For New Caregivers: Crash Course in Dementia
This blog highlights some of the initial and critical components of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s Disease or another dementia. Read on for more information.
The 10 Commandments of Frontal Temporal Dementia Caregiving: 10 Things a Person with behavioral FTD Wants You to Know and Do!
Friends and family feel awkward around people with FTD. This post provides concrete helpful ways to positively interact with persons with FTD.
How to Deal with Sundowning: Myths and Management
Sundowning refers to behaviors seen in persons with dementia that usually occur at the end of the day. Many clinicians and caregivers/care partners seem resigned that this will simply happen and that there is nothing that can be done to prevent or manage it. Which is why I hate the […]
How to Tell the Difference Between Hallucinations and Illusions in People with Dementia
Hallucinations refer to sights, sounds, and smells that come from inside the brain. Hallucinations are common with Lewy Body Dementia but can happen with any dementia. The person with dementia is seeing, hearing, or smelling stuff that the rest of us are not experiencing. Illusions refer to mis-seeing (misperceiving) objects […]
Helpful Hints for Handling Refusals: Bathing
Learn how to get a person with Alzheimer’s dementia to shower or bathe. I provide helpful bathing strategies in this blog.
Difference between hallucinations, illusions, and delusions?
An illusion is something that can be misinterpreted by your vision or or hearing. Hallucinations, on the other hand, involve hearing, seeing, or feeling something that is not there. Delusions are false beliefs usually arising from fears.
10 Commandments of Dementia Caregiving
The 10 Commandments of Dementia Caregiving
4 Ways to NICELY Take Away the Car Keys
The worst thing you can do (in most cases) is to hold a “family meeting” and explain to mom or dad why everyone wants them to stop driving. If the person with dementia is unaware of their memory problems and driving issues, this approach will get you nowhere!
When Is It OK to Stop Medications for People with Alzheimer’s Disease
In today’s post, I am going to answer a question that I receive many times a week: When is it OK to stop two common medications, Aricept (donepezil) and Namenda (memantine) for people with Alzheimer’s Disease? The short answer: these medications are designed to slow down the nerve damage from […]
Is “therapeutic fibbing” a good idea?
Best ways to get a person with Alzheimer’s dementia to accept care is to enter their reality.