When people with Alzheimer’s have regular or severe periods of agitation it can put unbearable strain on already stressed family relationships. Agitation is very common in people with dementia. Sixty to 80 percent of people with Alzheimer’swill exper...

Depression is the second most common psychiatric problem in people with a dementia such as Alzheimer’s (first place goes to agitation and psychosis). Diagnosing symptoms of depression in someone with Alzheimer’s can be difficult. People with limited ...

When people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, they not only have to face living with the illness itself, they often begin to consider their death. Both they and their family may wonder how they will die and start to ask health care workers for ...

All long term healthcare facilities ask the next of kin whether or not to resuscitate in the form of a Do Not Resucitate (DNR) order in case the decision needs to be made. When considering a DNR order in the end stage of Alzheimer’s disease it is imp...

Emotional distress can manifest itself through fear, anger, embarrassment, hostility, panic or despair. If it is not acknowledged and acted on, it can cause deep anxiety and depression. Research into understanding emotional distress in people with Al...

1. Prevent skin breakdown and pressure sores Frequent changes of position are essential to prevent bed sores. Bed sores are easier to get than to get rid of Move the person every two hours if possible alternating from right side to left side then on ...

How do caregivers take over the administration of estates and care for people who seem unable to look after themselves and their financial affairs? In this Sharepost I look at how Alzheimer’s can affect judgement, their capacity to make decisions and ...

It has been argued that much of human behavior is motivated by a group of hierarchical needs that have to be met. Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, suggests these needs must be met in a certain sequence beginning from basic and mostly physical levels o...

A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine on research carried out by scientists at the Medical Research Council Prion Unit, shows that a strong genetic resistance to a disease called kuru (meaning trembling with fear) has occurred in a m...

Antipsychotic medications are used to control psychoses such as schizophrenia, but they can also be used to treat behavioral disturbances such as suspicion and paranoia associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Antipsychotic drugs, although not approved b...