Caregivers' Newsbasket Blog: 06.11

Understanding the Dementia Experience

Smashwords Edition 2012

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Causes of Memory Loss That Aren't Alzheimer's | Caring.com

Memory-loss cause #1: Chronic stress

Why it happens: When the body goes on hyperalert to face a crisis, a series of biochemical changes takes place that fuels the fight-or-flight response system. The chemical cortisol increases in the brain, for example, to mobilize energy and alertness. That's great when a saber-toothed tiger is chasing you. But when tension and anxiety become chronic, as with work or family problems, the system is overloaded with substances that are intended for emergency use only.

Cognitive Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis

Cognitive Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis - Other Rare Causes of Dementia - Other forms of dementia - Dementia - Alzheimer Europe

Other Rare Causes of Dementia
by Clive Ever

There has been a lot of recent research into changes in cognition due to MS and it is now evident that such changes do occur and that they are more common than was previously thought. Cognition is about our abilities in thinking things through and how well our memory works.

Cognition is also about how to focus and to maintain our attention; the way we learn and remember new things; how we think reason and solve problems. It also concerns how we plan and carry out our activities; the way we understand and use language and how well we recognise objects, assemble things together and judge distances.

The brain damage in MS is different to that in e.g. Alzheimer’s type dementia and so the problems shown are different. Although the problems may not amount to full dementia they can cause significant disruption to the lives of patients. In studies of MS patients with and without cognitive dysfunction, those with have been shown to be more significantly impaired with respect to work, sexual and social functioning and basic activities of daily living.

Cognitive Dysfunction is one of the more scary symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

Cognitive Dysfunction - multiple sclerosis encyclopaedia

Cognitive Dysfunction is one of the more scary symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. It used to be thought that cognitive dysfunction was relatively rare symptom of the disease but it is now understood to be quite a common feature.

Among the reasons that it's frequency was formerly underestimated is that the dysfunction is often mild, cognition is a very complex subject and, in the past, physicians have felt more comfortable denying its existence to their patients. Things have changed over the past few years. Rather than lumping cognitive dysfunction in the same bracket as fatigue and depression, it is now studied on its own. Cognitive evaluation techniques have also improved greatly and now proper studies into cognitive dysfunction in MS are beginning to be done.

Hiring an Overseas Caregiver, proceed with caution

Hiring an Overseas Caregiver to work in the US Page - Nannies and nanny services for 20 years in Canada and the US, OptiMum Childcare and Nannies Ltd.

An American family may legally hire a US citizen, someone who has been lawfully admitted for permanent residence, or someone with a valid work permit.

Eligibility for lawful employment must be verified by the employer using form I-9 form.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/1718.htm

Confabulation: Honest Lying paper on The Alzheimer's Compendium

Confabulation: Honest Lying » Alzheimer's Compendium

[QUOTE]
spontaneous confabulation in the Alzheimer’s patient … that is exactly what our loved ones do, more and more, as the disease progresses and they live more and more in the past. And while provoked confabulations are a major annoyance in the early stages — when friends, family, and the medical community take everything our loved ones say at face value, no matter how false we know their statements to be — spontaneous confabulations become a far greater concern in the later stages, because spontaneous confabulations are much more likely to be acted upon by the loved one."

"Approaches that can be used to cope with spontaneous confabulation, and ease the confusion, frustration, and fear for the loved one, can be found in resources such as:

Jennifer Ghent-Fuller’s paper “Understanding the Dementia Experience”

Jolene Brackey’s book, Creating Moments of Joy

Naomi Feil’s “validation therapy”

The Savvy Caregiver training program

___

Alzheimer’s

Layers of memories separated in time Photographic double exposures

You are you but also a long dead sister or a half-remembered husband maybe partially a grandkid

Or maybe you are mostly the long dead sister.
She is at home or maybe in another place –Her last home or one from many years ago

She is a child or there are children to be taken care of, One of them may be you

A Kaleidoscope of images from whole lives Jumbled together

~ Anonymous Caregiver
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