ElderCare Expert Blog

Alzheimer’s and Eating: Colorful Ideas

October 16th, 2009

Brightly colored tableware may be the key to getting Alzheimer’s patients to eat and drink more.

Significant weight loss can be seen in about 40% of people with severe Alzheimer’s disease. This has most often been attributed to depression and eating difficulties, but a study that was conducted in 2004 and is published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, has indicated that vision problems might be the cause.

Serving meals on brightly colored tableware may encourage greater food consumption among patients suffering from Alzheimer’s. This study showed that people with Alzheimer’s disease experienced a 24% increase in food intake and 84% increase in liquid intake when served on bright red or brightly colored blue tableware and cutlery as compared to white tableware and stainless-steel silverware.

If you are having trouble getting your Alzheimer’s patient to eat, consider using high-contrast tableware. This is an easy and inexpensive solution, which helps maintain the patient’s diet and promotes independence.

Bright ideas brought to you by Emily

Tags: alzheimer, caregiver, dementia, Disability Aids, eating, elderly care, meals, redware, undereating, weight loss
Posted in Caregiving for Alzheimer's | No Comments »

Firm Pushed Drug It Knew Didn’t Work

June 16th, 2009

AP
Health insurers and states are suing Eli Lilly Co. over the way it marketed Zyprexa, an antipsychotic medication. Zyprexa was the firm’s best-selling drug in 2008.
(June 15) — Phamaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. urged doctors to prescribe its drug Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia, even though the company had evidence the drug didn’t work in such cases, Bloomberg News reported.
The Bloomberg story is based on company documents that were unsealed in insurer lawsuits against the company over Zyprexa. Lilly began promoting the drug for use in elderly patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in 1999, even though it had been approved only as a treatment for schizophrenia. The company also tried to get doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to elderly people struggling with moodiness and insomnia.

It’s unclear whether Lilly accepted the offer, Bloomberg said. It noted that a rival pharmacy company, Express Scripts Inc., also sent out letters touting Zyprexa. CVS and Express Scripts are not defendants in the lawsuit.
Zyprexa was Lilly’s best-selling drug in the U.S. in 2008, bringing in $14.6 billion. The documents were released as part of a $6.8 billion lawsuit over Lilly’s marketing of Zyprexa. Twelve states are also suing Lilly over the same matter.

Tags: Alzheimer's, antipsychotic, CVS, dementia, drug, Eli Lilly, medication, Zyprexa
Posted in Caregiving for Alzheimer's, Other, Resources | No Comments »

New Medication Management DVD

June 12th, 2009

In light of the enormous challenges medication management poses for the elderly and those with chronic diseases, as well as common and costly medication errors, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) has just released a step-by-step educational DVD about these issues.
The 47-minute DVD, called “Medication Management–From Daily Routines to Communicating with Healthcare Providers and Pharmacists,” is designed to help family and professional caregivers safely and effectively manage medications for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in the home setting. Experts address practical solutions to daily routines, setting up care teams, strategies for effective communication with healthcare professionals, and what’s on the medication horizon.
The new DVD is the latest addition to AFA’s “Your Time to Care” DVD education series; other topics in the series are wandering and basic skills. For more information and to purchase a DVD, visit www.alzfdn.org or call toll-free 866-AFA-8484.

Tags: medication, medication management
Posted in About Me | No Comments »

21 Activities For People with Dementia

June 11th, 2009

Encouraging people with dementia to stay engaged and active can sometimes be a challenge if you haven’t done it before. Below are 21 ideas to help you succeed. Be sensitive to the person’s abilities and desires. Remember to keep the instructions simple and clear, pick the best time of day to engage the person, offer choices, be patient, flexible and creative and have fun!

1. Physical activity – exercise (group or individual, walking, yoga)

2. Games, puzzles, crossword puzzles

3. Meal preparation (stirring, washing, mixing, tasting)

4. Housekeeping (folding, dusting, make the bed)

5. Music (listening to favorites, singing, live shows)

6. Work-type activities (safe items from the person’s professional work: a desk, papers to sort, tools)

7. Personal grooming (fix hair, do nails)

8. Gardening (watering, planting)

9. Massage (hand or foot, be sensitive to personal space issues)

10. Attending religious services

11. Magazines or books (pictures, familiar people or places)

12. Outings (art museums, coffee shop, beach)

13. TV (approprite and in small amounts, classic movies, Animal Planet, comedies like “I Love Lucy”)

14. Arts and crafts (meaningful and purposeful, not just to fill time)

15. Attend senior center or day care programs (when appropriate and the group’s ability levels match your needs)

16. Pet care (feeding, combing, petting)

17. Sorting (poker chips, coins, cards, silverware)

18. Engage with children (intergenerational activities)

19. Meditation and quiet time (soft music, low sensory input, holding soft animals and blankets)

20. Reminisce (structured discussions about old memories)

21. Eating (going for a favorite meal, ice cream shake)

Do you have other activities that have worked well? Please let me know so I can post and share them with others!

Tags: activities, Alzheimer's, dementia
Posted in Caregiving for Alzheimer's, Family Caregivers, Tips on Caregiving | No Comments »

AgingPro.com Participates in Aging Sensitivity Training

June 10th, 2009

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 8 /PRNewswire/ — In an effort to better serve Long Beach-area seniors, staff members from local legislators’ offices and community agencies recently participated in an interactive senior sensitivity training program sponsored by SCAN Health Plan. The award-winning Trading Ages(TM) program is a workshop that provides participants the opportunity to literally “walk in the shoes of a senior” through a series of hands-on exercises and sensory perception education.

“Through this program SCAN provides an invaluable opportunity to feel, see and hear the common physical and emotional challenges that are a part of the aging process,” said Long Beach Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal, who co-hosted the training with SCAN. “As society ages it is incumbent upon all of us to better understand what it’s like to grow older and raise our level of appreciation for seniors and what they confront.”

In addition to Assembly Member Lowenthal’s staff members, among those taking part in the day’s workshop were staff from the Long Beach City Council Offices, Long Beach Police Department, Long Beach Senior Advisory Commission, Los Angeles District Attorneys Office’s Victim Assistance Program, Santa Monica Police Department Elder Abuse Unit, and Long Beach-based Pathways Volunteer Hospice as well as Agingpro.com, an online eldercare resource.

Read entire press release http://tiny.cc/N5R3V

Tags: aging, Aging sensitivity, long beach, SCAN healthcare, www.agingpro.com
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How Can I Make My Aging Parents Do What I Want?

June 5th, 2009

I had two calls just today on a similar topic — How can I make my aging parents to “do what I want.” This question comes up a lot. The adult child sees mom or dad living in, what they consider, less than the best situation and the child thinks that things would be so much better if only they would do “X” (such as move closer to her, move to an assisted living or get caregiving in the home). The only problem is, Mom or Dad doesn’t want to do “X.”

The main thing to remember is this: People (everyone, including your parents) have the right to make their own decisions (even if they look like really bad decisions to you) for as long as they have “capacity.” Basically, “capacity” means that they understand the consequences of their decisions – the ability to receive, evaluate and communicate a decision to others. If they have advanced dementia or are in a coma, they probably don’t have capacity. Physical frailty is not sufficient in determining capacity.

If they have capacity, you can talk to your older loved one to see if they want to cooperate with what you have in mind, but if they don’t want to, nobody can make them. If you feel they aren’t safe and they refuse to get help, you could report them to Adult Protective Services (APS, available nation wide).They will do an assessment and determine if the person is safe or if they need a guardian. Powers of Attorney are documents a person signs, designating someone else to make decisions for them if they are no longer able to (such as for health care or financial decisions).

Ideally, everyone involved would talk and come up with a plan to support the older loved one in getting what they want while remaining safe and happy. If your mom or dad doesn’t want to change, the best you can do it make a “Plan B” – an alternative plan to implement when the “crisis” happens. Usually, an incident like mom falling and breaking a hip forces change. If you have a Plan B, you can sleep easier knowing you won’t be caught by surprise, because you know what your options are.

Answers to all your eldercare questions, and options for “Plan B” can be found in AgingPro’s Eldercare Basics E-Book. http://www.agingpro.com//store/Eldercare_Basics.htm

You can have peace of mind when you know you’ve looked at all your options, and made the best decision you could in the moment.

Tags: aging parent, agingpro, AgingPro.com, dementia, dpoa, elder, eldercare basics, elderly, elderly parents
Posted in Family Caregivers, Other, Tips on Caregiving | No Comments »

Aging Humor June 3, 2009

June 3rd, 2009

AgingPro Funnies

Q: How can you avoid that terrible curse of the elderly—–wrinkles?

A: Take off your glasses and you won’t see them.

Q: Is it common for 60+ year olds to have problems with short term memory storage?

A: Storing memory is not a problem, retrieving it is a problem.

Q: What is the most common remark made by 60+ year olds when they enter antique stores?

A: “‘Gosh, I remember these.”

Tags: aging humor, aging pro, agingpro, funny
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Dementia with Lewy Bodies Often Missed

June 2nd, 2009

(Source: Alzheimer Research Forum) – Perhaps the biggest, and quintessential, representative of a spectrum neurodegenerative disease is dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). By some counts, this disease is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with patient estimates ranging between one and two million in the U.S.

DLB is a double whammy of a disease. People with DLB have behavioral and memory problems as in AD and, to a varying extent, also suffer motor symptoms, as seen in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the cognitive symptoms of people with DLB tend to fluctuate frequently, their motor symptoms are milder, and they often have vivid visual hallucinations and particular visuospatial (visual perception of spatial relationships among objects) deficits. In short, DLB is neither AD nor PD, and yet defining its distinct identity has been a challenge.

This is Part 3 of a nine-part series.

Go to full story: alzforum.org

Tags: Alzheimer's, dementia, DLB, Lewy Body, memory
Posted in Caregiving for Alzheimer's, Resources | No Comments »