AlzheimersNotes.com 
Pets of many kinds help entertain and bring a smile to the lips of Alzheimer’s patients.  I saw my mom develop an affinity for a cat and dog she never had before.  They became almost the center of her life.  When we had to move her to our home 275 miles from where she was living, we brought her cat.  This helped Mother adjust much better than if we’d found another home for Kitty.
When Mother lived at the nursing home, I saw how residents responded to the cats and dogs that visited on “pet day.”  Perhaps the animal reminded them of …read more

So often it’s difficult to stay on track with healthy eating during the holiday season. 
*We forget to eat well ourselves. 
*If there are children in the household (one of those sandwiched generation caregiver situations with three generations on board), we may get too busy to make sure their meals and snacks are always well balanced. 
*Then there’s Mom or Dad who’ve become picky eaters anyway…or want to eat all the wrong foods.
This is not to say we shouldn’t have those holiday treats.  But what about checking out these Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating at Grace’s Kids Health Notes blog?

Dr. Peter Whitehouse’s research at Johns Hopkins University allowed for the identification of one of the pathological substrates for the memory and attention problems found in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. This discovery, in turn, led to the development of the first four medications approved to treat this condition. Listen to what he has to say here…
Part One

Part Two

“Your mother needs a flu shot,” the nurse mentioned as flu season approached.
Mother had only had one flu shot in her life, when my dad was alive.  They both got sick from it…”colds” as they called them, so vowed never again.  However, I thought more about it as the nurse explained that in the nursing home Mother would encounter more people (residents as well as visitors) who might have the flu than when she had mainly stayed at home.
So I decided to go ahead and agree to the flu shot.  Mother had no adverse reaction to it and stayed healthy all winter …read more

 A friend mentioned that Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away!  Then there will be the Christmas holidays.  As these busy times approach, caregiving often becomes more stressful. In browsing around today, I discovered Holiday Tips for Persons [and their caregivers] With Dementia. 
Also mentioned here are suggestions for preparing family members who haven’t seen the Alzheimer’s patient for some time.
Sit down and have a cup of tea…that often was a pleasure I enjoyed with Mother.  It relaxed both of us and brought back memories.                                            Do you have tips you can share that have worked  to decrease stress for you, …read more

The Tangled Neuron has created a great new resource that will let readers to create a map of doctors -GPS, family physicians, internists, and neurologists – they would recommend for persons with dementia.’
It’s called ‘Recommend-a-Doc’.
Check it out…