With humor, sensitivity and clarity, Frena draws on her over 20 years as a hands-on caregiver taking the approach to look at the inner world of people with Alzheimer's (or any kind of dementia) similar to when she was a foreign correspondent in Asia and India- looking with fresh and curious eyes to understand the people from their perspective, without judgments.She shares secrets of successful dementia care giving and reveals the deep spiritual and emotion growth possible in dementia. Even within the losses of Alzheimer's, insightful caregivers can discover their possible radiance and humor. This journey of continuing inner growth can renew the purpose and courage of the caregiver, while bringing peace and resolution to the elder.Most importantly, Frena shows how the care giving journey can bestow a whole new set of wonderful life skills on the caregiver. She demonstrates that there is nothing in meditation, prayer and spiritual practice that you can't learn as a dementia caregiver. In addition, you can have a whole lot of fun.
The guide tells you how to: Understand how AD changes a person Learn how to cope with these changes Help family and friends understand AD Plan for the future Make your home safe for the person with AD Manage everyday activities like eating, bathing, dressing, and grooming Take care of yourself Get help with caregiving Find out about helpful resources, such as websites, support groups, government agencies, and adult day care programs Choose a full-time care facility for the person with AD if needed Learn about common behavior and medical problems of people with AD and some medicines that may help Cope with late-stage AD
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, also referred as 9/11, was an iconic event in US history that altered the global and political response to terrorism. The attacks, which involved two planes hitting the twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, resulted in the collapse of the buildings and over 2800 deaths of occupants of the buildings, fire, police and other responders and persons on the street in the vicinity of the collapsing buildings. The destroyed towers and the surrounding buildings have since been replaced but the health effects that resulted from the release of tons of dust, gases and debris as well as the life threat trauma are ongoing, and represent a major health burden among persons directly exposed. Hundreds of scientific publications have documented the physical and mental health effects attributed to the disaster. The current state-of-the-art in understanding the ongoing interactions of physical and mental health, especially PTSD, and the unique mechanisms by which pollutants from the building collapse, have resulted in long term pulmonary dysfunction, course of previously reported conditions, potential emerging conditions (e.g., heart disease and autoimmune diseases), as well as quality of life, functioning and unmet health care needs would be in the purview of this Special Issue on the 9/11 Disaster.
Alzheimer's is the fastest growing disease in the U.S. and certainly one of the most frightening. Dementia Action Plan describes lifestyle choices that will help you fight dementia, as well as many specific suggestions for a personalized plan. Symptoms of dementia appear up to 20 years after damage to the brain begins, so the time to start this fight is now.
Since October 2001, approximately 1.64 million U.S. troops have been deployed for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) in Afghanistan and Iraq. Early evidence suggests that the psychological toll of these deployments -- many involving prolonged exposure to combat-related stress over multiple rotations -- may be disproportionately high compared with the physical injuries of combat. In the face of mounting public concern over post-deployment health care issues confronting OEF/OIF veterans, several task forces, independent review groups, and a Presidential Commission have been convened to examine the care of the war wounded and make recommendations. Concerns have been most recently centered on two combat-related injuries in particular: post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. With the increasing incidence of suicide and suicide attempts among returning veterans, concern about depression is also on the rise. The study discussed in this monograph focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and traumatic brain injury, not only because of current high-level policy interest but also because, unlike the physical wounds of war, these conditions are often invisible to the eye, remaining invisible to other servicemembers, family members, and society in general. All three conditions affect mood, thoughts, and behavior; yet these wounds often go unrecognized and unacknowledged. The effect of traumatic brain injury is still poorly understood, leaving a large gap in knowledge related to how extensive the problem is or how to address it. RAND conducted a comprehensive study of the post-deployment health-related needs associated with these three conditions among OEF/OIF veterans, the health care system in place to meet those needs, gaps in the care system, and the costs associated with these conditions and with providing quality health care to all those in need. This monograph presents the results of our study, which should be of interest to mental health treatment providers; health policymakers, particularly those charged with caring for our nation's veterans; and U.S. service men and women, their families, and the concerned public. All the research products from this study are available at http://veterans.rand.org. Data collection for this study began in April 2007and concluded in January 2008. Specific activities included a critical reviewof the extant literature on the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and traumatic brain injury and their short- and long-term consequences; a population-based survey of service members and veterans who served in Afghanistan or Iraq to assess health status and symptoms, as well asutilization of and barriers to care; a review of existing programs to treat service members and veterans with the three conditions; focus groups withmilitary service members and their spouses; and the development of a microsimulation model to forecast the economic costs of these conditions overtime. Among our recommendations is that effective treatments documented in the scientific literature -- evidence-based care -- are available for PTSD and major depression. Delivery of such care to all veterans with PTSD or majordepression would pay for itself within two years, or even save money, by improving productivity and reducing medical and mortality costs. Such care may also be a cost-effective way to retain a ready and healthy military force for the future. However, to ensure that this care is delivered requires system-level changes across the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the U.S. health care system.
Every year there are more than 125,000 reports of people with Alzheimer's disease who wander away from their home or care facility and are unable to find their way back. Statistics indicate that of these loved ones who are not found within 24 hours, approximately half do not survive. Mark Warner has devised this workbook as an aid to gathering the information necessary to avert a personal disaster. The book, sturdily bound and easy to use, is complete with the forms that need to be filled out and the pertinent questions that need to be asked to enhance the search for and discovery of a loved one in the event he/she wanders away. With In Search of the Alzheimer's Wanderer, readers will have all the information they need in one place to provide immediately to those who will be looking for their loved one, including the local law enforcement authorities.
Alzheimer's disease is a growing public health crisis. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are 5.4 million victims of this disease; by 2050, there will be close to 15 million people who suffer from this debilitating disorder of memory, thinking, personality, and functioning. The disease profoundly affects immediate family members, close friends, and neighbors. These people - the Alzheimer's family - undergo tremendous psychological and emotional change as they witness the cruel and relentless progression of the disease in their loved one. Incorporating over thirty years of experience with Alzheimer's patients and their families with current medical knowledge, the authors chart the complex emotional journey of the Alzheimer's family from the onset of the disease through the death of the loved one. They discuss the anger that rises in the face of discordant views of the disease, the defenses that emerge when family members are unwilling to accept a dementia diagnosis, and the common emotions of anxiety, guilt, anger, and shame. They focus especially on grief as the core response to losing a loved one to dementia, and describe the difficult processes of adaptation and acceptance, which lead to personal growth. Final chapters emphasize the importance of establishing a care community and how to understand and cope with personal stress. This volume will be useful to medical professionals and ordinary people close to or caring for a person with dementia.
Adeptly navigating between elegy and celebration, fear and determination, confusion and clarity, DeBaggio delivers an exquisitely moving and inspiring book that will resonate with all those who have grappled with their own or their loved ones' memory loss and with death. With his first memoir, Losing My Mind, Thomas DeBaggio stunned readers by laying bare his faltering mind in a haunting and beautiful meditation on the centrality of memory to human life, and on his loss of it to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In this second extraordinary narrative, he confronts the ultimate loss: that of life. And as only DeBaggio could, he treats death as something to honor, to marvel at, to learn from. Charting the progression of his disease with breathtaking honesty, DeBaggio deftly describes the frustration, grief, and terror of grappling with his deteriorating intellectual faculties. Even more affecting, the prose itself masterfully represents the mental vicissitudes of his disease—DeBaggio's fragments of memory, observation, and rumination surface and subside in the reader's experience much as they might in his own mind. His frank, lilting voice and abundant sense of wonder bind these fragments into a fluid and poetic portrait of life and loss. Over the course of the book, DeBaggio revisits many of the people, places, and events of his life, both in his memory and in fact. In a sense, he is saying goodbye, paying his respects to the world as it recedes from him—and it is a poignant irony that even as this happens, he is at the height of his remarkable descriptive powers. In his moments of clarity, his love for life's details only grows deeper and richer: the limestone creek where he has fished for years; his satisfying and lonely herb farming days; the goldfish pond his son designed and built in his backyard in honor of DeBaggio's passion for "any hole in the ground with some liquid in it"; the thirty years in his beloved home in Arlington, Virginia; his early career as a muckraker; the innumerable precious moments spent with his wife and son; his belated grief over his parents' deaths.
The instant New York Times bestseller The New York Times Best Selling author of The End of Alzheimer's lays out a specific plan to help everyone prevent and reverse cognitive decline or simply maximize brainpower. In The End of Alzheimer's Dale Bredesen laid out the science behind his revolutionary new program that is the first to both prevent and reverse symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Now he lays out the detailed program he uses with his own patients. Accessible and detailed, it can be tailored to anyone's needs and will enhance cognitive ability at any age. What we call Alzheimer's disease is actually a protective response to a wide variety of insults to the brain: inflammation, insulin resistance, toxins, infections, and inadequate levels of nutrients, hormones, and growth factors. Bredesen starts by having us figure out which of these insults we need to address and continues by laying out a personalized lifestyle plan. Focusing on the Ketoflex 12/3 Diet, which triggers ketosis and lets the brain restore itself with a minimum 12-hour fast, Dr. Bredesen drills down on restorative sleep, targeted supplementation, exercise, and brain training. He also examines the tricky question of toxic exposure and provides workarounds for many difficult problems. The takeaway is that we do not need to do the program perfectly but will see tremendous results if we can do it well enough. With inspiring stories from patients who have reversed cognitive decline and are now thriving, this book shifts the treatment paradigm and offers a new and effective way to enhance cognition as well as unprecedented hope to sufferers of this now no longer deadly disease.
