PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: Caregivers love this pill box, as do patients and professionals. Simply fill it once a month. Roomy, simple, ingenious.
Does pain relief risk cognitive cost? A major new study of almost 200,000 people says yes—and the price may be higher than we thought.
MEDICATION VIDEO:
How do you know when Alzheimer’s meds ought to be stopped? Explore the benefits of these medications, such as improved cognition, memory, behavior, lifespan, and the stages they are most effective.
New research suggests antidepressants accelerate cognitive decline in dementia. Learn which drugs appear to be less harmful than others. Help your doctor make better treatment decisions.
MEMORY & THINKING are activated by acetyl-choline. Alzheimer’s drugs boost acetyl-choline. Other medications, from allergy to insomnia drugs, may be anti-cholinergic, lowering acetyl-choline. This can spell trouble in dementia. Learn which drugs to avoid and what to look out for.
MEDICATION VIDEO + ARTICLE: From allergies to moods, most of us get relief from drugs known as “anticholinergics”. Some raise dementia risk, some don’t. Do we always need them? A study of 300,000 people offers answers to help you and your doctor better weigh the risks and benefits.
In a new Alzheimer’s study, Rexulti (brexpiprazole) significantly reduced agitation. Learn the kinds of agitation it reduced and by how much.
DIAGNOSIS+CARE: Misperceptions in dementia often get misdiagnosed as hallucinations. The result? Harsh, mistaken antipsychotic treatments. Dr. G. Allen Power has fought over-medication for a decade. See practical techniques for rising above this dangerous practice.
“People with dementia living in nursing homes and in the community were prescribed less and we did not detect negative health impacts for these groups.”
BEHAVIOR DRUGS & THE DICE MODEL: Doctors write millions of prescriptions each year to calm people with Alzheimer’s. Learn how non-drug dementia-caregiving works better, while carrying far fewer risks.
Even in later life, quitting smoking significantly reduces dementia risk.
New research published in The Lancet offers renewed hope — it’s never too late to protect your brain.
A simple blood test was newly approved, replacing spinal taps and brain scans for ruling out Alzheimer’s. The FDA has just cleared Roche’s Elecsys® pTau181 — the first test shown to rule out Alzheimer’s with 98% accuracy, offering peace of mind and earlier answers for millions.
DESIGN: See this video packed with great examples of home design for dementia. These insights can make a world of difference.
What are the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s? When to get a professional evaluation.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY lapses are obvious signs of Alzheimer’s, but other tell-tale signals begin to show much earlier. Learn how to look for semantic impairments, such as simple questions about size.
Three important dementia studies focus on HS-AGING, a type of dementia almost as common as Alzheimer’s in the 85+ group. Yet few people have heard of it. Why? What makes it different?
An intriguing study of 120 grandmothers might surprise you. Doctors know socially engaged people have better cognition and less dementia. But can a person get too much of a good thing? What’s the right balance?
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