Without a doubt, the topic I am most asked about by family caregivers of older adults through this website is Alzheimer’s disease.
Sure the questions vary some and incorporate other topics too like housing, day-to-day care, medication and Medicare. But Alzheimer’s and the dementia it produces are almost always the reason for the questions. It’s really not hard to understand why.
An 85-year-old’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia is about 50%.
Are you surprised by that statistic?
I was too.
It means that there are a lot of you out there who are providing care to an older adult with this disease – five million of you, in fact.
Some of you have support from your family, your friends, your boss, while others of you are much more isolated and may be feeling extremely overwhelmed by your experience. The reality of Alzheimer’s changes everything.
If you’re not caring for someone with this disease, perhaps the statistic I mentioned above really got your attention.
And if you let it sink in, Alzheimer’s stops being an illness that other people deal with and starts becoming one that you may have to deal with.
That reality can also change everything.
Regardless of which camp you fall into, my goal is to provide you with useful information about Alzheimer’s and to begin a discussion about how to manage the care of someone with this illness.
For the sake of convenience, I’ve broken this article up into several posts. Below is a list of each topic I’ll cover in the coming weeks, so you can easily find the parts that are most relevant to you.
As always, I hope you’ll share your thoughts and questions by adding them to the comments section or by contacting me directly.
Without further ado, here’s the list:
- The 3 Things You Most Need to Know About Alzheimer’s Disease
- Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s – What’s the Difference?
- Is It Really Alzheimer’s or Age-Related Forgetfulness?
- The Stages of Alzheimer’s – What You Need to Know
- Is Alzheimer’s Preventable?
- How to Care for Someone with Alzheimer’s Without Losing Yourself
- Who Was Dr. Alzheimer and What Did He Find?
Related posts:
- The Most Important Questions to Ask at the Early Stage of Alzheimer’s Disease
- A Guide to Planning Care in the Middle Stage of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s – What’s the Difference?
- The 3 Things You Most Need to Know about Alzheimer’s
- Alzheimer’s
- Who Was Alzheimer and What Did He Find?
- Elder Care 101
