Make Your Memory Work for You

January 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm | Posted in Pat Linard, PR | Leave a comment
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We’re looking forward to a busy year at Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management in Ridgewood, New Jersey.  Of course, care management is always our primary focus and we want to provide the best care for our elderly clients as our nurse care managers can.  But we also feel strongly about giving back to the community through free community presentations and CEU’s for nurses, social workers, Certified Assisted Living Administrators and Licensed Nursing Home Administrators.

We had a fairly busy schedule last year.  Our Maximizing Your Memory presentation got rave reviews at many of the senior centers throughout the area.  It covers all aspects of dementia including Alzheimer’s.  But it also puts the older adults’ minds at ease when they find out that forgetting where you put your keys is not a sign of dementia.  (But forgetting what you use your keys for is.)  We offer many tips on how to prevent dementia whether it is through activities both physical and mental, or diet and medication.   So we are starting 2011 with this presentation at another Bergen County senior center, the Bergenfield Senior Center,on January 20 at 11am.  The facility is open to the public so call Tara at (201) 387-7212 if you want to attend.  We always enjoy seeing all the seniors, too, and hope you will join us.

Cognitive Activities Delay Onset of Memory Decline in Persons Who Develop Dementia

October 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
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This summary is from MedScape Nursing and the author is Laurie Barkley MD

cHall CB, Lipton RB, Sliwinski M, Katz MJ, Derby CA, Verghese J
Neurology. 2009;73:356-361

Summary

People who ultimately develop dementia first have a more rapid rate of decline in memory as well as other cognitive functions. Educational attainment in early life and participation in activities that stimulate cognitive function later in life are thought to improve cognitive reserve, thereby delaying the onset of memory decline before dementia is clinically apparent.

In the Bronx Aging Study, 488 community-residing individuals with no cognitive impairment at baseline underwent epidemiologic, clinical, and cognitive evaluations every 12 to 18 months, and 101 of these individuals developed incident dementia. A change point model determined the effect of self-reported participation in cognitively stimulating leisure activities on the onset of accelerated memory decline in these 101 individuals, as measured by the Buschke Selective Reminding Test.

For each additional self-reported day of cognitive activity at baseline, the onset of accelerated memory decline was delayed by 0.18 years. After that onset, however, memory decline was more rapid in persons with higher levels of cognitive activity at baseline. Beyond the effect of cognitive activities, adding educational attainment to the model did not significantly improve the fit.

Viewpoint

Findings from this large, prospective cohort study show that cognitive activities in late life improve cognitive reserve independently of educational level. One explanation could be that the effect on cognitive reserve of educational attainment early in life may be mediated by cognitive activity in later life. Another explanation could be that early life education may be a determinant of cognitive reserve, and that better educated individuals may choose to participate in cognitively stimulating activities without affecting reserve.

Limitations of this study include reliance on self-reporting regarding leisure activities and restriction to one geographical area (Bronx, New York), limiting generalizability of the findings to other geographic locations and ethnic composition. Randomized clinical trials could help determine whether increasing participation in cognitive activities is effective in preventing or delaying dementia.

The Dreaded Diagnosis

February 27, 2009 at 8:30 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
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If you or your loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, you are not alone. There are currently over 5 million people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and a new diagnosis is made every 72 seconds. It is a progressive disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and can result in loss of memory, loss of ability to think and speak clearly, loss of ability to perform activities of daily living and changes in behavior.

The disease progresses at different rates and continues for the remainder of a person’s life. Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, there are some treatment options available that can slow the progression of symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment may help to increase the person’s chance for longer term independence. Once you have the diagnosis you can start doing all the things possible to make a difference. Early diagnosis and treatment can make a difference because, despite the fact that there is no cure, there are prescription medications that can help slow the progression of symptoms, improve the ability to perform everyday task and to maintain independence for as long as possible.

Alzheimer’s Disease drug therapy is working if there is an improvement in symptoms, if symptoms do not change, or if the symptoms of the disease worsen more slowly. There are currently four medications available for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. They include Aricept, Exelon, Razadyne and Namenda. You should talk to your doctor to see what treatment is best for you or your loved one.

The Care Managers at Distinctive Care always include non-medical interventions to their Client’s care plans. These include:

Making dietary changes to include lots of rich, dark vegetables, and fruits, which may help protect brain cells. Ensuring adequate nutrition is also important. You can encourage your loved one to eat well by offering healthy snacks, reminding him/her to eat full meals and providing finger foods for those who have difficulty sitting still through a meal.

Staying physically active is important because the more active your loved one stays, the better his/her health may be, with maintenance of strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance.

Remaining socially involved can help reduce stress which may help to maintain healthy connections between brain cells.

And mentally stimulating activities such as reading or working on puzzles may help to strengthen brain cells.

Seeking an Alzheimer’s Disease Specialist

February 25, 2009 at 8:30 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
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While many cases of Alzheimer’s Disease are initially diagnosed by the patient’s primary care physician or general practitioner he or she may refer you to a specialist for further testing and evaluation. A specialist may conduct specialized tests including: physical sensation exams, balance tests, a brain scan and a neuropsychiatric evaluation.

Specialists that are available to properly diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease include:

Geriatricians who are physicians that specialize in the treatment and care of older adults.

Neurologists are specialized physicians trained in diseases of the nervous system, which includes Alzheimer Disease and related conditions.

Psychiatrists have experience in dealing with depression, psychosis and other psychiatric disorders.

Geriatric psychiatrists specialize in treating behavioral symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s Disease including agitation, depression and hallucinations.

Clinical neuropsychologists specialize in the evaluation of memory loss, cognitive changes/abilities, behavioral changes, depression and the development of a plan for Alzheimer’s Disease care and treatment.

Message from Someone with Dementia

January 16, 2009 at 8:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a comment
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Stay with me Today!
by Richard Taylor

I think there is too much emphasis on helping people with dementia hang on to yesterday (something caregivers need) vs. helping people living with dementia being, understanding, and appreciating today (something all human beings, especially people living with failing cognitive skills need). We need less memory books and videos, and more cues, memory aids and support to know and understand what is going on around us and within us today.

So what if we forget a 1,000 times a day? We still need to live in it. We still need to understand it and feel a sense of ownership of it. Otherwise, what is left for our minds to work on, to understand – yesterday? Twenty or fifty years ago?

It takes more time to enable and support us with our struggle to understand today. And it takes increasingly more time and effort to support our need and want to stay in today. Helping us hang onto yesterday requires less time. Make us a book of family photos, put a shadow box outside our room with things from our past in it, give us some old dolls or clothes to fondle or wear – then leave us alone, go about the rest of your day.

The emphasis on memories and yesterdays unintentionally tells our ever-confused hippocampus to focus on the past and pay less attention to today. Today seems to take care of itself as far as we are concerned. Other people make decisions for us, lay out our clothes, dress and wash us, take us to the bathroom, buy our groceries, cook for us, and keep calling us inquiring what they can do for us that we haven’t or can’t do for ourselves today. So why not spend some time relaxing and drifting out of today and listening to old tunes, watching old movies, talking about the past and let today take care of itself?

Regardless of how many plaques and tangles we each have in our respective brains we are all still what we think we are (Rene Descartes was right, sort of). Think about yesterday and guess who you are? When others around you treat you as if you were simply a carbon copy of yesterday or the past five or ten or twenty years, when others see us as evolving and growing old as they see themselves evolving and growing old, they are naturally inclined to see in us their own need to enjoy the past, but live in the present. They sometimes escape to the past to avoid the problems of today, but then they must return to today. There is no pressure on us to return to today, because there is less and less need for us to return.

Not so!

Spend more times thinking of creative ways to support and enable us to stay in today, to understand what is happening around and to us, to structure activities so we must make our own decisions – today!

“Make it so.” Please!

Richard Taylor

Blood Sugar Control Linked to Memory Decline

January 7, 2009 at 3:12 pm | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a comment
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According to a recent study conducted by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, spikes in blood sugar can take a toll on memory retention by affected the area of the brain that helps form memories. It was discovered that these effects were also apparent even when glucose levels are only moderately elevated. Such a discovery will certainly be helpful in explaining normal, age-related cognitive decline, due to the fact that glucose regulation declines with age.

This fact has two serious implications, both of which are summed up nicely by quotes from the lead investigator, Dr. Scott Small. “If we conclude this is underlying normal age-related cognitive decline, then it affects all of us.” A person’s ability to properly regulate levels of glucose begins to decline by the third or fourth decade of life.

The second implication relies heavily on the fact that physical activity has been proven to improve glucose regulation. “We have a behavioral recommendation,” Dr. Scott states, “physical exercise.” In a study mapping brain functions of 240 elderly subjects, a correlation was found between elevated glucose levels and reduced cerebral blood volume. This is an indication of reduced metabolic function and activity in that region of the brain.

This research will also have consequences for those adults suffering from diabetes. Many times in past research, links have been discovered between diabetes and dementia, as well as dsyfunctions in the dentate gyrus (area of the brain where memories are formed), but these new findings cement the reasoning behind the research. Aging with diabetes can have serious negative affects on cognitive ability.

Hopefully this research will bring to light new methods to fight dementia via better control of blood glucose levels.

Link.

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