Archive for category Alzheimer's Disease

Care Giver – Take Care of Yourself

Posted by Kathleen Ryan in Alzheimer's Disease on August 10th, 2009

Unpredictably, the need for care givers to nourish themselves comes as a complete surprise.  Women in our society discover that taking time out for replenishing their bodies and minds dredges up feelings of guilt. We have been trained to be there for others and taking care of our bodies appears to give the impression of selfishness and self-absorption.  The care giving experience affords us the opportunity to change this perspective, to throw off the shackles of this cultural prison.
Care for the care giver is paramount in our overall responsibility to provide compassionate, effective care for our loved one.  Imagine how your loved one must feel when she/he is aware at some level that you are frustrated, angry and exhausted carrying for her/him.  Although Alzheimer’s Disease makes verbal expressions impossible or very limited, at a deeper level facial expressions and moods are experienced.  The administrator at Green Hills Care Home where my husband George spent the last year of his life gave all of us family members excellent advice.  She said “Before you go through this door to visit your loved one, I want you to put a smile on your face.”  As we who are care givers know, that is sometimes extremely difficult for us. She reminded us of the importance of facial expressions and moods to our loved ones.

How can we set up a program to help ourselves?  What is available in our communities to help us with our physical and emotional needs?  First and foremost is respite care for our loved ones.  Does your community provide a day care program for Alzheimer’s patients?  Are there support groups in your area?  Join one so that you may share your experience with others.  Support groups, in addition to providing emotional support are an excellent source of information on care givers and programs in your area.  Meditation.  In my experience, daily meditation kept me centered and grounded.  If a meditation group is not available to you there are excellent books on this very effective practice.  Physical exercise not only improves one’s overall health but, the emotional effects of increased endorphins in the brain give us a new perspective on life.  Journaling in the form of a diary or writing about one’s feelings can become the catalyst for emotional healing.

John Fox, founder of the Institute for Poetic Medicine, says “Poems can give voice to what is raw and wounded in your life.”
My advice – be creative in discovering care giving outlets for you.  With a healthy you, your loved one will be receiving the very best care.

-Kathleen Ryan

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An Alzheimer’s Warning Sign

Posted by Kathleen Ryan in Alzheimer's Disease, Alzheimer's Warning Signs on June 10th, 2009

Your face looks so familiar, but… I just can’t remember your name. What’s happening? Is this an Alzheimer’s warning sign?

After caring for a spouse, parent, relative or friend with Alzheimer’s Disease, an inability to remember names understandably triggers a near panic response. But what are the facts?

Dr. Pat Wolfe of the Wolfe Center in Napa, California recently addressed this question with quite an unusual explanation of this “can’t remember your name” phenomenon.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when our ancestors were living in primitive tribes in the savannah, face recognition was a critical survival mechanism. She asked us to imagine a small tribe of hunter gatherers. Would you recognize the face a tribal member or would you recognize the face of an enemy or of another tribe?

We all answered with a resounding, “yes.”

“Would you recognize their name, if they had one?” she posed. “Probably not”, we responded. Pat pointed out that our brains are hard wired for face recognition, not for name recognition. In today’s information overloaded society, when we are introduced to someone, we are probably focusing on their face, eye color or facial expression or on what they are wearing instead of on their name. This is where the technique of name association is invaluable. If we attach a meaningful association of any kind with the person’s name, we increase the probability that we will remember their name when we meet again. We have all had the experience of having the name we could not immediately recall popping right into our brain sometime later, not when we needed it!

So relax… difficulty in remembering names are not, and I repeat, not one of the Alzheimer’s warning signals. The reality is, as Alzheimer’s progresses, the face of a loved one cannot be recognized at all. We who have been caregivers can attest to the emotional devastation we feel when this happens. Maria Shriver, in her recent testimony before the House Committee on Aging poignantly reminded us of the wrenching experience with her father, Sargent Shriver, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, when she said, “He doesn’t know me any more.”

So, there is a big difference when you don’t recognize a loved one and you don’t remember a name of someone you’ve met. Get more information from the Alzheimer’s Association.

-Kathleen Ryan

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