Elder Care Cafe

When I was growing up it seemed that nutrition wasn’t on the forefront of the minds of my grandparents. They were more interested in raising crops and keeping their animals in healthy. The women were more concerned about keeping their household together as a whole.

Without the modern conveniences we have now, they spent their days cleaning house, washing and drying clothes, tending their gardens and making sure there was enough food on the table when it was time to eat. While good nutrition wasn’t even thought of or discussed, they were getting the activity they needed to keep their bodies strong.

It wasn’t until the last couple of decades that healthy eating even came into focus for most people. Now not a day or sometimes even a moment goes by that we don’t see, hear, or discuss good nutrition in some manner. This topic is not only at the forefront of many peoples goals for healthy living long into their later, but it is a must for aging seniors. [Read more →]

My mother fought the battle of the bulge for many years, usually counting calories as a way to keep herself from gaining too much weight. However, as her dementia worsened over time she began gaining more weight than she needed because she no longer had the control to stop. By the time she entered the nursing home she had become quite heavy.

We were concerned that the added weight would be detrimental to her health, but one of the nurses told us that she might need that weight later on if she lost her appetite. That is exactly what happened as she began to slim down due to lack of a desire for food.

That happens to a lot of people as they grow older. For various reasons, many seniors lose their desire to eat, are too ill, or forget that they have not eaten lately.

Several reasons why seniors lose the desire to eat can include dentures that don’t fit, dementia, depression, thyroid disease, difficulty swallowing, or even the lack of taste due to the drugs they are taking.  [Read more →]

As most of us who are over sixty have already figured out, as we age our body and our mind seem to slow down with often disturbing results. As much as we try, we cannot perform as we once did, either physically or mentally. It is frustrating for those of us who lived an active life, to not be able to participate in physical activities. However, we know that this is a part of aging so we decline invitations to get back into the game and find ourselves sitting on the sideline while watching others have fun.

What we find even more disturbing is when we have problems of the brain – aka slow brain.

When our ability to think slows down we find often ourselves struggling with board or memory games. We struggle trying to remember the names of people from our past or even those we currently associate with. Or we find that we can no longer remember situations that we would like to share from our earlier years. We have a quick mental picture of what we want to share, but then our brain seems to momentarily shut down and we can’t get the words out. [Read more →]

Carol Bradley Bursack has written one of the most eye-opening articles I’ve read in a long time. The title is Who Is Worse Off: People with Alzheimer’s or Their Caregivers? There is a link to the article below. I just wanted to make people aware of the article in case they didn’t see it and to add my two cents.

As a caregiver of an 89-year-old who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, I know that my future with Dad is going to be a rough one. We’ve already been together six years with all its inherent struggles with his health. This newest diagnosis means that we will need to step up to the plate as he struggles with this disease. [Read more →]

This article is a guest post from Brian McGovern of ElderKind.com. I really appreciate Brian’s message about arthritis and hope you do too. Be sure to check out his website; the link is at the bottom of this article.

Arthritis is a chronic illness that affects millions of senior citizens. The disease causes joint inflammation that is painful and causes stiffness that severely restricts mobility. Joints anywhere in the body can be afflicted.

There are different types of arthritis, the most common being osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis. Each variation has multiple causes and presents its own unique symptoms. Some forms of the disease are believed to be caused or aggravated by diet; others may be hereditary simply associated with aging. [Read more →]

One of the most challenging concepts we’ve had to embrace in recent years is that our biological clock has been ticking for a very long time. In fact, the aches and pains of arthritic knees and joints, decreased stamina and strength, loss of flexibility and reduced vision are now a growing reality.  While it would be very easy to give in to depression, what most of us would rather do is to think about what we still have going for us and work toward remaining as independent as we can for as long as possible.

The other issue is that when we were working over the years, we could almost always depend on fairly regular income increases either through our employer or by changing jobs and moving up in the work world. Once we retire and get involved with Social Security (for those of us in the United States), we pretty much become locked into an income that probably will rarely if ever increase. [Read more →]

Now that we baby boomers are in our mid-sixties, we are speaking out about issues that have plagued the elderly for many years. One of the issues that I can certainly relate to is the fear of losing my independence. As I watched my grandparents become more dependent on mom and dad, and now seeing the same thing happen to my father as he becomes more dependent on me, it is much easier to see the struggle that we have to accept as reality. Yes, we are growing older. And, yes, we need to adjust our lives to that fact so that we can continue to live independently as long as possible.

One of the main concerns we have is how to live safely in our own homes. As I write this, my father is still in rehab after a serious fall in the bathroom. Various nursing home employees are working diligently to get him in good enough shape that he can return to his home. That he is now 89-years-old says something about longevity, but it also attests to the fact that he remained active well into his elder years. [Read more →]

It’s getting nearer that time of year when we again start to spend more time outdoors. After all, summer is a wonderful time to have fun and enjoy the many activities that we could not participate in when we were cooped up all winter. It is even more enjoyable to go on vacation in the summer time than it is in the midst of winter, especially if you live in colder climate.

While spending more time in the great outdoors sounds wonderful, there are certain restrictions that we need to be aware of depending on our age. We have to accept the fact that our body is not as flexible and willing to cooperate as in the past. Play Frisbee in the park may sound like fun, but the older you get the less likely your body will agree. [Read more →]

Starting about when we are 40-years-old until about the age of seventy when we enter our elder years, our bodies tend to begin the aging process. How quickly we age depends on a number of factors, but mainly depends on what type of life style we are living.  If you are near the upper end of that range, you will already know how your body, mind, and other factors have already made a difference in how you look and feel.

As we grow older, there is a lot of change taking place in our body and our mind. How we approach those changes is just as important as the changes themselves. If we are willing to living a healthy lifestyle, the changes won’t be as dramatic or as quickly realized as if we are completely ignoring the health experts when they tell us how we can stay healthy. [Read more →]

Last Friday I got up close to my usual early morning time. Love working online early in the a.m. I was going great guns and getting a lot accomplished with my online work when I went into the kitchen for my third cup of coffee around 8:30 a.m.   I glanced into Dad’s bedroom to see if he was okay, which I always do, but he wasn’t there. His bathroom light wasn’t on but the nightlight was so I decided to check further. [Read more →]

There are so many myths associated with aging that it is difficult to know where to begin. People who labor under the misconception that loss of memory, shaky legs and a touch of deafness is what aging is all about, couldn’t be more wrong. Statistics have revealed some startling figures – there is a vast majority of people around the world who live quite comfortably and independently into their 90s and even cross the century mark.

In fact, there is a large percentage of this majority who don’t have any debilitating disease and can live independently until it is time to go gently into the good night. [Read more →]

Nowadays researchers have a classification for every age group from the very young to the very old. As us baby boomers move into our mid-sixties, reaching that elite group of senior citizens often brings a new classification into our personal lives – we are now either classified as young seniors or old seniors depending on the person’s age.

As most single, widowed or divorced seniors know, with growing old comes loneliness. Because invariably the children have grown and left home and divorce or death has left the person alone.  The dating concept soon begins to surface because let’s face it no one wants to live alone! [Read more →]

We visited this topic a couple of times over the years, but I think it is important enough to bring it before our eyes once again. After downsizing from Dad’s long-time home, a fairly large 2-story house, to a much smaller apartment he must take care that he doesn’t trip and fall.

He is using a walker almost all the time – I cringe when he tries to walk on his own at 89-years-old. But, if he doesn’t use the walker he sways back and forth like he is about to go down. Therefore, we stress to him that he must continue to use an aid when walking. [Read more →]

In recent years researchers studying all things concerning Alzheimer’s and dementia have seen a connection between lack of sleep and the disease. The question they are most concerned about now is whether the lack of sleep is due to Alzheimer’s or is it the other way around – is the disease causing sleep deprivation?

A study funded by the nonprofit Ellison Medical Foundation and the National Institutes of Health found frequent night awakening are linked to signs of Alzheimer’s. The findings are being presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in New Orleans in April, 2012. [Read more →]

Recently the American Psychological Association’s (APA) released a report highlighting the role stress plays on the health of caregivers and people who suffer from a chronic disease. We’ve known for many years that caregivers are overwhelmed with the role they play in caring for their aging loved one or a family member who is chronically ill and needs constant care.

The report, Stress in America: Our Health at Risk reveals caregivers suffer from high levels of stress and poorer health than their counterparts who are not responsible for giving care to another person. The report also showed that those who are caregivers also participate in unhealthy behavior in order to reduce their stress. [Read more →]