Posts Categorized: Alzheimers’s

Dealing with An Aging Parent Who Shows Signs of Cognitive Issues

It is very difficult to realize that your loved one may be losing his or her faculties. In fact, many children who find themselves in this situation as adults will try to do everything in their power to step in and assist with this situation as long as they can. However, after a certain point you may be unable to handle this situation on your own.

This is even more difficult when your loved one is uncomfortable with getting help and may even fight you about it. Relying on your support network of other relatives is extremely important but particularly if there are cognitive issues with your loved one, it is imperative that you discuss these with the family member’s physician and develop a plan for how you and others will assist with this.

Alzheimer’s, plus unclear estate planning, can also generate a great deal of problems down the road when your loved one may no longer be able to make decisions for themselves. Finding advisors that you can trust to help with this situation – including an attorney, accountant, and financial professionals – can give you peace of mind. If something were to happen to your loved one where they were no longer able to make decisions on their own, someone is available to help guide you through the decisions that need to be made.

Unfortunately, elder individuals who are starting to suffer from cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s may be easy picking for scammers who will do everything possible to carry out fraud for people who are unable to make decisions for themselves.

Having the right family and professional people in positions of assistance and who care about your loved ones early on in the process is important. Furthermore, you need a clear plan of what will happen if the condition continues to worsen is crucial for protecting you and your family member.

An estate planning lawyer in Massachusetts is a great resource to turn to during this difficult time.

 

New Saliva Test Could Offer Early Alzheimer’s Detection

When it comes to fighting chronic and terminal illnesses, early detection means everything. Once upon a time, that was a real challenge. We simply lacked affordable, accessible, and accurate diagnostic tools.

That’s rapidly changing on a number of disease fronts, though — cancer, diabetes, HIV, etc. But Alzheimer’s and dementia have been harder to catch early, in part because doctors have only recently begun to understand the causes and predispositions.

CNN has a promising new report, though. Researchers recently announced a cutting-edge saliva detection test that could tell patients if they’re vulnerable to Alzheimer’s with a simple swab and a few minutes of patience.

“Though research is still in its infancy,” CNN says, “the saliva test represents the exciting future of diagnostic tools in development for the detection of the neurodegenerative disease.”

Can scientists really find Alzheimer’s in saliva of all things?

Yes, more or less. Technically, they’re looking for metabolites, which are molecules created by chemical changes in the brain. Some specific metabolites have been linked to neurological changes specific to memory loss or dementia, and those are the metabolites the new test looks for.

Conclusive? No. Final? No. Promising? Extremely.

This Alzheimer’s detection test is just the latest brushstroke in a new picture of the future, when serious diseases might be diagnosed in mere minutes using nothing more than a cotton swab or (in some cases) an iPhone.

If we’ve learned this much in only a few years, just imagine how much more we might know by this next time next year!

How An Adam Sandler Movie Is Changing Dementia Care

Well, nobody saw this one coming.

An Adam Sandler movie, of all things, has inspired an effective new trend in healthcare and therapy for dementia patients. And it only took 11 years for it to catch onNoreenMurphyBlogPic

50 First Dates made its way to theaters in 2004 and has aired ad infinitum on cable ever since then, so many of you may already be familiar with its premise. Sandler plays a bachelor living the wild life in Hawaii, but when he meets a lovely young lady named Lucy (Drew Barrymore), he sees fit to change his ways. The only problem? Lucy suffers from short-term memory loss and starts each morning with no memories from the previous day.

It’s a silly romantic comedy, but according to TIME, one plot point in particular caught the attention of dementia care providers. In the film, Sandler’s character records videos to help comfort Lucy and remind her of who he is — and who she is.

One nursing home, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in New York City, decided to give that ideal a whirl for their own patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia.

“[The film] was fluff, but it made me think, ‘How could that translate to our residents with memory loss?’” says Charlotte Dell, the home’s director of social services.

It’s working, Hebrew Home tells NBC New York. The video program helps to set a positive tone each morning, establish routine, and trigger residents’ memories.

Of course, every patient is unique. Alzheimer’s and dementia present differently in different people. Experts expect the therapy to be more effective in some people than in others.

Still, isn’t it nice to know that life-changing inspiration can come from the most unexpected places?