Category Archives: Alzheimers & Dementia

Posts and articles related to Alzheimer’s, dementia, Alzheimer’s and dementia care.

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Azheimer’s Care – Family Caregiver Burnout

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Burnout From Caring For A Loved One With Alzheimer’s

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimers often leads to such symptoms as denial, anger, social withdrawal, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and irritability.  It can be an all-consuming 24-hour-a-day, seven-day a week grind.

What can you do?  At Expert Home Care, we suggest the following:

  • Manage your stress level. Use various relaxation techniques to ease the stress and consult your doctor.
  • Take care of yourself. Don’t ignore your own health, or you’ll suffer burn out.   Watch your diet, exercise and get plenty of sleep.
  • Join a support group. There are many others out there like you and there is support in numbers.
  • Do legal and financial planning. There are issues that need to be discussed – make sure you take care of these sooner rather than later.
  • Give yourself a break. Bring in a home health aide to assist with the activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, toileting and feeding) or to help around the house.  This can help you recharge your batteries several hours during the day or, by choosing respite care, for a long weekend.
  • Don’t be a martyr. You are not expected to do it all alone.  Seek the support of family, friends and community resources.

New Jersey’s Expert Home Care for Elders and Seniors has been providing senior care, home care & live-in care for your aging loved ones since 1984. Please call us when you need help at 800-848-2336. Click for a Free Home Care Consumer Guide for selecting the most appropriate home care agency for your loved one.

Posted By: Frank

Dementia in New Jersey Elderly

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Dementia in the elderly can take on two different forms; reversible and chronic. When symptoms are reversible, the short-term dementia has been caused by other illnesses or diseases. The National Institute on Aging has classified 100 conditions that can cause short-term dementia. These are often called “pseudodementias”, and are treatable. Some examples include:

Adverse reactions to Medications- Side effects mimicking dementia are most commonly caused by antiarthritic medications, anihypertensizes, neuroleptics, hypnotics, and sedatives. Make sure your doctor is monitoring all your medications, including over-the-counter.

Emotional Distress- Seniors face a tremendous amount of changes in their lives, sometimes abrupt. Retirement, loss of a loved one or pet, divorce, change in location; all of these can cause depression, anxiety, and can damage physical and mental health. Make sure your physician is informed of these stressors in your life.

Metabolic Disturbances- Electrolyte imbalances, hypoglycemia, hypercalcemia, hepatic diseases, pancreatic disorders, renal failure, or liver failure can also cause confusion and effect sleep, appetite, and emotional balance.

Read the full story.

Exercise Slows Alzheimer’s Disease

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Use it or lose it? 

Exercising the body helps the brain. That’s the conclusion of a new study that reviewed the effects of exercise on brain functioning in humans and animals.

Based on a wide-ranging review of existing studies, researchers found a significant relationship between physical activity and later cognitive function and decreased occurrence of dementia. Better yet, the evidence suggests that the benefits may last several decades.

Studies of persons over age 65 found that those who exercised for at least 15-30 minutes at a time three times a week were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease, even if they were genetically predisposed to the disease.

The exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous. One study of 62- to 70-year-olds who continued to work and retirees who moderately exercised, showed they had higher sustained levels of cerebral blood flow and superior performance on general measures of cognition as compared to the group of inactive retirees.

The review covered 40 years of research.

New Jersey Alzheimer’s Care

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New Jersey’s Expert Home Care for Elders and Seniors provides live-in care for your aging loved ones since 1984. Please call us when your loved one needs help – 800-848-2336.

Are you reluctant to talk about your memory loss? 

Seniors in New Jersey fear Alzheimer’s disease more than heart disease, stroke and diabetes. They fear it so much that elders and seniors with memory loss stay in a state of denial. They will conceal their memory loss from physician, family and friends. 

During screenings, 73 percent of seniors said they had concerns about memory, but only 30 percent said they had shared that with anyone. Of those who did, most told their spouse. Only about 25% shared that memory loss concern with their doctor. Men are almost three times more likely than women to keep quiet about memory loss.

Although Alzheimer’s disease is by no means the only cause of memory loss, an estimated 4.5 million now have the disease – a number that is expected to grow to more than 11 million by the year 2050. While memory screening is relatively new, it will likely grow in usage as one way for individuals to begin to assess concerns about such memory changes, said researcher Sandra Timmerman, Ed.D.

Awareness of memory loss needs to increase in New Jersey and all across America. We also need more education about memory loss and the importance of evaluation to determine whether one may or not have a problem that requires intervention. The earlier the intervention, the better one’s quality of life can be.

Home health care safety – NJ

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Many New Jersey seniors are at risk during the summer’s heat and humidity.  Seniors over the age of 65 in four North American cities revealed that while nearly 90 percent of the respondents were aware a heat warning had been issued, only about half of the people did anything about it.  Many thought the warnings were targeting the NJ elderly, and not them.

To make sure that both you and your elder loved one are safe, here are some important tips:

  • Keep a glass of water in every room for quick access.  Drink plenty of fluids, even if you don’t feel thirsty.
  • Dress in light-weight clothing.  Remove all heavy materials, long sleeves and dark colors from closets. 
  • Stay out of the sun during the hottest times of the day.  Sunburn makes heat dissipation more difficult.
  • Take a nap during high heat times or find a good television program or movie to watch.
  • Keep shades down and blinds pulled. 

Most people know that extreme heat can make us sick. But we may think of heat-related illness as something that only affects people who are overdoing it like overheated marathon runners, professional athletes, or new recruits doing drills on military bases.

But most people who die from heat stroke in the U.S. about 400 every year, and possibly more don’t get it from overexerting themselves on a muggy day. In certain people during high temperatures, it’s all too easy to develop heat stroke while sitting perfectly still on the couch.

Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body’s temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down.

Read the full article: Hot Summer Days Can Make Sick People Sicker.

Call Expert Home Care NJ if your elder needs Home Health Care in New Jersey at 800-848-2336.