My mother suffers from Alzheimers disease and we sister has had her to sign over all rights to her. is this legal?

My mom has alzheimers and i’ve been told that Medicare will pick up hospice for her without going after any assets my dad may have after she’s gone. I know Medi-Cal/Medicade will go after the home to recoop moneys spent, but i’m wondering if the same will happen with Medicare.

My great aunt was just diagnosed with dementia. I asked my mom what the difference was between dementia and Alzheimers since they seem to be the same thing to me. Does anyone have any info?
A little more info…she walked out of the house at 2am and was found by the cops, who then brought her to the hospital. They ran some tests on her and said it was dementia. Please say a prayer for her. I love her a lot.

Learn about dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease and the brain problems involved.

My mom is 77 years old and is showing signs of dementia. She becomes disoriented at time and can’ remember things. Example she did not know what house she was in today when I talked to her on the phone. She is also a diabetic and is on Kidney dialysis. My dad takes care of her but doesn’t seem to get the dementia, almost like a denial.

A disturbing phenomenon sometimes occurs in a person in mid-stage Alzheimer’s. It is totally frustrating to the caregiver who doesn’t understand what’s happening, and it is terrifying to the person with Alzheimer’s. Often, the patient or loved one will seem to get upset or even hysterical for no reason at all, but there is always a reason, and in many cases, the culprit is the mirror. Yes, the mirror.

To fully explain how a mirror can alarm your loved one, let’s go back to the basics. By now, you already know that Alzheimer’s disease attacks the short-term memory and gradually erodes every memory, one memory at a time. So what happens when an 85 year old woman (who doesn’t remember ever being 85) looks into the mirror and sees an image of a woman who is not the 25 year old she thinks she is? She is virtually looking at a stranger, and she is terrified. She may even think there is a stranger in the house. Could this be happening in your house?

Observe where your loved one is when the behavior begins. Is there a mirror nearby? There are so many situations over which you, the caregiver, have no control. However, you can control how many mirrors are available in the house. Just imagine how you would feel if you looked into the mirror and discovered that you had aged 60 years overnight. This could be happening to your loved one every day.

Sometimes, your loved one may make friends with the person in the mirror. This is not as disturbing; however, you might discover missing food in the most unusual places because they are saving food for their friend in the mirror.

As a side note, the mirror could play a major role in a loved one’s refusal to shower. After all, who wants to undress in front of a stranger?

If you find that the mirror is, indeed, causing the behavior, then limit, or better yet, eliminate access to mirrors. Alzheimer’s disease is a cruel, insidious disease that can make life unbearable for both the one who has it, and for the caregiver. Remember, for every behavior, there is a trigger. If the mirror is the trigger, and you remove the mirror, then you’ve not only eliminated the behavior, you have done a great service for your loved one.

By: Brenda Dapkus

About the Author:

What puts you at risk for Alzheimer’s disease? How can you prevent this killer? Based on the results of a four-year study of the medical research literature on Alzheimer s prevention, this video shows the key strategies of prevention. Simple, inexpensive, and easy, they work to prevent Alzheimer’s and more!

I have a loved one in advanced stages of dementia who is unable to feed herself or swallow well. My family has been talking about the possibility of a feeding tube. On one hand, we don’t want her to suffer the pain of starvation. On the other, it would be hard to watch her just laying there in bed with no quality of life, utter boredom, and continued pain that she may or may not be able to express. Is there any additional information out there that would help us come to a decision?

Proof: Alzheimer’s Crashes

She was not a spring chicken, her head hung low as she waited in line until it was her turn to ask a question.

Tell me, she said, can Speed Learning help me control my symptoms of
Alzheimer’s?

Look, I said, we have both anecdotal evidence (she said, he said), and a 15-year research project by Dr. David Snowden at the University of Kentucky with a nursing home for Nuns age eighty and above. However, our pro forma answer
is Speed Learning is for students and executives who need to 3x their reading speed
and 2x their long-term memory. We have senior citizens who are graduates but
we never mention Alzheimer’s.

She seemed to sink lower and finally said; I still want to take the course because it might do me some good and I used to love reading.

Learning Slows Physical Progression of pf Alzheimer’s Disease

The headline on January 24, 2007 published by the Journal of Neuroscience about
learning slowing Alzheimer’s grabbed my attention. The research was done by
neuroscientists Frank LaFeria and Dr. James McGaughm at the University of
California at Irvine. These are top-guns in their profession.

What the gist of it?

The elderly, by keeping their minds alert, vertical and seeking, can help delay the
onset of this scary degenerative form of dementia. Since 1959 this is the first report to make this claim from a major university neurological team.

It seems that using your brain for (cognitive learning) stops clumping and plaque formation; both disconnect neuron-to-neuron feedback causing mental instability and loss of memory.

Remember the term tangles, which do what it sounds like in the brain when Alzheimer’s raises its head. Studying and using your brain (use it or lose it)
defeats (overcomes) tangles.

By the way, it is a scientific fact highly educated people (Master’s and up) are less likely (up to 40%) to develop Alzheimer’s in the first place. Schooling is one firewall, another is playing chess, card and board games and acting as a teacher in an area of your expertise.

Mice First

Research is clear that cognitive decline is drastically reduced when mice are trained
compared to the control which are not. Do not laugh; we have more in common
genetically with mice than any creature except chimps.

Stimulating the mind with activities such as reading books or completing puzzles
may help delay and/or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s in senior citizens, according
to the specialists at U of C at Urvine.

The scientists were surprised that a mild level of learning reduced the pathology
and cognitive decline in the face of Alzheimer’s disease.

How Much Learning is Required?

Dr. Edward Lorenz (MIT), credited with the Butterfly
Effect, said Small changes lead to Massive reactions. He wrote: Predictability:
Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?

These studies raise the question whether doubling up on the learning sessions
will produce bigger and better benefits for Alzheimer’s sufferers.

Presently 4.5 million U.S. adults suffer the effects of Alzheimer’s.
Did you know that Alzheimer’s is the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer?

Did you know up to 51 percent of senior citizens suffer from Alzheimer’s
by age 80? It is no longer a novelty for adults to live into their 80s and 90s and
by 2,050 it is estimated over 20 million U.S. citizens will have the symptoms of
Alzheimer’s.

Endwords

We believe in preventative medicine to avoid many forms of dementia including
Alzheimer’s. Picture a firewall around you cerebral cortex (left and right hemispheres) from studying and learning on a regular basis.

Many of us exercise our bodies to maintain our senses and motor structures; we suggest devoting some of this effort to protecting your brain from mental atrophy.

Twelve hours in a Speed Learning workshop exercises attention and concentration.
It improves reading speed by a factor of three, and doubles your working memory.

The old lady who asked us about Speed Learning to avoid Alzheimer’s graduated with honors; six years later her Alzheimer’s symptoms have stabilized and even subsided. We cannot say it was because of Speed Learning but it did not hurt
to activate her cognitive skills. Two months after she completed the program she referred an adult to us for training with only one eye. Yes really.

See ya,

copyright © 2007
H. Bernard Wechsler

By: H. Bernard Wechsler

About the Author: