Top ways to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with those who have dementia

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Healthnews-stat.com

5779  marks the beginning of another year. 5.9 million Americans have dementia. A good number of them are Jewish. What can you do to make someone with dementia feel good this Rosh Hashanah?

How celebrating this holy day helps uplift their spirit and yours

Here are some suggestions

Pray with them.

Most folks with dementia have strong ties to their religion. Even those with advanced dementia may spontaneously recite portions of a prayer service that was part of their past.
The problem may be to find a service that is appropriate. The traditional service is long and crowded.
Here are a few suggestions
*Go at the beginning or end of the service. That is when the least amount of congregants is in attendance.
*Contact some assisted living or nursing homes in the area. Many of them have short simple services highlighting the important prayers. This is a win, win situation. You can see what a place is like, and most often, activity directors love having visitors attend group activities. It makes all involved feel good. If this is not possible, have a short service at home. If you explain the situation to the Rabbi, he or she will let you borrow or buy a prayer book. He may even drop by for a visit. Alternatively, you can find some prayers online. Make sure to include some songs in your service or just sing the songs throughout the holiday. A good song might be: Shalom Aleichem

Carry on a family tradition

All families have something special they do during the high holidays. Of course, most families go to a synagogue. What about after that? Maybe you went to Aunt Betty’s. Aunt Betty may no longer be around, but you can recreate the atmosphere that was there. Invite one or two understanding friends to help you with this. The memories of visiting Aunt Betty will be there

Related to this is talking about past experiences on Rosh Hashanah or other holidays.

Discuss what happened at Aunt Betty’s. Regale a story about a funny experience that took place at Aunt Betty’s.
Do not ask: Do you remember?, but rather, just tell the story and let your loved one with dementia add comments. Talk about family members both past and present. You might say: "When Uncle Harry shook the table, he made us all laugh". Tell some jokes and laugh some more. Laughter is the best medicine

Eat a traditional meal or foods together

This activity can wake up the taste buds of a dementia person. Before the holiday, discuss the recipes. Talk about the different ingredients you need. Prepare a simple recipe together. Plan the meal. Ask: What should we eat first?etc.
Have him or her help set the table or fold the napkins.
You can talk about favorite family foods. Then make sure you have some of these favorites during the actual meal.

No matter what you do the goal is to make your loved one with dementia, feel good. Do not be a stickler for the rules. Reward good tries. If you feel a need to go to a traditional service, hire someone or have a friend go with you. If the service is too much for the dementia person, the friend can take him for a walk or take him home. Often congregants feel a need to take a break from the service whether they have dementia or not.

With some planning, this Rosh Hashanah, 5779, can be a good one for you and your loved one with dementia

Alzheimer's personality and behavior changes

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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]

ADEAR
n dementia, the brain loses a number of abilities. This can change a person's personality and behavior. Use this tip sheet's suggestions to better understand them.

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Changes in the way people act can be one of the biggest challenges in caring for people with Alzheimer's. 

There is much you can do to smooth the journey.

COMMON CHANGES IN PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR

Common personality and behavior changes you may see include:

• Getting upset, worried, and angry more easily
• Acting depressed or not interested in things
• Hiding things or believing other people are hiding things
• Imagining things that aren't there
• Wandering away from home
• Pacing a lot
• Showing unusual sexual behavior
• Hitting you or other people
• Misunderstanding what he or she sees or hears

You also may notice that the person stops caring about how he or she looks, stops bathing, and wants to wear the same clothes every day.
In addition to changes in the brain, other things may affect how people with
Alzheimer's behave:

• Feelings such as sadness, fear, stress, confusion, or anxiety
• Health-related problems, including illness, pain, new medications, or lack of sleep
• Other physical issues like infections, constipation, hunger or thirst, or problems seeing or hearing
• Problems in their surroundings, like too much noise or being in an unfamiliar place

If you don't know what is causing the problem, call the doctor. It could be caused by a physical or medical issue. 

KEEP THINGS SIMPLE… AND OTHER TIPS

Caregivers cannot stop Alzheimer's-related changes in personality and behavior, but they can learn to cope with them. Here are some tips:

1. Keep things simple. Ask or say one thing at a time.
2. Have a daily routine, so the person knows when certain things will happen.
3. Reassure the person that he or she is safe and you are there to help.
4. Focus on his or her feelings rather than words. For example, say, "You seem worried."
5. Don't argue or try to reason with the person.
6. Try not to show your frustration or anger. If you get upset, take deep breaths and count to 10. If it's safe,
7. leave the room for a few minutes.
8. Use humor when you can.
9. Give people who pace a lot a safe place to walk.
10. Try using music, singing, or dancing to distract the person.
11. Ask for help. For instance, say, "Let's set the table" or "I need help folding the clothes."

Talk with the person's doctor about problems like hitting, biting, depression, or hallucinations. Medications are available to treat some behavioral symptoms.

MORE INFORMATION: 
For more caregiving tips and other resources:

• Read "Caring for a Person with Alzheimer's Disease":
• Visit www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/caregiving
• Call the ADEAR Center toll-free:
  1-800-438-4380

SOURCE:

• The Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center is a service of the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. The Center offers information and publications for families, caregivers, and professionals about Alzheimer's disease and age-related cognitive changes.

High iron, copper levels block brain-cell DNA repair

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Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities



EurekAlert

Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

High iron, copper levels block brain-cell DNA repair
Discovery could shed light on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders
GALVESTON, Texas — No one knows the cause of most cases of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders. But researchers have found that certain factors are consistently associated with these debilitating conditions. One is DNA damage by reactive oxygen species, highly destructive molecules usually formed as a byproduct of cellular respiration. Another is the presence of excessive levels of copper and iron in regions of the brain associated with the particular disorder.

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have discovered how these two pieces of the neurodegenerative disease puzzle fit together, a connection they describe in a review article in the current Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. A high level of copper or iron, they say, can function as a "double whammy" in the brain by both helping generate large numbers of the DNA-attacking reactive oxygen species and interfering with the machinery of DNA repair that prevents the deleterious consequences of genome damage.

"It's been suggested that an imbalance of DNA damage and repair produces a buildup of unrepaired genetic damage that can initiate neurodegenerative pathology," said postdoctoral fellow Muralidhar Hegde, lead author of the paper. "We don't yet know enough about all the biochemical mechanisms involved, but we have found multiple toxic mechanisms linking elevated iron and copper levels in the brain and extensive DNA damage — pathological features associated with most neurodegenerative disorders."

Humans ordinarily have small amounts of iron and copper in their bodies — in fact, the elements are essential to health. But some people's tissues contain much larger quantities of iron or copper, which overwhelm the proteins that normally bind the metals and sequester them for safe storage. The result: so-called "free" iron or copper ions, circulating in the blood and able to initiate chemical reactions that produce reactive oxygen species.

"Reactive oxygen species cause the majority of the brain cell DNA damage that we see in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well as most other neurodegenerative disorders," Hegde said. "It's bad enough if this damage occurs on one strand of the DNA double helix, but if both strands are damaged at locations close to each other you could have a double-strand break, which would be fatal to the cell."

Normally, special DNA repair enzymes would quickly mend the injury, restoring the genome's integrity. But experiments conducted by Hegde and his colleagues showed that iron and copper significantly interfere with the activity of two DNA repair enzymes, known as NEIL1 and NEIL2.

"Our results show that by inhibiting NEIL1 and NEIL2, iron and copper play an important role in the accumulation of DNA damage in neurodegenerative diseases," Hegde said.

The researchers got a surprise when they tested substances that bond to iron and copper and could protect NEIL1 from the metals. One of the strongest protective agents was the common South Asian spice curcumin, which also has been shown to have other beneficial health effects.

"The results from curcumin were quite beautiful, actually," Hegde said. "It was very effective in maintaining NEIL activity in cells exposed to both copper and iron."

Alzheimer’s Disease: Women Affected More Often than Men

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Written by Society for Women

Nearly 5.3 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in our country, and more than half of them are women, according to the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md. As the general population continues to age, this number is expected to increase significantly over the next few decades.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a group of brain disorders that interferes with a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. In AD, areas of the brain change and deteriorate, which causes a decline in cognition and memory functioning. In some patients, the deficits are large enough to get in the way of performing normal, everyday tasks.

There is evidence that AD affects women differently than men. “Many studies of gender differences in cognition have pointed to greater language deficits in women with Alzheimer’s disease as compared to men,” explains Michael S. Rafii, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Memory Disorders Clinic and an attending neurologist at the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego.

“Naming and word-recognition skills have been reported to be more adversely affected in female patients with AD than in male patients, and the differences have been shown to be sustained over time.”

Notable sex and gender differences in behavior among Alzheimer patients have been observed as well. “Male patients exhibit greater problems than female patients in wandering, abusiveness and social impropriety, particularly in the more advanced stages of the disorder,” Rafii points out. In fact, major tranquilizers and behavior management programs are used more frequently on male patients.

While there is currently no cure for AD, researchers continue to make progress. More drugs are being studied, and researchers have identified several genes associated with the disease. “Recent work has been focused on identifying the molecule that may be causing AD symptoms,” says Rafii. Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins University “discovered a protein complex in the brain that appears to impair memory.”

Combined with sophisticated imaging techniques, this discovery is enabling scientists to take a clear picture of the protein deposits in the brain. According to Rafii, “This could lead to accurate diagnosis of AD at very early stages. Previously, a definitive diagnosis of the disease could only be made through an autopsy after the patient's death, typically at a very late stage of the illness.”

Diagnosing AD can be tricky, especially because many people are under the assumption that forgetfulness is a normal part of the aging process. But patients with AD suffer from much more than simple memory lapses. Here are a few common signs and symptoms of the disease:

- Persistent forgetfulness or memory loss
- Disorientation
- Problems performing routine tasks
- Inability to express thoughts coherently or finish sentences
- Loss of judgment
- Changes in personality

As in other diseases, early diagnosis is very important for patients with AD. Certain medications have been found to be useful in the earlier stages of the disease, so the sooner the diagnosis is made, the better.

Rate of memory decline differs by dementia type

Reuters UK

By Scott Baltic

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rate at which people with dementia lose their memory differs significantly according to the type of dementia they have, new research from France suggests. The research also highlights the importance of early health care in elderly people who develop dementia.

After Alzheimer's disease (AD) alone, AD with cerebrovascular disease and vascular dementia are the leading causes of dementia. Vascular dementia is often associated with stroke. High blood pressure and smoking are risk factors.

Little is known about the progression of either AD with cerebrovascular disease or vascular dementia, Dr. Florence Pasquier of Hopital Salengro in Lille and colleagues note.

To investigate, they followed......read the whole story

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