Blog
Making the Case for Dementia Care
I was recently corresponding with David Tate, a San Francisco Attorney who specializes in estates, trusts and elder/disability litigation. He told me that he’s seeing more cases of conservators...
When things get plugged up
One of the most common problems I encounter doing my rounds of geriatric house calls is that elders’ bowels do not always move regularly. This may not sound very serious, but it is. Constipation may...
The key is specialized dementia care
What is the best way to assure safety and quality care in assisted living for dementia? The key is specialized dementia care. Frail elders with dementia are difficult enough to care for in general,...
What About Money? Don’t Avoid the Topic
Money poses one of the most difficult issues for patients with dementia and the people who love them. I’ve met families in which one person has helped manage the elder’s finances for a reasonable...
My elder feels dizzy all the time. What should we do?
As I drive around the San Francisco Bay Area doing house calls, I often see patients who are complaining of dizziness. It’s important to remember that that people with dementia often have a...
I’ve Tried Everything, But My Elder Is Still Out of Control
Recently, I corresponded on-line with a woman named Denise. Denise was at the end of her rope. She was caring for her parents in her home. She tried to take their dementia into account at all times....
Good Manners Do Not Equal Capacity
I have a patient who has fairly advanced dementia. She has trouble speaking, but she still knows what day it is. When people come to visit, she recognizes them and makes appropriate comments, though...
Heat Tips for Elders
Elderly people (that is, people aged 65 years and older) are more prone to heat stress than younger people for several reasons: Elderly people do not adjust as well as young people to sudden changes...
Financial Decision Making Capacity: “The MMSE Is 26; Everything Is Going to Hell; What to Do?”
Again and again, I am called in to help families who say that their elder’s mental function, measured by the “Mini Mental Status Exam” (MMSE-The quick test, that asks questions like, “What day is...
Agitation: Behavioral Intervention Is Always Best
We overmedicate our elders with dementia and agitation. When they are bored, and get restless or come asking questions for the 30th time, all too many people just treat them for “anxiety.” When they...
Truth Can Be A Tricky Concept
Recently, a caregiver came to me with this story, “A grandmother of a friend was discharged from one hospital to another hospital in the same town. This lady ‘lies through her teeth.’ Then, she...
When Is It Right to Step In?
It’s one of the most difficult questions to answer as an adult child: When does dementia become so serious that your elder is simply no longer able to cope? When is it time to find a geriatric...
Challenges Families Face
Struggles that Geriatric Caregivers Deal With Families and caregivers face many challenges when dealing with a loved one who has Alzheimer’s/dementia. People do not realize that they are suffering...
Dementia Myth No. 3: “Just Give Him a Sleeping Pill. Or a Tranquilizer.”
Almost nothing in my practice drives me more nuts than the relaxed attitude both our society and our medical establishment have toward prescribing sleeping pills and tranquilizers to elders,...
Preventing Dementia, the Basics
The good news: We're living longer. The bad news: By the time we're in our 80s, about half of us will have some form of dementia. For most people, dementia is one of our greatest fears as we face...