Latest by Christine Kennard
Mental Health Month: A Guide to Agitation in Alzheimer's Disease
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...
Mental Health Month: Depression and Alzheimer's Disease
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 ...
On Death and Dying: The Dying Process
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 ...
Do Not Resuscitate: On Death, Dying and Alzheimer's
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...
Four Most Common Causes of Emotional Distress in People with Alzheimer's
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...
10 Caregiving Resolutions for Bedridden People with Alzheimer's
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 ...
Top 10 in 2010: 10 Ways Alzheimer's Affects Legal Issues
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 ...
Behavior as an Expression of Unmet Needs in People with Late Stage Alzheimer's
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...
Kuru, A Very Rare Type of Dementia, Caused by Cannibalism
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...
Guide to Antipsychotic Drug Side Effects and Alzheimer's
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...