The Dementia Caregiver's Toolbox

Dementia Caregivers Make Sacrifices

A recent study from the National Alliance For Caregiving gave some shocking statistics on the burdens of caregiving, including caregiving to those who have dementia.

Men As Dementia Caregivers

A few years ago, I heard someone speak about the unique challenges that men have as dementia caregivers.  I hadn't thought of it before but it made sense.  Recently, I was glad to see more articles and discussion about this topic.

Dementia Caregivers Use Digital Scrapbook

The Alzheimer's Society of UK has found that making a digital scrapbook can help in stimulating memories.

Dementia Behaviors May Be Helped By Acupressure

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing in the UK says that using a technique called acupressure can significantly reduce agitated behavior in persons with dementia.

Dementia Early Detection Device

Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI, is often noted as an early stage of dementia.  Early detection and diagnosis of MCI or dementia is needed to increase quality of life.

The Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have devised an easy test that can be administered yearly to check for reaction time and memory functions.  The researchers named the test "DETECT".

Dementia "Fact Splicing" As Part Of Memory Loss

I recently read about the term, "fact splicing" to perfectly describe something we see so often in someone with dementia who begins to struggle with memory loss.

Dementia & Parkinson's Disease

April begins Parkinson's Disease Awareness month so it seemed natural that we should look at how this disease and dementia relate to each other.

Dementia Risk Increases With Belly Fat

Every day the media bombards us with news about risks for dementia and other interventions that may help to decrease the risk.  I find most of it overwhelming but today's headlines caught my eye and I wanted to be sure you saw this.

In today's issue of Neurology, published by The American Academy of Neurology, the findings were published that people in their 40's who also have larger stomachs/abdomens, show a greater risk for developing dementia when they reach their 70's.

Alzheimer's Disease: 5 Quick Facts

The Alzheimer's Association has published a new report that contains updated statistics on this disease. 

Below are 5 quick (and staggering) facts from the full report:

• 5 million persons in the US alone have Alzheimer's Disease
• Someone develops Alzheimer's Disease every 71 seconds
• Each year, Alzheimer's Disease costs the medical field over $148 BILLION
• As many as 10 million Baby Boomers may develop Alzheimer's Disease in the US
• The fatality rate of Alzheimer's Disease remains at 100%.

You can access the full report by going to their website at www.alz.org.

Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment?

Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI, is another term that we need to define for dementia caregivers.