Heart-healthy diet may help reduce risk of cognitive decline – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Care – www.OptimumSeniorCare.com

A heart-healthy diet, one lower in saturated fats, benefits both your body and your brain. Research suggests diets that can reduce the risk of heart disease may also reduce the risk of dementia.

Adopt a Healthy Diet

Adopt a Healthy Diet

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Eating a heart-healthy diet benefits both your body and your brain. In general, this is a diet that is lower in saturated fats. Research in the area of the relationship between diet and cognitive functioning is somewhat limited, but it does point to the benefits of two diets in particular: the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet and the Mediterranean diet. These diets can help reduce heart disease and may also be able to reduce risk of dementia.

• Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet
• Mediterranean diet

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)

The DASH diet aims to reduce blood pressure:

• Eat foods that are low in saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol, and high in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy.
• Consume whole grains, poultry, fish and nuts.
• Decrease your intake of fats, red meats, sweets, sugared beverages and sodium.

The Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet incorporates different principles of healthy eating that are typically found in the areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea:

• Focus on fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains.
• Replace butter with healthy fats, like olive oil.
• Limit red meat.
• Use herbs to flavor food rather than salt.
• Eat fish and poultry at least twice a week.

Be a part of breakthrough research

The Alzheimer’s Association is launching a two-year clinical trial researching lifestyle intervention on protecting brain health and potentially reducing the risk of dementia. Our U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) trial will test if combining physical activity, healthy nutrition, social and intellectual challenge and improved self-management of medical conditions can protect cognitive function in older adults who are at increased risk for cognitive decline. Trial recruitment begins this year.

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Join us at Laughs to Remember – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Care – www.OptimumSeniorCare.com

We all know laughter is the best medicine and for anyone impacted by Alzheimer’s; it is a welcome relief from the daily challenges of this disease. Laughs To Remember is a side-splitting event featuring dinner, a silent auction, a raffle and live entertainment by some of Chicago’s best comedic talent to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. Join us as we work to ensure Alzheimer’s doesn’t get the last laugh!

Laughs To Remember

Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 6 p.m. – Concord Place 401 W Lake St, Northlake IL

We all know laughter is the best medicine and for anyone impacted by Alzheimer’s, it is a welcome relief from the daily challenges of this disease.

Laughs To Remember is a side-splitting event featuring dinner, a silent auction, a raffle and live entertainment by some of Chicago’s best comedic talent, to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association.

Join us as we work to ensure Alzheimer’s doesn’t get the last laugh!

Featured Entertainment

Jim Flannigan

Jim Flannigan is a Chicago native and a favorite at comedy clubs, corporate events and colleges across the country. Flannigan has spent the last decade opening for several of the biggest names in comedy as well as headlining his own shows, mixing engaging crowdwork with quick, fast paced jokes. Recently, Jim has made TV appearances on ABC, WGN and WCIU and has performed at some of the top comedy festivals in the US, including the Boston Comedy Festival, Gilda’s LaughFest and The Great American Comedy Festival, honoring the late Johnny Carson.

Russ Williamson

New Jersey native Russ Williamson moved to Chicago in 2005 to pursue a career in comedy. During that time he’s played Chicago’s biggest rooms and has worked with comedy’s biggest names. You may have seen him on the NBC show Chicago Fire or the USA network show Sirens. In 2016, Russ was named Best of the Mid-West at Gilda’s LaughFest. Russ Williamson is well on his way to becoming a household name, and once you see him perform you’ll know why.

Sponsorship

Laughs To Remember is made possible by the generous gifts from our sponsors and donors. Learn more about sponsorship opportunities and/or donating goods or services to the event by contacting Barb Flanagin at 847.324.0372 or bflanagin@alz.org.

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Daughter learns from mother living with Alzheimer’s – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Care – www.OptimumSeniorCare.com

In her work as an author and blogger, Miriam Green shares caregiving stories and recipes she learned from her mother, Naomi, who’s living with Alzheimer’s. Miriam says Naomi is still teaching her new things as she learns to accept the reality of the disease.

This Mother’s Day, we bring you an excerpt from “The Lost Kitchen: Reflections and Recipes of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver” by Miriam Green. Miriam is a long-time contributor to the Alzheimer’s Association blog, sharing both her caregiving stories and recipes she learned from her mother, Naomi, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease.
By the time she gave me all her cookbooks, Mom had almost entirely stopped cooking. She still made sandwiches for lunch, and endless cups of tea, but her more extensive culinary skills had dwindled to zero. We didn’t know exactly what “stage” of Alzheimer’s she had entered, but we recognized it as another in a series of declines.
With Daddy cooking on a daily basis, we joked that he had found his true passion. After years of being a chemist, he’d brought his scientific expertise into the kitchen. And Mom deserved to sit back and let him do the work after all her years of service.
As a reaction to Mom’s diagnosis, I made a commitment to visit my parents on a weekly basis. The idea was to provide as much support as I could as their lives slowly changed. Not only did I want to comfort Mom through this emotional turmoil, but I wanted to counter Daddy’s initial desire to ignore or pull Mom back — often painfully and in anger — from her altering reality. I arranged my schedule so that I could visit my parents in their home in Netanya — a coastal city in Israel — every Tuesday. My challenge was to keep Mom occupied so that Daddy could have a break.
It was a long haul. I’d take the 7 a.m. train from Beer Sheva to Tel Aviv, grab a shared taxi at the train station and arrive in Netanya by 9:30 a.m. My parents would meet me at the central bus station, and then Mom and I would make our way to my Grandmother Millie’s nursing home. When she turned 97, Booba, as we called her, didn’t remember that it was her birthday. Mom, bless her, knowing our birthdays were back-to-back, asked in all seriousness if I was turning 18. (No need to remind her—or myself—that I was almost 50!) As I watched Millie’s 24/7 Philippine caregiver washing, dressing and diapering my grandmother, I kept thinking that soon we’d need to provide this service for Mom, too.
In some ways, she was already lost to me. The mother who had comforted me, taken an interest in my activities, and shaped my knowledge of motherhood, now seemed younger and less capable than I was.
Even something innocuous like saying the “Grace after Meals,” a blessing that religious Jews recite after they eat a meal with bread, became problematic. As I sat at Mom’s table, I recited: “God of compassion, bless my father and my mother, my teachers, hosts of this household.” At first, I felt sad saying those words. Was Mom still my teacher? How could she be? She had taught me many things when I was growing up, some quite practical (how to check eggs in a carton before you buy them), others intangible (that children thrive when you love them unconditionally). But now?
Still, I looked forward to Tuesdays. I saved my errands so that Mom and I would have some direction to our wanderings. We had fun together! We roamed the bustling streets of Netanya window shopping and telling jokes, laughing at all manner of things around us. We stopped for coffee and sipped our drinks in view of the azure Mediterranean. I tried hard to keep our outings stress free. If it meant bending the truth to fit Mom’s reality, that’s what I did.
Sometimes, she informed me she was only 46, making me the older of us two. Or she’d say, puzzled, “Daddy went to work and hasn’t called all day.” I could never tell if she were referring to my dad, who’s been retired for years, or her dad, who, sadly, passed away 19 years ago. Often, she’d ask where “Jack” was, thinking he was a different person from “Daddy.” If I tried explaining that “Daddy” and her husband Jack were the same person, she would utterly reject it. It was easier to lie. “Oh, I spoke to him today. He’s fine. He’ll be home soon.”
“But what has he been doing?” she’d ask.
“You can ask him when you see him,” I’d suggest, thereby setting up an open-ended conversation we replayed many times.
Sometimes she’d admit to being frightened by her memory loss. Other times she wanted to be held. The first time she came into my arms, I felt awkward. She hugged me tight and cried against my chest. I gave her comfort, of course, but I realized my role of child was shifting. What I wanted—to remain her child—could not last.
As a memory exercise, I tried to get her to remember how to prepare some of my favorite dishes that she had made while we were growing up. Clarity would often elude her, though on some days, she’d give me exact measurements and describe the cooking process without hesitation.
There was one recipe I never did succeed in discovering. I remember a luscious trout dish with roasted almonds, grapes and a creamy cheese stuffing. It was absent from all of Mom’s cookbooks, and she never remembered the dish when I prodded her about it.
I do believe that Mom is still teaching me new things. I am learning to accept her reality, to explore ways of stimulating her and keeping her active. I am learning that time can shift as past memories become the present; and that laughter is a precious commodity. I am learning the art of patience. And I am learning to let go of the frustration I feel in losing myself when I am with her.
Reprinted with permission from “The Lost Kitchen: Reflections and Recipes of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver”, Black Opal Books, 2019. © 2019 by Miriam Green.
About the Author: Miriam Green is the author of “The Lost Kitchen: Reflections and Recipes from an Alzheimer’s Caregiver” (Black Opal Books, 2019). She writes a weekly blog at The Lost Kitchen, featuring anecdotes about her mother’s Alzheimer’s and related recipes. Miriam’s poetry has been published in several journals, including Red Wolf Journal, Poet Lore, The Prose Poem Project, Ilanot Review, The Barefoot Review and Poetica Magazine. She holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Bar Ilan University and a B.A. from Oberlin College. You can find Miriam on Facebook and on Twitter.
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“So Many Memories” – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Care – www.OptimumSeniorCare.com

“My wife’s journey started quietly and without warning. Her journey was going to take us down many different twists and turns filled with many different emotions. She was a remarkable wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She was an avid reader, loved to visit with family and friends, and she loved to cook and play with her grandkids. She always worried about everyone else and what they needed. She wanted to make a difference.”

My wife’s journey started quietly and without warning. Her journey was going to take us down many different twists and turns filled with many different emotions. She was a remarkable wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend. She was an avid reader, loved to visit with family and friends, and she loved to cook and play with her grandkids. If I had a question or didn’t know how to spell a word, I would call her to make sure I had it right. She was my Google before there was Google.  If someone needed help she would be the first one to volunteer and the last one to leave. She always worried about everyone else, and what they needed. She wanted to make a difference. 

She started to have brain fog, as she called it, which she attributed to something in her diet. At work, she would be helping a customer and she would forget what she was doing for a minute, and then she would remember it again She was a Reiki Master-Teacher and she started to have trouble putting her study books together. She would always get it done, but it took her a lot of extra time. She had trouble with balancing her checkbook. For a number of years, she dealt with these changes silently…not sharing her struggles with anyone. As things became more difficult, she went to doctors, therapists, physiatrists, and nutritionists leaving no stone unturned. However, she continued to have issues, and they couldn’t figure out what the cause was.   

Then in  November 2011 on the way to work, she was having difficulty following the road and drove into on-coming traffic. Luckily, she did not get into an accident. When she got to work, her boss called a doctor and they advised her to go to the nearest emergency room.  Her boss called me and I met them both at the hospital. They thought that maybe she had a stroke. They did a CT scan and everything was negative. She was sent home and they advised her to see her primary care doctor, a  psychiatrist and a neurologist. She never drove again.  

We continued to meet with doctors and they would tell her that she was depressed. She would argue that she definitely was not depressed. We finally went to visit the Rush Memory Clinic. After reviewing her medical history, more testing, and CT scans – we had a consultation with a doctor. That is when we learned that my wife had posterior cortical atrophy, a rare variant of Alzheimer’s disease that is typically early onset.  My wife said, “Thank You! Finally, somebody told me what I have.” I sat next to her devastated by the news.

She was happy to know what was wrong.  She was going to be positive and handle it like everything else she did: with a positive attitude. She had faith in God and she knew that everything would be in his hands. She would pray to God every day, accepting whatever was in front of her.  She never complained. I was the one complaining… why her, why couldn’t it be me. She always took excellent care of herself, it didn’t make sense.

My son Chris, Deb, me and my daughter Alison.

At the time, her parents lived with us. They would stay with Deb while I was working, and if they went out they would take her with them.  She was with someone all the time, except when she would walk her dog, Angel. I found out from the neighbors that she would sometimes get lost and they would bring her home. She couldn’t do much for herself, so I had decided to quit working in January of 2015. I look back at that time, and I wish I had done it sooner. Being able to help her through her journey was the most rewarding time of my life. I think she really enjoyed having me there all the time.  

She had issues getting dressed and with general overall hygiene. As time went on, she couldn’t read or write. One of the saddest things she told me was that she wasn’t able to play with her grandkids. Sometimes she would think I was her Dad. She was still eating and sleeping well. When she went to bed, she would sleep for 9 to 10 hours. However, one night she went to bed with her dog as usual and a couple of hours later her dog came downstairs.  I knew something was wrong, so I went up and found her at the top of the stairs. She was not sure what to do, I put her back to bed and she went to sleep for the night. That’s was when I realized, we had to move and it worked out that I found a place in the same building as my daughter. 

Her verbal communication became less and less; she couldn’t speak in complete sentences. Our daughter got married in 2015 and the night before the service we had dinner and everybody told a story about the newlyweds. Deb wanted to say something and I was not sure she could do it; however, to my amazement, she spoke beautifully about both of them. I, on the other hand, could not speak at all and just cried.

Early on, I decided Deb would stay home as long as I was able to care for her.  We would stay busy with yoga and meditation four days a week. She would get a massage once a week, and sometimes she would say that she didn’t want to go. But I would take her anyway and then she would really enjoy it. If she didn’t, I would take her back home.  We would go to the City once a week to have lunch with Alison and Jake and go to Cathy and Mario’s once a week for lunch. She really enjoyed getting out. She loved to listen to music and sing. Even after she couldn’t communicate anymore she could still sing songs, especially with my sister.  As her journey continued, crowds and noise would upset her. Usually, if she was upset, I would lay down with her and hold her in my arms and she would normally calm down.

She continued to go to the doctors yearly for her physical and periodically to the memory clinic. Her overall health was very good. The last visit to the Memory Clinic she cried because she couldn’t answer any questions. She was on a slow, continuous decline. She had a great personality, funny with a quick wit, and over time this continued to change. However, at times we would be at someone’s house having a conversation and her quick wit would come out to our surprise, making us aware that she still was with us.

She had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. However they found nothing had changed, so they sent her home. After the seizure, she started to decline more rapidly; sometimes she couldn’t walk. She was still sleeping well at night and spent most of the day in her chair listening to music. 

Her spirit never changed. Her quick wit would show up every now and then, and it would make all of us smile. As she continued to decline,  I focused on trying to make her comfortable. Finally, we had to stop leaving the house. 

It’s really hard to say goodbye. She died at home with her family by her side.  I will end with  one of the last love notes she wrote to me:  “So many memories, and so many years ahead of us still!”

I know what she wants me to do now is to help others.  I will do whatever I can to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s.

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New aspect of dementia could advance Alzheimer’s research – Alzheimer’s – Optimum Senior Care – Chicago In Home Care – www.OptimumSeniorCare.com

Researchers have identified what may be a new cause of, or contributor to, dementia called LATE, short for limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy. While not yet ready for the doctor’s office, scientists believe LATE may shed valuable light on the variability of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and it is expected to drive new areas of research.

More than 5 million people over age 65 suffer from dementia, a number that’s expected to more than double by 2060. But though many of these cases are attributed to Alzheimer’s disease, a report published in the medical journal Brain reveals that in cases involving people older than 80, up to 50 percent may, in fact, be caused by a newly identified form of dementia. It’s called LATE, which is short for limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy.

The news, published last month, is being heralded as a potential breakthrough, as identifying a new type of dementia could be critical for targeting research — for both LATE and Alzheimer’s. In fact, the report included recommended research guidelines as well as diagnostic criteria for LATE.

“This may help explain why so many Alzheimer’s drugs have failed in clinical trials,” says report author Peter Nelson, a neuropathologist at the University of Kentucky. “Now that we’ve clearly identified LATE, this paves the way for us to develop other, ground-breaking treatments.”

Researchers have suspected something like LATE for years, especially among older patients who didn’t seem to exactly fit the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. About a decade ago, scientists linked a certain protein, TDP-43, with two forms of dementia: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig’s disease, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. But this new report reveals it’s much more common than previously realized; indeed, autopsy reports show that up to half of people over age 80 have some form of LATE in their brain, with about a quarter having enough of it to affect their memory and cognition.

“This may help explain why when we autopsy some of the brains of people whom we thought had Alzheimer’s, we don’t see any signs of the disease,” says Nelson. “They most likely had LATE, instead.”

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Part of the confusion stems from the fact that LATE can mimic some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, says Nina Silverberg, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers Program at the U.S. National Institute on Aging. But LATE (which mainly affects people 80-plus) manifests very differently in the brain than Alzheimer’s. The telltale signs of Alzheimer’s are tangles of a protein called tau combined with plaques of amyloid-beta, whereas LATE is characterized by the lesser-known protein TDP-43. This protein builds up and spreads through the amygdala and hippocampus, two parts of the brain that are key to memory. “Although we’ve known about TDP-43 for quite a while,” Silverberg says, “this is the first time we have pulled all the research together in an effort to draw attention to it and distinguish it from Alzheimer’s.”

But this finding may help explain why it’s been so difficult to pinpoint drugs that can successfully treat Alzheimer’s, Nelson notes. People who actually had LATE, not Alzheimer’s, may have been included in clinical trials and thus may not have responded to treatment. Even more confusing, it’s possible to have LATE and Alzheimer’s at the same time, making it harder to figure out which disease is causing which symptom, Nelson adds. “While we now have brain imaging tools such as PET scans that allow us to find out if someone has high levels of beta-amyloid, which would indicate Alzheimer’s, there’s no test right now to diagnose LATE.”

For now, the proteins identifying LATE can be found only during an autopsy, and experts say the most important next step is to develop a test that can measure levels of TDP-43 in a living patient. “We’ll want to be able to measure that during the earlier years of a person’s life, to get a sense of how much TDP-43 they have at baseline and then how much they develop later in life if they start showing signs of dementia,” explains Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association. “This is especially important, since symptoms of LATE so clearly mimic symptoms of Alzheimer’s.” Fargo says the hope is that dementia patients can be offered a cocktail of dementia drugs, similar to the approach with HIV, targeting whatever combination of brain disorders they have.

Since the numbers of people with dementia are expected to skyrocket over the next few decades, experts say better diagnostic and treatment methods are essential. “This group of older adults is expanding at the fastest rate of any demographic,” Nelson observes. “We need to have strategies that enable us not only to identify the various forms of dementia but ways to both treat and, hopefully, even prevent them.”

While there aren’t any ways to tell if you or a loved one has LATE, there are sensible things you can do to help lower your risk of any kind of dementia, says Gary Small, M.D., director of the UCLA Longevity Center. For example, a third of dementia cases can be prevented with lifestyle changes like losing weight, getting high blood pressure under control and exercising, according to a 2017 study published in the medical journal the Lancet. If you haven’t had your hearing checked recently, do so: Even mild hearing loss doubles dementia risk, according to research done at Johns Hopkins. What’s more, a 2017 study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that the Mediterranean diet—which focuses on fruits, vegetables, healthy fats (such as olive oil), fish, legumes and whole grains—lowers the risk of developing cognitive impairment in older adults by a third.

More on Dementia

• AARP’s Disrupt Dementia project
• Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s: Understanding different diagnoses

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