Welcome back, Careblazer!

Today I want to talk about something that all of you do as a Careblazer, yet many of you are leaving out one very important factor. I’m talking about making caregiving decisions. There are so many things to consider when making decisions about the care for your loved one, but chances are, you’re leaving out one very important piece that you need to take into consideration when you make these decisions. 

Ready for it? It’s you. 

I’m going to talk about how when trying to make care decisions, you think about your loved one’s thoughts, the cost, the feasibility, the quality, you might even think about what other people might think about your decision. Yet the one thing that many Careblazers don’t think about is what YOU actually want or need. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic click here.

If you struggle with making decisions because your LOWD doesn’t agree with you or other family...

Welcome back, Careblazer.

Today I want to talk about something that you may be doing that’s causing you a lot of worry and fear. For some of you, it’s even getting in the way of getting the dementia support and information that can help you along your journey. In some cases, it’s even causing you to remove yourself from support groups, it’s stopping you from reading information about the disease, and it may even be stopping you from watching some of these videos on dementia. 

I’m talking about comparison. Or what I’m going to call COMPARE AND DESPAIR. And at the end of this blog I’m going to share the one thing you need to remind yourself over and over again to help you through all the difficult moments now and in the future. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic, click here. 

Comparing your caregiving situation to someone else’s situation. Whether you think you are in a more difficult situation than most,...

Welcome back, Careblazer!

I’m so excited for today’s topic because I truly believe the concept I’m going to share with you today can really turn not only your caregiving situation around, but also your life around. If you are like many of the Careblazers I talk to, then you are probably stressed, overwhelmed, tired and feel like you have no time or energy or ability to do things for yourself that you want to do. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic, click here. 

If you take a look back at your life over the past year or so since you’ve been caregiving what do you notice? Do you notice that your health and relationships have improved over the recent years, or do you feel like these areas have gotten worse since becoming a caregiver? Most of the people I talk to would say that things have worsened- usually things like they’ve gained weight, eating unhealthy, no friends, etc. 

Before I share this, I want to encourage any...

Welcome back Careblazer! Today I’m answering one of the most common questions and one of the most misunderstood pieces of information by caregivers. That is, what’s the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's. 

Before I get into that, I want to welcome any new Careblazers. I’m happy you’ve found us. Be sure to download your Careblazer Survival Guide here. It’s completely free. Don't forget, if you would prefer you can watch my videos instead! You can find today's video here. 

Alright, so let’s answer this question. 

Dementia is not technically a disease. It’s a syndrome- a word that it used to describe a group of symptoms causing thinking problems. I like to compare the word dementia to the way the word cancer is used. When someone has cancer, it tells you they are sick, but it doesn’t tell you specifically what type of sickness, what’s causing the sickness. 

The same is true about dementia. When...

Welcome back, Careblazer!

Today I want to talk about your genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease and whether or not you should get tested. You may be like some of the Careblazers I talk to and are concerned about your personal risk of getting the disease. Some of you may even have been encouraged or discouraged from getting tested by your doctor. I hope this video can help you in understanding the different genes that place you at risk for Alzheimer’s and things to consider when it comes to genetic testing. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic, click here. 

Last week I shared the 3 main causes of Alzheimer’s disease; genetic predisposition was one of those causes. There are certain genes that make you more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. The Mayo clinic has a really nice write up on the different genes that place you at risk. The link to that article is here, but I’m going to summarize a lot of that information here. 

...

With all the advances in healthcare, it can be frustrating that there is no easy cure or treatment for dementia. Despite all the medications, none of them can reverse the disease. Many times, they don’t seem to do much at all in terms of improving thinking. 

Today I want to talk about some reasons why dementia is so hard to treat. This is the 3rd and final video using the information taken from the Book the Alzheimer’s Solution. It’s an excellent book that shares the culprits of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and provides a plan for how you can prevent or reduce your chances of getting the disease. It’s a wonderful book. If you are interested in the book you can find it here or visit your local library. 

Also, real quick before I get started, the dates of my upcoming live care classes have been announced. You can save your spot by clicking here. I’ll be sharing 3 ways you can lower your dementia caregiver stress without needing...

Hello Careblazer,

Today I’m going to talk about signs and symptoms of early onset dementia and how it differs from dementia that occurs later in life. When people think about Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, they typically think of something that impacts older people. But did you know it’s possible for younger people to get dementia as well? I’ve had a lot of requests to talk about this topic so I hope it helps. 

Remember, if you have a topic or question you want me to answer, leave it below and I’ll do my best to do a future video on your question. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic, click here.

Before we get started I want to remind any new viewers that I have free Careblazer Survival Guide with tips and information to help you get through the dementia careblazer journey. 

Alright, now let’s talk about early onset dementia, also sometimes referred to as younger age dementia or working age...

Welcome back Careblazer!

Today I want to talk about a specific plan you can use to help lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias AND even possibly help improve the thinking of your loved one with dementia. If you read last week’s post, than you know we talked about how your risk of dementia is higher simply for caring for a loved one with dementia. So today we are going to talk about a specific plan that has shown how to reduce your risk of getting the disease and even help improve the thinking of those who already have the disease.

This plan is based on the book, the Alzheimer’s Solution: A breakthrough program to prevent and reverse the symptoms of cognitive decline at every age. It’s a husband wife team who are neurologists who developed this program. A link to the specific book- The Alzheimer’s Solution is here in case you want to check it out for yourself.

Now before I get into the details of the plan, I want to let you...

Hey there Careblazer,

In December I did a video on Frontotemporal dementia. In that video, I mentioned that people caring for a spouse with dementia were 600% more likely to develop dementia compared to people not caring for someone with dementia. It was a super popular video and many of you had questions about this increased risk wondering if somehow I was alluding to the fact that dementia is contagious. Well, dementia is not contagious. You don’t catch it from someone. But I did want to talk about why there is such a big risk for spouses compared to people who aren’t spouses (like a child caregiver) or for other types of caregivers - not dementia caregivers. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic, click here.

Also, if you haven’t heard, I’m hosting a live Care Class going over things you can do to help reduce your caregiver stress, handle difficult behavior AND I’ll be doing a live q & a at the end answering your questions. I...

Welcome back, Careblazer. It’s my first post of 2020. A new year, the start of a new decade. Let’s kick the year off by talking about a topic that many of you find so frustrating. 

Does your LOWD with dementia sometimes follow you around the house? Let’s say you get up to go to another room, or you just want a moment to yourself, but your loved one follows behind. They seem to always want to keep you in their line of sight? This type of behavior is called “shadowing” and it’s common in dementia. 

If you would rather watch my video on this topic, click here. 

Let’s talk about some possible reasons this happens and what you can do about it so you don’t feel helpless and smothered by your LOWD.  But before I get started with that, I want to let you know that I’ll be hosting another one of my free, live Care classes coming up in a few weeks. If you want to learn ways you can reduce your caregiver stress without...