Rehab Select Blog

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease researchers have been making some remarkable breakthroughs. Here are just a few of the most significant discoveries that will impact how caretakers approach memory care.

If you’re caring for someone with Alzheimer’s, you are likely to need support. Alzheimer’s is a devastating illness for the sufferer but can also place overwhelming demands on the caregiver.

Caring for a family member with dementia, whether in a care facility or at home, may seem like a daunting challenge. Dementia changes the way the person remembers, communicates, and behaves. The personality and abilities of the person you once knew may change.

When your family is impacted by Alzheimer’s, you may feel tremendous responsibility to care for your loved one and feel as though a nursing home is the last resort. However, modern improvements in technology and standards of care make Alzheimer’s care centers one of the most respected resources available to you and your family.  

Many people outside of healthcare mistakenly confuse dementia with Alzheimer’s, yet the two are very different conditions. While both can affect memory, there are clear distinctions. What follows is a look at what these differences can mean for patient symptoms, long-term outlook and patient memory care need. 

Deciding whether an Alzheimer’s patient should go to a memory care facility can be extraordinarily difficult. Caregivers may feel guilty or anxious about placing a loved one in an assisted living home. They may even feel that they are taking the easy way out or letting the patient down.

A new dementia diagnosis in your family can have a significant impact on everyone involved. You and your loved one may have difficulty coming to terms with the emotions, lifestyle adjustments, and expectations that exist with that type of diagnosis.

Sundowner's syndrome (or sundowning) is the commonly used term for the sudden appearance or worsening of neuropsychiatric symptoms in the late afternoon.

The holidays often center around traditions and meaningful time spent with loved ones. When one of your family members is affected by Alzheimer’s, you may find yourself caught in an emotional place between your desire to share time with them and the reality of who your loved one is today. You might long to share the memories of years past that are no longer possible.

Dementia is a term used to describe a variety of disorders that are caused by severe changes in the brain, especially areas of the brain related to language, memory, reasoning and decision-making.

These changes cause memory loss, changes in behavior and personality, and difficulty in performing basic day-to-day tasks and activities, among other symptoms.