Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia: A Guide for Families

by Andrew E. Budson, Maureen K. O'Connor

Your needs as a caregiver are just as important as those your family member with Alzheimer's Disease or dementia. This book will provide just the insight and guidance you need.


Caregiving for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease or dementia is hard. It's hard whether you're caring for your spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, other family member, or friend. Even if you had an extra ten hours each day to do it, it's hard to manage all the problems that come with dementia. And caring for a loved one with dementia can sometimes feel like a long, lonely journey.

Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia can help, addressing concerns such
· Is the problem Alzheimer's, dementia, or something else?
· How do you approach problems in dementia?
· How do you manage problems with memory, language, and vision?
· How do you cope with emotional and behavioral problems?
· What are the best ways to manage troubles with sleep and incontinence?
· Which medications can help?
· Which medications can actually make things worse?
· How do you build your care team?
· Why is it important to care for yourself?
· How do you sustain your relationship with your loved one?
· How do you plan for the progression of dementia?
· How do you plan for the end and beyond?

Six Steps to Managing Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia is comprehensive yet written in an easy-to-read style, featuring clinical vignettes and character-based stories that provide real-life examples of how to successfully manage Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Medical, Health

352 pages, Hardcover

Published September 20, 2021

Reviews

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching and beautiful book on various types of dementia. It provides possible solutions and insights into dealing with the symptoms as a caregiver.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an easy-to-read, comprehensible introduction to a complex, complicated situation, including proper terminology to educate and advise caregivers.

[Lorette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incomplete book. Overall, I found this to be somewhat a romanticized, incomplete understanding of what this diagnosis means for families, and spoke to a privileged subset.

There has to more than a page of discussion about the financial realities of supporting somebody with these conditions. It is a substantial cost that most can't afford. There has to be some discussion of how to interact with insurance companies who fight and deny coverage. There needs to be some real talk about when you hire people to help, you are now managing a team; some are trained, some aren't. Some are consistent, some aren't. Neurologists that want you to address depression or anxiety "first" while the literature is replete with how pervasive these co-exisiting conditions are; and no, psychotherapy or CBT for those with dementia doesn't seem to work because they aren't able to accurately reflect, report, have insight, etc. I also found the many instances of using technology to be specious, not seriously feasible for many with these conditions beyond the most mild.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

What You’ll Learn
In-depth explanations about dementia (that your health professional may not afford the time to explain), a glossary of terms, and a 12-page topical index.
Verbiage, suggestions, and tactics to using the 4 R’s: Reassure, Reconsider, Redirect and Relax that will help you address concerns with communication, home safety, diet, incontinence, and more.
A list of resources that I wasn’t familiar with or had forgotten about,

[Vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive, digestible introduction to what the process of diagnosis and treatment look like for a variety of forms of dementia. You’ll need to do more reading about cost management or resource location in your state, but this book is an excellent jumping off point for the tired caregiver or relative

[Sherry Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very informative, very helpful, easy to read and could be emotional at times to read. I highly recommend this book for anyone going through this.

[Christine Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great beginners book on understanding Alzheimer’s
and dementia!