Tag Archives: medicare

Too Many Baby Boomers are Facing Alzheimer’s

A new report from the Alzheimer’s Association has some bad news about the future of Alzheimer’s disease. Right now, more than five million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease — including as many as 250,000 people under the age of sixty-five. By 2010, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts that there will be five hundred thousand new cases reported each year. By 2050, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts that there will be one million new cases of Alzheimer’s disease annually. The bad news focuses especially on baby boomers. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that ten million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease in their … Continue reading →

Final Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

The final stages of Alzheimer’s disease can be the most challenging for friends and family of a person with the disease. If you need to, take a look back at the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Stage 6 is known as “moderately severe” or “mid-stage” Alzheimer’s disease. In this stage, cognitive decline is severe. A person at this stage may experience: Significant personality changes, including hallucinations, delusions, suspiciousness, paranoia, and/or compulsive, repetitive behaviors. Awareness of recent experiences, events, and surroundings is lost. Personal history is recalled imperfectly. May forget names of family and … Continue reading →

Advanced Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is divided into stages in order to help people understand the progression of the disease. We’ve already looked at the earliest stages — from no cognitive impairment to the point where a diagnosis may occur. Now it’s time to look at the next stages of the disease. Stage 4 is what doctors may call “mild” or “early-stage” Alzheimer’s disease. Symptoms of moderate cognitive decline can include: Decreased knowledge of recent events. Impaired ability to perform challenging mental math — like counting backwards from 100 by sevens. Decreased ability to perform complex tasks, like planning a party or managing … Continue reading →

Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is divided into stages in order to help people understand how the disease might unfold in a loved one. However, not everyone experiences the same symptoms at the same rate! On average, a person with Alzheimer’s disease passes away within four to six years of diagnosis. Some people live on for as long as twenty more years after a diagnosis. In general, Alzheimer’s disease is divided into mild, moderate, and severe stages. Experts have developed a more detailed list, even including pre-Alzheimer’s mental states: Stage 1: No impairment. A person experiences no memory problems that are evident to … Continue reading →

When it’s Time to Stop Being a Caretaker

Everyone has their own personal limits. Their own measuring stick, with a point where they just can’t take any more. My mother — who is now the primary caretaker for my grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s disease (and a host of other health issues) — chose her stopping point a long time ago. She decided that it would be time for my grandmother to go into a nursing home if my grandmother couldn’t recognize members of the family anymore. As long as my grandmother can recognize her children and grandchildren, mom is willing to jump through hoops to keep my grandmother … Continue reading →

The Imaginary Visitor

I did a little research on people with Alzheimer’s disease experiencing hallucinations because of my grandmother. She is progressing from mild into moderate Alzheimer’s disease and has been experiencing hallucinations from time to time. I remember her calling through the house, looking for her mother (who passed away in 1998). She told stories of a little white dog she saw running through our backyard (that no one else ever saw). Lately, the hallucinations have been becoming more frequent. Last week, she told my mother a story about a stranger coming to the door. According to my grandmother, the doorbell rang … Continue reading →

Alzheimer’s Disease: Hallucinations

As Alzheimer’s disease advances, a person may begin to experience hallucinations. These sensory experiences seem completely real to the person with Alzheimer’s disease. The most common hallucinations involve sight (seeing something that isn’t really there) and sound (hearing something that isn’t really there). That doesn’t mean the other senses can’t be involved too. Hallucinations can also involve taste, smell, and touch. What should a caretaker or family member do if a loved one is having hallucinations? Your response can vary depending on several things: What is the hallucination? Is it upsetting the person? Frightening them? When a hallucination is upsetting … Continue reading →

Angry and Helpless as My Mom Loses It

As I wrote in a recent article, my mom is beginning to battle Old Timer’s (a.k.a. Dementia or Alzheimer’s) like her mother did, which makes me angry. But I’m not angry at the disease. I’m angry about a lot of other things. Angry at Losing Her Now As I commented on one of Aimee’s articles about this issue I had to stand by and lose my grandma to this disease before she actually passed. Now it’s happening with my mom. I’m angry about that. Angry at My Mom I’m angry at my mom because she refuses to take steps to … Continue reading →

Watching a Loved One Lose Time

When I started writing for the Families.com Health Blog, I was living with my grandmother and acting as one of her primary caretakers. Among a laundry list of other health issues, my grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease. In the three years I lived with her, my grandmother’s disease seemed to progress quickly. She went from the occasional “senior moment” to more concerning behaviors like leaving the stove on, forgetting to take her medicine, and hiding her purse in strange places. My grandmother has entered a new stage of Alzheimer’s disease, one I call “losing time”. You might call it living in … Continue reading →

Lower Dementia Risk With the Right Diet

French researchers have been studying diet choices in people aged sixty-five and over. The result? Certain foods can help cut your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research tracked the diets of more than eight thousand people over the age of sixty-five for four years. Out of that group, 183 developed Alzheimer’s disease and another 98 developed a different form of dementia. Here are some of the study results: People who ate a diet full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids were sixty percent less likely to develop dementia than people … Continue reading →