WHAT TO DO IN THESE STRESSFUL TIMES By – Susan Wehry, MD
A blog from the Dementia Action Alliance The current pandemic is stressful. And like all stress, it sets off a cascade of reactions in our body/mind. Like releasing cortisol which gets us ready to flee or fight. And while heightening our awareness, focusing our attention, having a burst of adrenalized energy may be ok in the short term it takes a toll in the long term. A person of any age with a heart [...]
A WELLNESS ALERT by Terrie Montgomery living with Early Onset Alzheimer’s
Good Afternoon Beautiful Souls, What a beautiful day it is AND more importantly, it feels pretty good to still be alive. Do you agree? I thought I would do something different today: This is a WELLNESS alert to remind wonderful YOU to take a few seconds to Relax. Slow Down for a moment. Our days can become pretty brutal at times and causes us to feel absolutely drained. We don’t have time [...]
“Climb Every Mountain”: How Brian LeBlanc’s Favorite Music Helps Him to Manage Alzheimer’s
With our sincerest appreciation to "Music and Memory" for allowing us to re-post Brian's blog. Immersed in fog. That’s how Brian LeBlanc describes his bouts of confusion from Alzheimer’s. “Imagine you’re driving down a road on a beautiful fall day,” he says. “The sun is shining, the trees are orange and purple. You come to a bend in the road and, all of a sudden, you hit a fog bank. Your natural reaction is [...]
“CREATING MOMENTS OF JOY WITH MUSIC. HERE’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.” by Mary Sue Wilkinson, Singing Heart to Heart
CREATING MOMENTS OF JOY WITH MUSIC. HERE'S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. Has anyone ever told you to “live in the moment?” Or “Be present.” Living in the moment takes on a whole new meaning for someone who is living with dementia. Here’s how Jolene Brackey describes it in her best selling book Creating Moments of Joy – A Journal for Caregivers. “When a person has short term memory loss, his life is made up of [...]
Changing ‘the tragedy narrative’: Why a growing camp is promoting a more joyful approach to Alzheimer’s by Tara Bahrampour.
With Appreciation to The Washington Post for allowing us to post it. Tom and Peggy Misciagna were sitting in their Manassas, Va., home recently, talking about the children they adopted overseas in the 1980s, when Tom, 64, misremembered a major detail. “We got two kids out of India — ” he said. Peggy, 59, chimed in. “Philippines.” “Oh yeah, Philippines,” said Tom, a retired CIA officer. He grinned wryly at his wife. “That’s Ollie [...]
ECT for Dementia by Dr. G. Allen Power
ECT for Dementia? The Dangers of the BPSD Mindset [ECT – electroconvulsive therapy; BPSD – behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia] by: G. Allen Power, MD It is hard to believe that my first blog post on this subject was 8 years ago, colorfully titled ECT for AD and LBD? WTF…(https://changingaging.org/blogstream/ect-for-ad-and-dlb-wtf/). In that post, I criticized researchers for giving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to people living with dementia who were exhibiting “severe agitation [...]