Teepa Snow Workship, Part Two

Rarely have I attended a workshop on any subject where so much that was presented applies. It was SO practical. Rarely have I attended a presentation that captivated me all day long. 

Teepa Snow is the owner of "Positive Approach"  is a Dementia Education and Skills Training Specialist. For the last four days since attending the workshop her words keep popping up in my day-to-day existence with my husband who has mixed dementia. 

Teepa was careful to explain what is going on in the brain of a person with dementia as they are going into brain failure. She said that at least two parts of the brain are dying with dementia. The brain includes both grey matter (the filing cabinet) and white matter that is the wiring within the brain.  She told about deterioration in the left and right frontal lobe of the care receiver. Formal speech, articulation and executive functioning are leaving sooner, while automatic speech, rhythm and expletives remain longer. When our loved one is unfamiliar with a situation or setting, they become angry and those expletives come to the fore--their filters are gone. Each day I notice that hubby's vocabulary, especially, nouns, leave him searching for words and his executive functioning (steps to do certain things) is disappearing. I have to say put this pill in your mouth and here is the water for taking that pill. 

Teepa Snow in the day's presentation gave 34 examples of challenges that we caregivers face. I will cover 13 of them with this post--observations of my husband and what I observe with our friend Jake.

• Losing important things. Early on we faced loss of the cell phone and keys. Hubby no longer cares to have a cell phone. Jake has misplaced his cell and his electric razor recently.
• Getting lost in time, place or situation. Hubby asks about how we came to live in our home. His memory of the day planned is so short and he does need that daily agenda. Some times he forgets to look at that agenda. 
• Unsafe task management. Jake has manhandled his lawn mower and is not allowed to mow their lawn any more. He set fire to it. My hubby is not that ambitious and Pharis now mows our lawn.
• Repeated calls and contacts. Jake must have used his cell phone to leave messages on Sally's cell phone a dozen times during Teepa's workshop.
• Making up stories, what Teepa called confabulation. I noticed this Sunday when we went to dinner with a new church visitor. To keep the conversation going hubby had his own version of events to tell.
• Swearing. Saturday we went shopping for Christmas gifts. Hubby has already forgotten what he is getting! Determined to take advantage of sales at Talbots for my gift from him we drove to a distant mall. Hubby was very angry at the traffic and at me for planning such a trip and swore like a drunken sailor in the car while I drove, wanting me to turn around and go home. Rather than play the martyr and give up, I persisted with the mission to acquire quality at a bargain. It was hard to find a parking spot, and when we finally did park, he was happy to stay in the car while I went inside to get that 50% markdown with the purchase of three items.  When I returned to the car, all was well and he forgot about his upset. 
• Sleep problems--too much or too little. We go to bed early and it is not unusual for hubby to sleep 10 hours. He is asleep now while I write this post. 
• No initiation--can't get started. 
• Paranoid or delusional thinking. Hubby has talked about how our money system is changing and can't site where he learned this "fact". He also has a story about an alligator in our back yard. Jake and hubby talk about plane trips and canoe trips they took together.
• Wandering. So glad this doesn't happen. Hubby is content to be at home watching TV with our dog Ziggy, and since he hobbles now I can't see his wandering off. Because of our volunteer caregiver, Kenny, who checks in with hubby,  I can still work. However, Sally needs to be with Jake because he has this tenancy to wander and she has decided to no longer substitute teach.
• Striking out at others. Jake and DH had their argument that I wrote about last month, illustrating two behaviors that care receivers exhibit--Jake repeating himself asking where Sally was and hubby getting angry and swearing that Jake was doing this. 
• Dehydration and malnourishment. Hubby needs to drink more liquid to avoid a UTI. I am very concerned about hubby's small food intake.
• Immobility. Teepa imitated the walk. Hubby has that walk now. I thought it was just a physical issue! I recently read a description of vascular dementia, however, that included mobility problems.  Teepa gave examples of the correct way to move a care receiver with their walker. Hubby at times still uses his walker, although goes to the chiropractor only every two weeks now.

One of the sponsors of the free workshop, Senior Helpers of Lakeland, gave us a Teepa Snow DVD that covers more material including how to relate to care receivers at various stages. I listened to it while hubby slept early one morning and will use that tape and this workshop content to help guide me in my journey. 

Turmeric Coconut Oil Toasted Cheese Sandwiches

There has got to be compensation for short-term memory. See Brain Cell Compensation . I do think my husband uses other parts of the brain to help him even if there are less neurons and neurotransmitters in his hyippocampus. When something is significant, he seems to compensate. Yesterday he had an appointment with a demotologist and today he was talking about his possible skin cancer. He also takes a lot of notes. While I worked today outside the home he got some energy up and cleaned our bathroom floors and mowed the lawn. I am so proud of him.

I am standing by coconut oil. It has so many benefits. I have written about it here since the summer of 2009. But I now am adding the spice of turmeric.

On the Alzheimer's Reading Room Vit. D3 and Tumeric:

UCLA researchers have identified a new biomarker that could help them track how effectively the immune system is able to clear the brain of amyloid beta, which forms the plaques considered one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Scientists ID possible biomarker to gauge Alzheimer's prognosis, effect of therapies

The pilot study, currently published online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, demonstrates how the immune gene MGAT3, which is essential in clearing amyloid beta, is expressed differently in different Alzheimer's patients. The finding may be useful in providing more highly individualized disease prognoses in the future.

It may also help researchers understand which patients will respond to therapy with vitamin D3 and curcumin, a chemical found in turmeric spice, both of which were shown in previous studies by this UCLA research team to help stimulate specific immune system cells to clear amyloid beta in a laboratory test.

From India, curmunin from Tumeric "demonstrates neuroprotective action in Alzheimer's disease" and other illnesses.

Now I can't get my husband to like fish or fish oil. More from the Alzheimer's Reading Room on Fish Oil He does take flax seed oil tablets which also contain omerga-3. I asked his primary care physician about D3, but we didn't persue this strategy at this time.

One can get turmeric as a spice. I put it in dishes now. Here is my simple recipe for toasted cheese sandwiches:

Put coconut oil on the outside of bread sandwiches and place them in a sandwich maker. I have had my Snakmaster for maybe twenty years. On the inside sprinkle turmeric as shown at the right.


Then place two slices of cheese on each sandwich. Close the lid for about four minues. My husband loves these sandwiches and he gets both coconut oil and tumeric!

I serve these sandwiches  with  a "parfait" I make from  Activia, blue berries and Kashi cereal for the crumbles.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and Strokes

Neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor had a stroke. It took her eight years to recover after surgery to remove the blood clot. She describes the brain and her thoughts during her stroke. Very fascinating. Dr. Jill's Stroke She will also be on Oprah, but I found that I hadn't taped it.

As a caregiver, I need to guard my health. My blood pressure and cholesterol scores are good--would be better if I could walk/jog those nine miles a week. I have lost some weight recently, and need to keep it up. Seven years ago I had a TIA, a mini stroke. See information Here. Tests could not find any area of my brain where this happened, but since that time I have taken Aggrenox to prevent a further TIA or an actual stroke. Today in my e-mail from the Johns Hopkins Health Alert:

A number of factors contribute to your risk of a stroke. Some of them, for example, age and family history, obviously can't be modified. But fortunately, many other major stroke risk factors can be significantly reduced through lifestyle measures, medications, surgery, or a combination of all three. Recently, an article published in the journal Circulation (volume 119, page 1093) reported that women who stick closely to a Mediterranean-style diet lowered their risk of stroke.Women who received high aMed scores ate more vegetables (excluding potatoes), fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, fish, and monounsaturated fats like olive oil; those who ate less of these foods and more saturated fat, red and processed meat, refined grains, and sweets received lower scores. During the study, a total of 1,763 strokes occurred. Women with the highest aMed scores were 13% less likely to have a stroke and 39% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest scores. Take-away: Numerous studies confirm that following a Mediterranean diet lowers the risk of coronary heart disease. Now we have some evidence that this healthy eating pattern may reduce stroke risk, too.

So the Mediterranean diet it is! Also helps memory as I reported earlier on July 30, 2010.

My husband complained about how greasy his bagel and cream cheese were this morning. It was the coconut oil. Got to be more clever in modifying our diets.