Shadowing in dementia is one of the most exhausting behaviors caregivers face, and almost no one warns you about it. You can't walk to the bathroom alone anymore. The moment you stand up, they stand up. You step into the kitchen for five minutes and there they are in the doorway, watching you. The private phone calls are gone, the personal space is gone, and then comes the guilt for even wanting a moment to yourself.

In this episode I explain what is actually happening in the brain that drives shadowing, why your presence has become the only thing that makes them feel safe, and four things that genuinely help.

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 - What shadowing looks like

1:54 - The many forms shadowing can take

2:55 - Reason one: the brain can't self-regulate fear

5:01 - Reason two: losing object permanence

5:51 - Reason three: the gap between now and later

7:08 - Four things that actually help

9:16 - The guilt of wanting space, and what it really means

#dementia #dementiacaregiver #shadowing #alzheimers #caregiversupport

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

Before the memory problems, confusion, and obvious dementia symptoms, many families notice something else first: money problems.

Missed bill payments, unusual purchases, giving money away, falling for scams, or struggling to manage finances can sometimes be among the earliest signs of dementia. Research now shows these financial changes may appear years before a dementia diagnosis is ever made.

In this episode, I explain why money management is often one of the first cognitive skills affected by dementia, what the research says about financial warning signs appearing up to six years before diagnosis, and what caregivers can do to help protect a loved one's financial security.

Whether you're concerned about early signs of dementia, supporting someone with Alzheimer's disease, or already navigating the challenges of caregiving, this episode will help you understand what may be happening and what steps to take next.

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 - Did the money warning come before the memory problems?

2:10 - What financial warning signs actually look like

4:00 - Why managing money is the brain's first stress test

8:01 - Why these signs are so easy to miss

10:43 - Practical steps to take now

#dementia #dementiacaregiver #dementiasigns #alzheimers #caregiving

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

If your loved one with Alzheimer's disease is on one of the new treatment drugs, or you have been weighing whether to try them, the headlines from this spring may have stopped you cold. A major review from one of the most respected research organizations in the world concluded these drugs show no meaningful benefit. Researchers immediately fired back. And you are in the middle of all of it, as a caregiver trying to make real decisions for a real person.

Your confusion is completely warranted. This is not a simple story. One headline says breakthrough. The next says it does nothing. But the full picture is more complicated than either side is telling you.

In this episode I walk you through what the Cochrane review actually found, why experts are so divided on it, and the three questions you can bring to your loved one's neurologist to make a more informed decision for your specific family.

Cochrane Collaboration Review (Full Study): https://www.cochrane.org/about-us/news/anti-amyloid-alzheimers-drugs-show-no-clinically-meaningful-effect

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 - The headlines that stopped caregivers

1:46 - Who these drugs are actually designed for

2:56 - What the Cochrane review found

5:26 - Why researchers are pushing back

7:50 - 3 questions to ask your loved one's doctor

#dementia #dementiacaregiver #alzheimers #caregiving #alzheimersresearch

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

Have you noticed your loved one with dementia seems like a completely different person every evening? The confusion, the agitation, the restlessness — and then the nights when they're up convinced it's morning — it's exhausting in a way that's hard to put into words. It is not something you caused or something you missed. New research published in December 2025 finally gives us a neurological explanation for why dementia gets worse in the evening, and it has nothing to do with what you are doing. In this episode I walk you through what the science reveals, what actually helps, and what tends to make it harder.

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 - What evenings look like for many dementia caregivers

1:45 - What sundowning actually is

3:18 - New brain research: what's happening inside the brain

5:22 - 5 things that can help

8:11 - What tends to make it harder

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

Making caregiving decisions is hard in a way most people around you won't understand. The stakes are real. The information is incomplete. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you're already afraid of being wrong.

If you've been circling a decision for weeks — or months — and still can't seem to make a move, your brain isn't broken. There are five specific thought patterns that make caregiving decisions feel nearly impossible, and once you can name them, something shifts. In this video I walk you through all five and what to actually do about them.

Ready to work through a real decision you've been dreading? Join me here: https://tinyurl.com/difficult-decisions-pod

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 - The decision you've been avoiding

2:05 - Why not deciding still costs you

2:50 - The 5 thought patterns keeping you stuck

9:50 - What to do before this video ends

11:30 - The Difficult Decisions live class

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

Being accused of stealing by the person you are giving everything to is one of the most quietly devastating things that happens in dementia caregiving.

It does not just feel unfair. It strikes at your identity, your dignity, and the relationship you had before all of this. And because it can happen over and over, with no memory that it happened before, many caregivers absorb these accusations alone, without ever really being told why it happens or what they can actually do. There is a neurological reason for this. And it has nothing to do with how your loved one truly feels about you.

In this episode I walk you through what is happening in the dementia brain that causes stealing accusations, why the instinct to defend yourself almost always backfires, and four specific things you can try the next time it happens.

If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 - You are not alone: naming the experience

1:40 - The many ways stealing accusations show up

2:45 - Three things happening in the dementia brain

6:30 - Responses that unintentionally make things worse

9:00 - Four strategies that actually help

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

When your family doesn't believe the dementia diagnosis, it can feel like you are grieving two losses at once. Family denial is one of the most painful and isolating experiences a dementia caregiver can go through. In this episode, I'm going to explain why it happens and what you can actually do about it.

If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

Chapters:

0:00 When family doesn't believe the diagnosis

2:13 Why this feels so isolating

4:04 Reason 1: Denial is protective

5:00 Reason 2: Visiting isn't caregiving

6:27 Reason 3: Anosognosia

7:30 You didn't cause this

8:00 Why convincing them backfires

10:00 What actually helps

12:26 What you're allowed to feel

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

A new Alzheimer's blood test was just approved by the FDA and it changes everything about how families get answers. For years, confirming Alzheimer's disease meant expensive brain scans or invasive procedures most people couldn't access. Now a simple blood draw can detect Alzheimer's markers in the body... up to 3 to 4 years before symptoms even begin.

In this episode I break down what the Alzheimer's blood test actually measures, how accurate it is, and what you can ask your doctor right now.

If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

CHAPTERS

00:00 You are not imagining this

01:18 Why an Alzheimer's diagnosis has always been so hard to get

03:30 What doctors were working with before

05:00 The new blood test: what it measures and how it works

07:15 How accurate is it?

08:30 What this means for you right now

11:00 What can still make this harder

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

If your loved one used to fix things, run the household, stay busy and now they just sit there, you're probably wondering what happened. Are they depressed? Have they given up? Do they even care anymore?

They do. And what's happening is not what it looks like.

In this episode, I'm breaking down why someone with dementia withdraws from daily life, why their brain learns to stop trying, and why nothing you say seems to change it.

If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.

→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/re-sales-podcast

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:30 Why ability declines faster than awareness

03:30 How the brain learns to avoid what feels bad

04:35 Three neurological shifts behind the withdrawal

07:00 Why reassurance stops working

08:15 When to talk to their doctor

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

Bathroom challenges are one of the most common, and least talked about, parts of dementia caregiving. You've tried asking. You've tried reminding. You've tried everything. And it still isn't working.

This isn't defiance. It isn't stubbornness. What's happening in the brain is making the bathroom one of the hardest spaces for someone with dementia to navigate. The bathroom requires more brain systems working together than almost any other room in the home.

In this episode I walk through the most common reasons people with dementia struggle with the bathroom — and what you can do about it.

If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.

→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/re-sales-podcast

Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast

⏱️ CHAPTERS

0:00 - Introduction

0:24 - Common bathroom behaviors caregivers are dealing with

1:00 - Why the bathroom is cognitively demanding

2:00 - Interoception: why they don't know they have to go

3:15 - Apraxia and difficulty sequencing bathroom steps

4:15 - Aphasia and not understanding instructions

4:45 - Why the bathroom environment increases confusion

8:00 - Practical strategies to try

#dementia #dementiacare #alzheimers #dementiacaregiver

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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.