Search Results for: blog five tricks for navigating my moms dementia filled days

Relationship between Patient and Caregiver Makes a Difference

A study from Utah State University took a look at the relationship between Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers — and how that relationship can impact the patient’s mental and physical decline. Since 1994, researchers from Utah State University have been following more than five thousand people in order to look at risk factors for dementia. All participants were age 65 or older at the start of the study. Out of the initial five thousand, close to two hundred developed dementia and were being cared for by a spouse or (adult) child. Researchers interviewed the caregivers about their relationship with the patient … Continue reading →

What Causes Clumsiness?

Lately, I feel like I’m a lot clumsier than usual. Case in point: two nights in a row, I’ve spilled my lemonade — once on the couch, once in the office. Yesterday, I really raised the clumsiness bar by spilling a bowl of handmade glass ornaments and then stepping on them. Really graceful! (Thankfully, only the ornaments were hurt in that little adventure.) It got me wondering: what causes clumsiness? To answer that, it doesn’t hurt to look at the opposite side: coordination. Driving this wonderful machine called the body takes motor skills and sensory input (to put it REALLY … Continue reading →

Dealing With The Death Of Parents

Beth’s blog about parents and death prompted me to write about my experience. My father died when I was 16. It was sudden and left Mom and me reeling with shock. I didn’t have brothers and sisters to turn to but Mom and I had each other. My mother died when I was in my 30s. Hers was a battle with cancer that went on over a few years. Like Courtney, I pretty well put my life on hold. I dropped out of bible study, church and everything else I’d been involved in,but continued to read my Bible and pray … Continue reading →

An Alzheimer’s Side Effect I Never Expected

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I talk about Alzheimer’s disease a lot here in the Health Blog because it is slowly stealing my grandmother from us. When I’m faced with a problem, my first urge is research. I try to learn what I can (and when it is health related, share it here). So I’ve read a lot about Alzheimer’s disease — the different stages, the history, the treatments, and even some famous people who are dealing with it. But all my research didn’t warn us about this: as my grandmother has progressed through the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, she’s packed on a lot … Continue reading →