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Are we just destined to endure a long slow decline?
This sounds harsh, but is there such a thing as someone getting ill for 1-2 years and managing sufficiently, then just taking a sharp downward turn for a few weeks or months and shuffling off this mortal life? By contrast, the last seven years my parents have just declined slowly and steadily while losing cognitive…
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Bible Verse to Lift You Up 4/9/24
GOOD FRUIT Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” THINK ABOUT THIS: What fruit do you need the most help with? Why do you think this one is more difficult?…
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Music - Putting on the Hits to Arrest Anxiety
Been battling anxiety with DW for roughly the whole way since she began showing symptoms 7 years ago. Though we've had good results with medication combos over the years, she spikes and most recently for a prolonged 2-3 week period. Ruling out health issues and stabilizing meds, I recently began reintroducing music again,…
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Beginning stages of incontinence
Hello, new to this forum. Looking for some advice. I am currently a caregiver to a sweet 93 year old woman with dementia. She has had “accidents” here and there, but seems to be getting worse lately. I find messes in the bathroom where it looks like she’s tried to clean up. Also while doing laundry I find underwear with…
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TV show that did a good job portraying challenges of Alzheimer's Disease
Several years ago, I read on this forum that the television show, This is Us, did a good job portraying the challenges of Alzheimer's Disease. I recently got around to watching the series and I agree, the show did a very good job. Spoiler alert: In Season 5 and 6 one of the characters has Alzheimer's Disease. The show…
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Talking with PWD
Hello! My Dad has Alzheimer's and is pretty far along. His MMSE scores have been getting noticeably lower every time and are now in the more severe range. However, there are some parts of his mind that still work pretty well. Dad hears perfectly, which helps most of the time (unless someone doesn't want him to hear!). I…
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Anyone with experience with Prevagen helping with confusion?
Hello - my wife is in mid stage dementia and her confusion level has gotten worse lately. It does not appear related to a UTI. A home health care aid has mentioned that Prevagen has helped some of the dementia patients she has worked with. I am very skeptical of this drug given their creepy commercials and the fact that…
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Explaining a PWD's condition quickly to a stranger
If you need to describe a PWD's condition quickly to a stranger, like a repair person making smalltalk, what do you do? There are these "aware and share" cards, that says "please be patient and have some understanding" but that takes time to read. It's not easy. Each description has some awkwardness and I can't expect the…
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Its Our Turn. Preparing to say farewell...
Posting here as well.
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When did these things happen for your PWD?
I’m feeling like I’m in a time warp as the caregiver. I see my DH progressing, but very slowly. His main issues are memory, language/communication, and apathy. He has less energy, sleeps more, dazes off for hours, but I don’t see the scary or heavy duty things yet like hallucinations, delusions, forgetting me or the kids,…
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Great resource (Free e-book) on Caring for a Person with Alzheimer's/dementia
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Eclipse
NASA will be live streaming the eclipse on Monday April 8th. Iris
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I’m concerned about my loved one
I have a loved one who I am very concerned about. A few of my family members seem to think he may have Alzheimer’s but this has not been diagnosed by a specialist yet. His doctor has referred him to see someone in the next few weeks for his memory issues. He has gotten lost while driving by himself on several occasions. He…
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Stringing sentences together
I was googling something that took me to this AARP page. It was kind of a jolt to see the woman in the video talking in complete, consecutive sentences. Is this "normal" EOAD? My brother seems to not go more than a couple of sentences with out getting hung up and starting to stammer and saying "um, um, um…"
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Medical alert watch band
My dad has Stage 5 ALZ and it is time to make sure he has a medical alert band - problem is he won’t wear a bracelet or necklace but he wears a watch - daily. Any ideas for a new watch band or add-on that acts as a medical alert? Thx.
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lots of questions
My husband has not been officially diagnosed, but I have tons of questions. If you are a caregiver for someone with dementia, I am wondering if they do these types of things. My husband is constantly dressing/undressing/putting on layers of clothing. He picks up couch pillows and puts them in the bathroom. Gets his shoes…
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Are home health care costs tax deductible?
I realize this is a loaded question that only a tax accountant in my home state (or) can answer but I wanted to do some research before engaging him. I have recently brought my wife back from a memory care facility and have engaged a home health care service to provide night coverage to address wandering. This is expensive…
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Changing Assisted Living Communities - VENT
Hi everyone. I'm new here and I am in the process of exploring the different discussions posted. I appreciate all of the information everyone has shared. It helps me to feel like we are in this together. I wanted to get some things off my chest and I didn't know where else to go. I am an only daughter and I care for my…
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best memories
Kathy (AnderK) wrote on another thread about spending seven months on a sailboat with her DH, and how precious that memory is, trying to honor it. Got me thinking it might be nice to have a thread about our best memories. That said, not all of us are fortunate enough to have had a great marriage, or a great parent-child or…
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POA
Hello, I just joined and this is my first post. It's a question that I need answered soon. My husband has had dementia for almost 10 years now. Two years ago I knew I needed to get a POA so we updated our will. Last year he was barely able to sign our tax return. This year he definitely won't be able to but I'm not sure…
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Apathy or depression
I am new to the forum and would like some help in understanding dementia related symptoms. I moved my 90 year old mother from an independent living facility in PA to an assisted living facility in Maine (where I live) in January 2020 when her dementia seemed to worsen suddenly. I did not realize the extent of her dementia…
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Eating(3)
My LO won’t eat sometimes. The hospice nurse says that if she’s not eating she’s not hungry. I’m having a hard time figuring out how much to gently push/entice /distract and feed. How do we determine how hard to try to get her to eat?
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The Results are in
The MRI shows deteriation of the brain in the area of memory suggestive Alzheimers. The testing rules out tumor, and stroke. He has prescribed a pill that is to be started as soon as the Rx is received. It is to be taken daily in the evening. He stated there were two other tests that could be done, 1) the spinal tap to…
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SSDI Rep Payee Accounting
Hello! When your LO is in a memory care assisted living unit, how have you allocated the expenses in your annual report? Did you enter the whole amount in food and housing? Or did you allocate some toward Other Expenses. Some of the fee they charge is a "care level" which wouldn't exactly be food and housing? Also, how did…
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To those whose Easter celebration looks different this year
Hello everyone. Happy Easter. This will be my first Easter without my mother who passed at the beginning of the year. My heart goes out to all of you who are celebrating a bit differently this year. May you rest assured that Jesus did triumph over the grave and may you have that peace that surpasses all understanding as…
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Widows social security question
Mom was switched from her social security benefits to my step-dads upon his death. Although they initially got it messed up, it got straightened out. However I’m trying to figure out one discrepancy. I thought she would receive exactly what he was getting. The gross figure she was told she’d get ( in writing) is about $54…
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Important article re: significant risks of hospitalization/ER for PWDs
Posting on both sites. This corroborates the experiences many of us have had with hospital or ER intervention causing more harm than good for our PWD LOs. The study focused on fainting or near fainting (syncope) as a reason for the initial hospital contact, but the overarching statements caught my attention and are why we…
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Boundaries
Hello all, It's been a while since I've written. I've been busy taking care of loved ones. My mother passed away a few months ago, she had dementia and other health issues. My oldest sister also has dementia. She is in assisted living (as was my mother for the last two years of her life). I have been taking care of both of…
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Large List of Caregiving Programs
Michael Ellenbogen sent me this large catalog of caregiving programs. I typed in my zip code and got quite a few programs outside my area, but still something useful might come up for caregivers here. https://bpc.caregiver.org/
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Compartmentalizing - avoiding my own behavior changes
I think this is about compartmentalizing. Let me know if the following makes sense, My caretaking behavior is starting to leak into my interactions with non PWDs. For example, some of my "conversation" w/ PWD is just repeating what they say. "Yes, it's sunny today". Or it can be agreeing with nonsense statements, or…