Rock Your Retirement Show

This is the last episode of our 4-part series where we talk about the ConsumerReports.org article on, Real Pain Relief, Now! In our first episode, we have talked about How Pain Affects People. The second part talked about the Therapies that Ease Pain while the third episode dwells into the Different Pain Medications. Here on our last episode, we will discuss the alternative treatments for pain and why steroids and surgeries can help.

Self-Preservation

Pain is the body's mechanism to protect yourself from harm. It acts as a signal to our body that harm is about to happen to tissues in our bodies. It is well known to everybody and yet it is so compounded and subjective that it cannot be easily treated. There is also the emotional component when it comes to pain and that is called suffering.

Alternative Treatments for Pain

There are therapies that will help you ease pain, there are also medications for your pain but if these remedies don't work for you there are other alternatives such as steroids and surgeries.

I have known people who have done both steroids and surgeries and it does provide relief for them, that is why they are also good alternative treatments for pain. But the article still states that “You can’t overuse steroids.” The consumer reports article also talked about when this particular gentleman went to go see a surgeon, the surgeon said that this gentleman got to have surgery. Luckily, they went and got a second opinion and wound up they didn’t really need the surgery.

Surgery

In surgery, you always have to have a second opinion. More people are seeking second opinions in orthopedic surgery than any other specialty. They want to make sure that those alternative treatments for pain are their only hope. The body has the capability to heal itself over time and that is why you don’t need to add surgery to heal the problem. Doctors these days get paid for doing what they normally do and that’s surgery must get paid for the surgery. We know somebody who had surgery and he wound up with MRSA. Now, he has a lifetime problem.

That is why, in any case, it just says that you should always try to get a second opinion when you have chronic pain and see if you can avoid having surgery. But sometimes surgery is what you really need. Anytime you go under the anesthesia, anytime you go to the hospital, you run the risk of having complications.

Stress and Pain

Stress can definitely cause pain. When I get my shoulder pain it’s usually because I’m under a lot of stress. It causes inflammation and the inflammation causes pain. Les has the same issue. If he’s under a lot of pressure, his neck will hurt.

Steroids

Another alternative treatment for pain is steroids. Before you get surgery, a lot of people will get cortisone shots. Those people had great relief from cortisone but after a while, it stops working.

Steroid injections. When going through chemo they give you steroids right at the beginning of the treatment. But in Les’ case their not giving him shots, they’re just giving him pills so that he could keep up with his energy. From a positive standpoint, it did help him have more energy and overcome what could have been a lot worse from the chemo. With direct injections of steroids, it depends on where the injection goes. You could also actually cause a person to die if you're putting it in the wrong space in your back. It’s much safer to put it in your buttocks.

Those people that have chronic pain and had shots of pain relievers can’t really function between shots. Also,

Medications Do Not Eliminate Pain Completely

There are different pain medications out on the market. Pain medications are drugs used to relieve discomfort related to an illness, an injury or surgery and it is a complex process. Kathe and Les are back in this episode to talk about the article, Real Pain Relief, Now! There are different pain medications that provide relief by acting through a variety of mechanisms. When you are taking any kind of medication, you should start with the lowest dose possible. This is to alleviate your pain and not jump into a large dose. If you start with Ibuprofen for instance, which is usually 200mg per pill. The doctor will prescribe 800mg but you should start with the 200mg, if the 200mg does it, that’s what you should live with.

A section of the article starts out by saying, “The goal of pills, patches, and creams is to take the pain down a couple of notches, not eliminate it completely.” This is to allow the person to exercise, work and socialize. Because, when you can take the pain down then you can do the movement which we talked about in the last episode. The typical doctor is going to just prescribe pain medications because the typical doctor is not necessarily trained on chronic pain. Just like we’ve said on the first episode, there’s 1 doctor in every 28,500 people that’s trained in chronic pain. And chronic pain is not helped by these short term drugs that are being tried. That's the downside when taking these different pain medications.

Different Pain Medications that Relieve Pain

Supplements. There are different pain medications that are prescribed and there are some that are necessarily not prescribed but can be helpful. Which falls under the category of supplements. Marijuana may relieve certain types of pain. The drug industry is not funding trials on supplements because they want to sell their drugs. Supplements like fish oil help reduce inflammation type pain and pain that is neurological. Another one is vitamin B and D. If you have deficiencies in these vitamins certain types of pain are going to be worse.

Over-the-Counter Drugs. One of the other things that I found interesting that drugs like Ibuprofen and Aleve reduce swelling whereas Acetaminophen (Tylenol) makes you think that you’re not feeling pain. For Les’ personal experience, Ibuprofen works better than Acetaminophen for most of his pain. For headache pain though, Acetaminophen works better for Les than Ibuprofen. Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen are good for muscle and joint pain but they don’t seem to be very effective against nerve pain. A combination of Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen has had an effect very similar to opioids but you need to talk to your doctor before doing these combinations.

Topical Creams. Topical creams like Tiger balm don’t necessarily make the pain go away as much as they make your body react to the burning/cold sensation, taking away from the other pain. There are these compounds called salicylates that produce the feeling of heat or cold to keep the nerves busy transmitting those sensations of pain instead of pain.

Prescribed Drugs

Antidepressants. There are different pain medications that need a prescription. Some doctors prescribe antidepressants for pain, which seems to be dangerous. There’s only one of that drug that has any connection with pain and that is duloxetine (Cymbalta). But it has a side effect of weight gain, constipation, and suicidal thoughts. Small doses can help with fibromyalgia, headache prevention, and pain due to nerve damage.

Anticonvulsants. Anticonvulsants are dealing with the nervous system. If you have nerve pain it would have some effect but it doesn’t help if you have back pai...

How Can Sleep Help Your Pain?

In this 2nd episode of our 4-part series on pain, Les and I talk about an article on pain relief. Did you know that sleep also helps with dementia? When it comes to easing pain, It will depend on what the pain is. If the pain is caused by inflammation, it tends to go down as you sleep because your body is trying to heal itself. But there are other things that cause pain in your brain. For example, neuro pain. Your brain is running during the day on full but in sleep, your brain is resting so oftentimes the neuro pain also rest along with your brain. This is a combination of healing and calming your body when we’re talking about not skimping on sleep.

If you’re working while you’re sick your sickness is going to last longer. You’re going to feel horrible longer because you didn’t give yourself time to heal. That is why, in any case when it comes to chronic pain sleep is really important.

Combining the Treatments is the Key to Ease Pain

In the last episode, Les touched on the fact that he’s been having pain at night and he’s been taking Ibuprofen so that he can sleep. It’s been helping him wake up with no pain. Also, removing some devices like cell phones, lights, before you sleep, helps. Sometimes when Les is in pain he just gets up and walks around. But a lot of people don’t want to move because it hurts to move. Oftentimes people would have pain and they’ll not use that area of your body that has pain and that is when atrophy comes in. Maintaining an active lifestyle or being proactive will help you feel better if you want to ease the pain.

Physical Activity Can Ease Pain and Improve Your Ability to Move Through the Day

A physical therapist can help you with this, it doesn’t have to be lifetime physical therapy but they can help you. They can offer strength and stretching exercises that are tailored to your own needs and on your own abilities. There are also certain posture improvement programs such as the Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais. These posture improving programs can really help ease the pain. Because as you get older a lot of the pain is in your back and it’s usually because of the bad posture. When Les tries to improve his posture even when he’s walking, it makes a difference.

The article talks about Tai Chi and yoga and how it helps manages pain. But what we’re doing is Qigong, it’s kind of like Tai Chi but it’s more on meditative movement. The article talks about the mind, body connection. That’s what that kind of movement with meditation does, it connects the body and mind. It’s definitely relaxing and you feel less pain after the session.

Mindfulness

Typically, in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, you get 7-10 sessions and the therapist can teach the patient to identify thoughts and behaviors that actually worsen pain and replace them with a new thought pattern designed to calm the nervous system and ease the pain. You can ask your doctor for a referral and you can look for a therapist that has training on this kind of therapy.

When you go to a massage therapist it’s helpful to know what kind of training they’ve had. A chiropractor, for instance, would be helpful because they understand anatomy and physiology. It’s important to pay attention to that because you go to a massage therapist that doesn’t help you might be because they don’t understand your body that well.

Acupuncture also helps with pain but you have to go to somebody who knows what they’re doing and that’s not easy to find necessarily.

Acupuncture, massage therapy and the type of chiropractic that Les was doing are not covered by Medicare. Sometimes when we're dealing with our health,

Today's subject affects 20% of the US population because 1 of 5 adults experience pain. In our audience, it’s probably more than that because as you get older, it's more likely that you’re going to have pain. For the retirement years, this is also a good subject to talk about. My husband Les Briney is joining us for today's show as we discuss, how pain affects people.

Acute and Chronic Pain

As a result of Les’ cancer. He has pain that is semi-chronic. By the way, there are 2 types of pain, there’s acute pain and chronic pain. Acute is usually very sharp pains and they don’t last that long. Chronic pain lasts for more than 6 months. This is according to the definition by Cleveland Clinic.

Les has stage 4 advanced metastatic prostate cancer. Meaning his cancer has spread to several places in his body. But he seems to be doing ok yet feeling some pain. He has acute pain from time to time. When he went for his chemo he has a lot of pain. Mainly the pain was a nerve type as opposed to joint type. The pains are sharp and shooting that occurs on different parts of his body.

Pain Affects People Differently

About 50 million Americans report pain every day. 20 million of that 50 million can’t do their activities of daily living because of that pain. We also have friends who encounter that same problem.

Pain is both a sensory and emotional experience that affects people differently. What's more, there is a difference between how you are confronted with pain and how you go on to tolerate it. Your body has different reactions to try to reduce the pain. That is why it affects people differently.

How Physicians Treat Their Patients

A report prepared by Congress said that for every physician certified in pain care there are more than 28,500 Americans living in chronic pain. Also, doctors treat patients differently depending on what their gender is, ethnic background and all kinds of things. Women, for instance, don’t get necessarily the same reaction to pain when a doctor is a man. 70% of doctors are males. So, you already have some bias there.

Acute pain is treated normally through drugs and it’s a temporary thing. Chronic pain drugs cannot make the pain go away. Also, when you use opioids for chronic pain it becomes less effective over time.

When it comes to older people with pain, they are put off by doctors because they think that it’s expected as you grow older.

Treat Pain Through Combination of Things That You Do

Each person's pain should be treated by a combination of things that you do. It’s not something for chronic pain in particular. It is also not something that you can do once and that will be the end. This is something that you’re going to have to do for probably the rest of your life to try to get rid of the pain. The combination of all the things that the article talked about makes very good sense.

The fact that it’s personal says your combination is going to be different from my combination. In Les’ case, probably the key thing is a combination of sleep and exercise. Because when Les does those things, generally, he feels better. With sleep, if you have pain, you can’t sleep. So, Les’ use Ibuprofen to keep the pain down as such a level for him to sleep. You have to think about other things than pain. That is why you have to move around and occasionally use pain killers.

It is important that you understand the symptoms of pain and how to reduce pain. Dealing with pain whether acute or chronic is difficult but proper knowledge will help a lot in alleviating your problem.

Mentioned in this Episode:

ConsumerReports.org – Real Pain Relief, Now!

In this last episode of our 4 part series, we talk about the article, Multigenerational Families Provide Benefits for Everyone. In the first episode, we talked about Families Living Under One Roof. The second delves into the Pros of Families Living Together. Also, while multigenerational living has its pros it also has its downside, which we discussed in the third episode.

Multigenerational living is one of the hottest trends in housing nowadays. Putting multiple generations under one roof could be a difficult task. However, if done with planning and open communication, it can be successful. A multigenerational household could be meaningful and happy for everyone involved. Anybody who is thinking about entering into this type of living arrangement should follow the tips below to make sure the transition is smooth and stress-free.

Have Family Meetings

Having family meetings depends on the family. In Jonna's household, it’s very calm. There’s a lot of conflict diversion. Not a yelling household. It’s very placid and we don’t do well with hashing out and having a big group discussion. What seems to work for us is to have quiet sharing sessions. One-on-one seems to work better for us.

You have to understand what your loved one is going to be receptive to. After which, create a conversation around that. Your family meetings might be in a big group or they might be a one-on-one conversation so that people are more open. Everybody can have their own style of a family meeting.

Communicate any household Issues with the family members

If you are living in a multigenerational household, communication is key. This goes along with family meetings. In Jonna's house, her husband was doing the laundry and her father also wanted to do the laundry at the same time. So they had to have an intervention. The three of them had to sit down and learn how to communicate with each other on these things. Being open about that communication and being willing to say this isn’t working for me but this way could help. They even had a calendar up so sometimes things get written on the calendar so they know that there won’t be a conflict.

Set Up House Rules in a Multigenerational Home

At the outset of a multigenerational home, you need to be open and honest and set out some ground rules. Jonna tries to avoid conflicts in her multigenerational home. So, what her family did was they created a neutral zone. Early on they just said, your beliefs and values are yours, our views and values are ours. If you want to talk about those beliefs and values do that away from the children and in your own space and vice versa. No politics, religion, and those things that you’re not supposed to talk about at parties. Some families are going to be on the same page and it’s going to work out just fine. They just set the standard early, they had the house rules really clear. It was to protect not only her and her husband but also her father from misunderstanding a conflict.

Establish Financial Responsibilities

For most families, multigenerational or not, money is a sticky subject. Try creating both individual budgets and a shared household budget. The financial bit can definitely be challenging. This is because as an adult child Jonna want to give to her family the whole time. She also had to be very realistic about how long the arrangement might last. Also, why they were doing it in the first place.

Part of her father’s agreement living with them is that they’re building out a second living structure that he’ll have on his own. So,

It Can Be a Daunting Task

People who experience multigenerational homes know that it can sometimes have its downside. But it isn’t all that rare in our close-knit society. Where we often find 3 generations of families living under the same roof.

Sometimes, there comes a time that older adults make the decision to give up their home and move in with their adult children. They may not need complete care at all. But the deeper reason here is that they are unable to stay by themselves anymore. This results in a multigenerational household where seniors, their adult children, and young grandchildren are living together under one roof. It can be a daunting task but so can the benefits. And many families are making this thing work.

The Downside of Families Living Together

When you’re living in a multigenerational household, you are stepping outside as we used to as our cultural norm a little bit. Because there are some differing expectations from what we may have thought we were going to have of our future self-picture. There is some emotional conflict that comes from that. This article goes through how the adult child might feel. How the younger people in the house might feel and how it will affect the oldest adult in the generational house. That is why it wraps up by talking about kind of the emotional bullet points. Points of how to maybe make the transition better or easier. Acknowledging that some of these feelings are going to exist helps with how you manage the downside of multigenerational homes.

Downside for Seniors

My father came to live with us last year. We’ve been a multigenerational household from teens all the way up to 60s for that year. There are some really great aspects just like what we’ve talked about on the last episode. The downsides though are also very real. Before my father moved in, I’ve spent some time creating a contract. The contract was more of an acknowledgment of the emotional place of each person in the household.

Having that very different perspective starting place made some difficulties. While the contract was a good intention, sometimes the fine bits got pushed to the wayside. One of the things that I found really interesting about the integrations is that you have a second chance to learn your parent. You have your child perspective and then your adult perspective. The downside though is that sometimes I think that we become our child self with our parent more than we would in any other situation. And they will adopt those same roles.

Downside for Kids

Depending on their age, it can also be difficult for kids to get accustomed to living with their grandparents. They may enjoy spending time with them and have a close relationship, but they will have to get used to a new routine. They will have to share their parents’ attention with their grandparents. It's because their parents may not be able to do with them as many things as before.

Being Really Honest with Your Loved One is Important

I work with adult children bringing in older adults quite often. Those people that have been most successful are the ones that first off come from a place of charity, and giving, and openness. Even before you ever have somebody live with you. Making sure that your heart is in the right place and that it’s not a chore because it can become a chore. It can get to that place. And if you’re not or already in a place of love and openness, then it makes it that much more complicated.

Also, remember to be an advocate for your loved one. Not feeling like you’re doing them a certain favor by having them in your space. But actually, that you’re advocating for their health and happiness. That you want the best for them and you feel like that’s living with y...

Functional and Engaging

There are about 49 million families living together in the US. And most of them are in their 20s. From sharing chores to expenses and everything in between. This multigenerational lifestyle is proving to be functional and engaging for many Americans.

There are many upsides to multigenerational living. These days, it’s typical for both partners to work to make ends meet, which raises the issue of childcare. There’s also the problem of finance. Huge mortgages undoubtedly stretch family budgets and relationships.

Multigenerational Living is Changing

A lot of us are out there working hard but it is a different environment then. Things are changing and moving so fast that being a little bit older on the scale. The technology the younger millennials are using blows my mind. It's hard to keep up a little bit.

The economy has changed a lot. Therefore, the job market has changed. So the trend for families living together is really changing. That is because of the factors we talked about in the last episode. Which pertains to the job market and the housing crunch.

Families Living Together Gives Emotional Bonding

You spend 18 – 20 years with a parent from the perspective of an adolescent and a child. All these wonderful memories and preconceived notions of who your parents are based on that perspective. When you enter into the multigenerational household as an adult. Or as a person in your 30s, 40s, and 50s with somebody in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. You suddenly start to see them from a different perspective. And you get so much more from it and remember it too.

Some of those issues that you have as a child, you get to work out as an adult. You'll get to sit down and talk through without having those uninterrupted moments.

Benefits Older Adults

The experience of older adults living together helps them relive the good things for being a parent. And also be part of that in an intimate way. A lot of assisted living communities are bringing in intergenerational programs. And these aren't even kids that are related to them.

You're creating a program so that the children and the teens are understanding what it means to spend time with older generations. That is to say, you're bringing those children in to benefit from the knowledge, wisdom, and patience of our older people. It gives benefit to both sides.

Even with people who have undergone a divorce. Having that stable adult makes a difference in how well the kids acclimate to the new situation. And it seems that having more people that care about you when you're going through the fact that you're parents are breaking can definitely help. Even from the perspective of the adult having that support makes a huge difference.

Financial Benefit

Having that multigenerational element does take the pressure off financially. A lot of people are living together due to financial reasons. Grandparents could help care for young children. Adult children living together can save money while going to school, finding a job. Or saving money to buy a home of their own.

Just the benefit of freedom and being able to know that there's somebody else who you can pass the torch onto an event. And I wouldn't necessarily have without the benefit of the multigenerational household.

The success of families living together means choosing a way of living that best utilizes the resources of the extended family while fostering closeness. To them, multigenerational living is not a way to live, but a way to thrive.

About Our Co-Host

Jonna Overson is the Founder of Green Tree Home Care – a business that provides Care Professionals in the homes of clients so they can stay safe, cared for,

Is It Time to Rethink?

The multigenerational American family household or in other terms families living under one roof is staging a comeback. It's driven in part by different aspects such as economic stability and also a cultural side of the matter.

The idea that you grow up, go to college, or get a job and get married. Having this beautiful house in the suburbs with two kids is not the way it was in the US. In fact, that's a relatively new phenomenon from the 40s and 50s in that era. So what we think of is normal is kind of a short blip in the American cultural history. There was such a boom in the economy during that time and then with the recession and the rising house prices. It really does seem like that American dream style from that era is shifting a little bit. We're seeing that people are now more creative with their family living arrangements.

The Norm of Living Under One Roof

This norm that we think of that where the parents live in one house, the adult children live in another, and the young adults have their own apartment. That is not the only way to live. And other cultures are bringing a different view of how families live. The fact that America's demographics are changing is influencing that there are more families living under one roof. It's not an unusual thing. People are starting to realize that there's a benefit of having that multigeneration experience in one home. And having more adults in the household is a benefit to helping the kids grow up into good humans

New Technologies Affects How We Live Today

The motivations to bring your parents into your home isn't affected as much as we think it is. It's because there are now opportunities for people to remain where they choose. And the technologies that we didn't have before. Technology opened up a world of possibility for people who need extra help. Giving the people tools that reduce the need for home care keep them independent longer.

A Beneficial Way to Live Under One Roof

As property prices rise, multigenerational living will grow in popularity over time. But bringing the generations under one roof can be easier in a house designed to meet the needs of each family member for privacy and togetherness.

And that means a reassessment of the functions inside of a family home. And also how we go about building, expanding and protecting these houses. As they become home to a growing number of different generations all living under the same roof.

About Our Co-Host

Jonna is the Founder of Green Tree Home Care – a business that provides Care Professionals in the homes of clients so they can stay safe, cared for, and comfortable at home.

Jonna discovered a passion for working with the senior community 7 years ago. She is also part of the sandwich generation. She understands the challenge of balancing the needs of marriage, growing teens, and aging parents.

She is an expert on helping family members stay in their own home and was on the show before. You can hear her original interview on episode 24 when the show was still pretty new.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Karen Sternheimer – The Return of Multigenerational Households

www.trustedhousesitters.com

This post about retirement and retirement lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com

In the first of four, we discussed how the aging brain affects how you think. The second of four in the series brought you Is your Memory Normal. In the 3rd of four, we’re talking about Alzheimer’s disease, and finally, in today's session, we’re going to talk about how to improve your memory.

Is it possible to increase brain power?

If you've ever found yourself forgetting where you left your keys or having problems with people's names or things, then you have probably wished that your memory was a bit better. Fortunately, there are plenty of things that you can do to help improve your memory.

So how will you increase brain power? Let’s dive straight into these easy ways to increase brain power significantly.

We Have to Exercise Our Brain

What you need to do to increase brain power is do something new, something you've never done before. Furthermore, it has to be challenging. Exercising your brain is good but you can't do it solo. You've got to exercise your body in conjunction with your brain.

Challenging your brain makes you sharper and more effective at remembering. Mental challenges like studying complex concepts, make simple tasks like remembering names at a party seem like a piece of cake.

Do Physical Exercise to Increase Brain Power

You have to physically exercise your body and what that does is that it jiggles your stem cells. And your stem cells pop out new neurons. Neurons help you think. They're your train of thought, your subconscious thought, and your conscious thought. If you don't connect those neurons to some older neurons to help get it growing, nurture it and mentor that neuron to get it productive, tt's gonna shrivel up and die.

You really want to keep your stress in check. A great way to keep your stress in check is exercise. Here's an exercise lesson. Using an Elliptical, do HIIT exercise for 7 minutes. First, warm up 1-2 minutes. Then, go 30 seconds with the most energy you can give on that Elliptical. And after that 30 seconds slow down. You can be super slow and do that for a minute and a half. Do that 7 times. That's gonna help you get that sweat going and also help increase brain power.

Get your Zzzz's

If you’re sleep deprived or have not been sleeping well, then I’m guessing you’re not remembering well either. This is because sleep and memory are intimately connected. Your brain needs downtime to stay sharp and help increase brain power. If you don't get enough sleep, you'll tax your memory and start forgetting things. Stay rested so you can keep your mind alert.

Make Time for Friends

That's part of what I've called the 4 C's of successful aging. And that is care, connect, commit and concentrate. When it comes to improving memory, maintaining health and facing life’s challenges, friendship can truly be a blessing. Strong social ties through friends can preserve our brain health as we age, while social isolation may be a key risk factor for cognitive decline.

Have a Laugh

Spend time with fun, playful people because they're fun to be around. Be around fun, energetic, playful, fit people who can help influence your exercise as well.

Brain-Boosting Diet

We create more neurotransmitters that talk to our neurons in our gut than we do in our head. And so it's very important to eat the right food. You just got to make sure you eat all good, clean, healthy, natural foods. That is so important to keep your brain functioning and focusing. It's not just your head brain but also your gut brain.

Alzheimer's and how the disease progresses

A lot of older people forget someone’s name or misplace things from time to time. This kind of forgetfulness is normal. But, signs of a more serious problem are things such as forgetting how to get home or getting confused in places a person knows well or asking questions over and over. These are initial signs of Alzheimer's. Janet Rich Pittman and I are talking about an article on Alzheimer's and how the disease progresses. 

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. The disease progresses slowly and gradually and worsens over time. Eventually, it will affect most areas of your brain. Memory, thinking, judgment, language, problem-solving, personality and movement can all be affected by the disease.

Types of Dementia

Dementia is when a vast amount of brain cells die in a certain section of your brain and this causes your brain to misfunction. To clarify Alzheimer's is a disease and a type of dementia. Every Alzheimer's is different. Therefore, no two types of Alzheimer's are exactly the same.

There are a number of types of dementia, and Alzheimer's is one of them. Majority of the dementias in our world is Alzheimer's, about 87%. Other dementias that people are familiar with are vascular dementia (stroke). Also, there's Lewy Body, Parkinson's, Pick's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, Huntington's, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou-Gehrig disease, and HIV Aids.

How Alzheimer's Disease Progresses

Although every person with Alzheimer's disease progresses differently, it is possible to divide its typical progression into a series of stages. The beginning, the middle and the end.

However, it is essential to make sure that a person with dementia has a good quality of life with the condition and that their needs are met, rather than focusing on what stage they might have reached.

Mild Alzheimer's

Mild is the beginning stages and it lasts a few years. Alzheimer's disease is often diagnosed at this stage. Dementia/Alzheimer's is officially diagnosed when you have 2 or more cognitive impairments in your brain.

Cognitive impairments are those are your ability to focus and pay attention, reasoning and judgment, senses, and visual perception. The very first one that goes is brain endurance, which is your brain energy. The second cognitive thing that you lose is your gait. Other symptoms include having less energy and drive to do things, trouble with driving, language problems, loss of recent memories, and mild coordination problems. Also, depression is a precursor and that is why you gotta beat that depression.

Moderate Alzheimer's

During this stage of Alzheimer's disease, people grow more confused and forgetful and begin to need more help with daily activities and self-care. And it can last 2 – 10 years. Symptoms include rambling speech, trouble coming up with the right words, using the wrong words, and hard time planning and solving problems. Getting angry or upset easily, and sometimes lashing out at family or caregivers. Sleeping is also another problem at this stage.

Another symptom of moderate Alzheimer is that your senses dilapidate. You're not able to smell very well. In addition, your ability to taste especially salt and sugar is weakened. That is why It makes you wanna eat more and more.

Severe Alzheimer's

In the late stage of the disease, the mental function continues to decline, and the disease has a growing impact on movement and physical capabilities. It lasts 1 – 10 years.

Now you have a major confusion of what's in the past and what's happening now. And that's the beginning of the end. It goes further to the fact where they quit talking. They may know your face but not know your name. Many people at this stage are physically impaired that is why caregivers are important.