldn't want a love like this!!

An Iowa couple who was married for 72 years died one hour apart last week in the hospital as they held hands

On the day she graduated from high school, Norma Stock promised to spend forever with Gordon Yeager. The couple got married on May 26, 1939 in State Center.
"They're very old-fashioned. They believed in marriage til death do you part," said son Dennis Yeager.
Dennis Yeager was the youngest of four children born to the couple. His sister Donna was first born.
"Staying together for 72 years is good, I'd say that's exceptional," said daughter Donna Sheets.

The way the kids tell it, dad was the life of the party while mom kept everything together.

"Anybody come over -- she was the hostess with the mostest. She just seriously -- the more she did -- the more she smiled," said Dennis Yeager. "Dad would be the center of attention, like, 'Weee look at me,' and mom was like 'get him away from me!' You know we even got a picture like that."
Norma didn't really want the distance, and family said she hardly left Gordon's side for 72 years.
"They just loved being together. Everybody argues once in awhile, but they still, he said 'I have to stick around. I can't go until she does because I have to stay here for her and she would say the same thing,'" said Dennis Yeager. Dennis Yeager said the couple left home last Wednesday to go into town, but they didn't make it.

At the intersection of Highway 30 and Jessup Avenue just west of Marshalltown, state troopers said Gordon pulled in front of an oncoming car. The Iowa State Patrol crash report said the other driver attempted to avoid the crash but was unable to stop in time.

"I rushed from Des Moines where I was working and saw them in the hospital," said Dennis Yeager.
In the intensive care unit of Marshalltown's hospital, nurses knew not to separate Gordon and Norma.
"They brought them in the same room in intensive care and put them together -- and they were holding hands in ICU. They were not really responsive," said Dennis Yeager.

Gordon died at 3:38 p.m. holding hands with his wife as the family they built surrounded them.
"It was really strange, they were holding hands, and dad stopped breathing but I couldn't figure out what was going on because the heart monitor was still going," said Dennis Yeager. "But we were like, he isn't breathing. How does he still have a heart beat? The nurse checked and said that's because they were holding hands and it's going through them. Her heart was beating through him and picking it up."

They were still getting her heartbeat through him," said Donna Sheets.

At 4:38 p.m., exactly one hour after Gordon died, Norma passed too

"Neither one of them would've wanted to be without each other. I couldn't figure out how it was going to work," said Donna Sheets. "We were very blessed, honestly, that they went this way."
"They just loved being together," said Dennis Yeager.

At their funeral on Monday, Norma and Gordon held hands in their casket. Family said they will be cremated and their ashes mixed together.

Read the Full article at http://www.kcci.com/

Fall Foods!! - Libby Deege

Fall Flavors!!
Apple Crisp!

Ingredients
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted
 
Directions


1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).

2.Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.

3.Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.

4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes

Sometimes favorite foods have a great story that makes the dish all the more delicious. It’s that way with Betty’s corn pudding, which she entered in the Homemade Memories Recipe Contest. The corn pudding is a favorite because her mother-in-law and father-in-law always had a garden in the country and would grow the corn, shuck it and deliver plenty to freeze.
Please share your story that will passed along to the next generation.  Be it a memory, or a favorite recipe.  I know for me personally it will be my Gram's molasses cookie recipe.  I was fortunate enough to snag the beat up old round tin that she used to bring them over in when we were helping her downsize.  Memories that will forever be rooted in my heart.  Share your stories here on on the Homemade Memories Facebook page.  You can also visit the Craving CompanionshipSM website at www.mealsandcompanionship.com for more ways to keep those memories alive. "Now this recipe is special to my grandchildren as they always request that I make it when they come over for special occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. I always think of my father-in-law, how he used to work so hard to provide fresh vegetables for all his children. He is greatly missed."