For those who have just been diagnosed as well as for those who are living with the illness, depression is a very common additional condition that will befall them. After all, an active patient will have a hard time reconciling her or himself to a lifestyle that involves giving control of finances and basic living decisions over to loved ones. Similarly, since these diseases are incurable, she or he will often have to battle with the finality of the diagnosis. Caregivers may sometimes have a hard time determining if depression has snuck up on their loved ones, but as a general rule of thumb, a prolonged exhibition of some of the symptoms of depression is a good indicator that something is amiss:

Your loved one may suffer from the doldrums for extended periods of time where nothing and nobody will be able to cheer her or him up.

She or he may voice to you concerns of becoming a burden, being worthless, or feeling extremely guilty for “doing this”, meaning getting sick, to you and the family.

Here are four tried and true tips to make the most of your loved one’s care at home and ensuring in the process that her or his quality of life is preserved to the maximum amount possible:

1. Plan activities. The mistaken mental picture of many about care giving in the home is that of the loved one lying in a big bed resting. This may be true for a portion of the time, but not on a consistent basis. As a matter of fact, you and your loved one will be able to enjoy many activities together! Not only do these activities help your loved one to preserve a sense of self-esteem, but they will also provide something to look forward to. Obviously, you will want to make sure that you engage in activities that your loved one is physically capable of enjoying while also being of interest to her or him. For example, if your loved one loves to go to the mall, you may wish to plan such outings frequently. Many times wheelchairs may be rented, and you may spend a rather enjoyable day window-shopping. Of course, if she or he does not enjoy this kind of activity, such an outing would do nothing to make the day fun. Find things you and your loved one both enjoy and then plan on doing them together as often as possible.

2. Depending on the illness of your loved one, there are times when her or his mental faculties may diminish. For example, an Alzheimer’s sufferer, or any other patient who suffers from a form of dementia, will experience a decrease in the ability to effectively communicate. At first you may realize that your loved one is searching for the correct word, but later on she or he may have trouble with keeping focus or following her or his train of thought. In times like these it is important to be prepared and keep the conversations easy and without frustrations. You may wish to use shorter sentences yourself, only convey one idea per sentence, keep good eye contact, smile encouragingly, and allow your loved one the time she or he needs to communicate her thoughts.

Before discussing a degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s, you must plan in advance for what the child could feel. You need to be prepared for every possible way the child could take the news, so you’re ready no matter what happens. The first and most common emotion when a child learns of the disease is that of sadness. The child is sad, and uncomfortable with what is happening to the relative. This is followed closely by confusion and fear. Children don’t have a very good grasp on what Alzheimer’s is, and even with the best of explanations they’re still going to be confused about why Grandma has begun to behave differently than usual. After they’ve figured out what exactly Alzheimer’s is, many children will be hesitant to spend time with Grandma, believing they might catch the disease, or that their parents will. You must put that fear to rest immediately, so that the children know they have nothing to fear.

On the other side of the emotional spectrum, some children may begin to develop somewhat darker emotions. These include anger, frustration, guilt and jealousy. The reasons for those are varied. Some will be angry because they have to repeat questions, or will have trouble doing activities with the relative. After that, they’ll feel guilty for being angry, believing that they should know better. Later on, they may even become jealous or resentful of the Alzheimer’s victim, mostly because of the increased time that the rest of the family seems to spend worrying about them.

To discuss Alzheimer’s with a child, you have to keep everything simple, while at the same time preparing them for what’s to come. Make sure you fully understand it, so that you know how to answer questions when they inevitably pop up. Tell them that Grandma is still the same person she always was, but that she won’t remember things that well and sometimes she won’t know what she’s doing. Make sure you mention that the disease is not contagious.

The earliest signs of dementia tend to be very subtle and are hard to differentiate from normal signs of aging. The most common of these is the characteristic loss of memory, which so many equate with Alzheimer‘s disease and dementia. In the first stages of this disease, it may be barely recognizable; the occasional slip of a name, getting directions twisted around, forgetting how to spell something – just little inconveniences that didn’t harm anyone. As the disease progresses, however, the signs become far more pronounced.

During the secondary stages of dementia, the forgetfulness that the patient suffered previously has become something intense enough that it interferes with day-to-day life. The patient may very well forget familiar faces of family and loved ones. Surroundings may, at times, seem strange and unsettling, and people who attempting to help are regarded with fear, anger and paranoia. Step by step, their life becomes a prison and those that love them become strange, unwilling jailers.

Along with the obvious forgetting of faces, it suddenly becomes increasingly difficult for the one suffering from dementia to perform easy tasks. Simple steps are suddenly forgotten or items misplaced, like car keys being stored in a bag of flour or the patient forgetting to put lunchmeat on their sandwich and just eating two pieces of bread with mustard in between them. Surroundings frequently warp, with the victim easily able to lose themselves even with home just around the corner, regardless of how many times they’ve taken the exact same route.

The hospice philosophy simply stated is that it neither hastens nor postpones death, but rather places emphasis on quality of life, rather than length of life. Hospice supporters believe in family centered care, involving both the patient and the family in the care, rather than some doctor deciding what’s best for the patient. One of the advantages of hospice care is that it can be administered in a variety of locations, including a hospital, a nursing home, a private hospice facility, or even the patient’s home. In the vast majority of hospice in the U.S., the primary caregiver is a family member.

Hospice care is only given when medicine has done all it can do, and the life expectancy of the patient is six months or less. The patient, the patient’s family and the doctor decide when hospice should begin.

There are several different types of hospice care to be aware of. The first type is what’s more commonly known as an interdisciplinary team, which is compromised of various professionals, such as nurses, doctors, councilors, therapists and volunteers. They each specialize in a different part of caring for the patient.

Physicians diagnose possible Alzheimer’s disease based on a complete patient interview, covering personal and family medical history, combined with the results of any neurological, psychiatric, and lab tests conducted. Doctors are likely to suspect Alzheimer’s disease when a patient complains of a gradual progression of memory deterioration, and when they are unable to find any other condition that could explain the memory loss. Doctors will be looking for disorders such as depression or hypothyroidism, neurological damage caused by stroke, or any medications that may be contributing to the loss of memory. An inability to uncover any contributory illness leads to the determination that Alzheimer’s disease is possible.

Probable Alzheimer’s disease is a step beyond possible Alzheimer’s and means that a doctor is “relatively certain” that a patient has the disease. All the same criteria are met that determine possible Alzheimer’s; however, probable Alzheimer’s patients have continued to show deterioration. They have shown increased loss of memory coupled with the emergence of other impairments – their motor skills may be compromised, and their behavior may have changed. They may be unusually emotional or sometimes delusional. At this stage, patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease will usually have a difficult time with their normal daily routines. A key factor in the determination of probable Alzheimer’s disease is the gradual, yet progressive, nature of the symptoms.

In addition to the progression of neurological symptoms, doctors consider a few other factors in deciding that Alzheimer’s disease is probable. They look for a loss of neurological functioning in at least two specific areas. One should be memory loss; the other can be indicated by increased difficulty in solving problems, problems of perception or some other cognitive ability. These symptoms can be identified though various neurological tests. Patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease generally are between the ages of 40-90, though some patients with Down’s syndrome develop Alzheimer’s in the 30s.

Gingko Biloba – Gingko has been marketed extremely successfully as a memory aid and treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and is the most popular of the purported memory enhancing dietary supplements. The evidence of its effectiveness is conflicting, at best. Small-scale studies have shown minor memory improvement for patients taking the supplement, but other studies have shown that Gingko has no effect whatsoever on improving memory or slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s.

A recent study of 200 men and women with dementia and Alzheimer’s showed Gingko to be of no use to memory impaired patients. In the study, the participants were divided into two groups, testing for to determine their cognitive abilities, and then one group was given Gingko and the other group took a sugar pill. After 12 weeks, the testing was repeated, and then the Gingko group was divided in half again, with half of those patients now receiving a sugar pill as well. At the end of the study, it was determined that Gingko did not offer an improvement to memory, and that the amount of time a patient took the Gingko was irrelevant as well.

In addition to the lack of proof that it is effective at all, Gingko Biloba can be harmful to some patients, especially those taking blooding thinning medications, including aspirin, or antidepressants (which Alzheimer’s patients typically take). There is also no data on what is a safe dosage of Gingko.

Statistics about this illness abound. Here are but a few from the United States:

In the August 2003 issue of the Archives of Neurology it was estimated that more than 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, this number is said to have doubled since the year 1980.

A 1992 Gallup survey of 1,015 Americans revealed that one in ten had an immediate family member who suffers from the disease while at least one in three had a friend or acquaintance that has this illness.

In 1989, the Annals of Neurology reported that it is not unheard of for individuals in their late thirties or early forties to be affected by this disease in the form of an inherited kind of Alzheimer’s disease.

In 1989, JAMA advised that one in ten Americans over the age of sixty-five, and at least half of Americans aged eighty-five and older were affected by the disease.

These are sobering statistics indeed, yet one wonders how they compare around the world. The United States Census Bureau has released its 2004 research figures, and according to their data, Alzheimer’s disease is in rapid progression throughout the world.

There are a lot of people who experience lapses in their memory; some of them being serious, while others are not. Those who suffer from serious changes in their personality, memory, and/or behavior may be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or any other number of forms of dementia. Alzheimer’s is just one of many forms of this disease. Simply because a person is forgetting things, however, is not reason enough to suspect Alzheimer’s disease. There are far more reasons, rather than just Alzheimer’s.

Dementia describes a condition where a number of symptoms are caused through changes in the brain’s ability to function. Those who are suffering from dementia may do things like forgetting familiar faces or becoming lost in familiar surroundings, being unable to follow directions for even the most simple of tasks, or experience severe disorientation in regards to people, places, and time. Those who have dementia may also neglect their own personal safety, their nutrition, and their own personal hygiene.

Many different things can cause dementia. Some conditions that cause dementia can be reversed, while others cannot. Furthermore, many different medical conditions may cause symptoms that seem like Alzheimer’s disease but are not. Some of these medical conditions may be treatable. Reversible conditions can be caused by a high fever, poor nutrition, dehydration, vitamin deficiency, some varieties of alcoholism, allergic reactions to medicines, problems with the thyroid gland, or head trauma.

Considering that many caregivers are close family members, oftentimes grown up children caring for their parents, the change in the parent child relationship is quite often devastating for the caregiver. It is indeed hard to look at a parent whose health is failing, who is no longer able to care for her or himself, needs help with feeding and perhaps even toileting, and then remembering the strong individual this person used to be. Sometimes grown children are not ready for this transition and wish it were progressing slower, or are simply afraid of the inevitability of the patient’s fate. Of course, the patient, very often the parent, may not be ready for this transition in the parent-child relationship either, and in addition to the physical and metal impairments may experience severe emotional distress that finds no outlet but against the caregiver.

As you can see, these care giving situations are a potential breeding ground for anger, frustration, discord, and great emotional upheaval, and there are times when a caregiver literally needs a time-out. Yet how will you know when to take a break? Here are four tried and true tips that will help you to ascertain when it is time to step back for a breather.

1. If you find that emotionally or physically your well being is beginning to suffer, it is time to take a break. For example, if you suffer from health challenges yourself but have them under control, yet suddenly they flare up worse than ever before you know that your role as caregiver is beginning to affect your health. Similarly, if you suddenly realize that you are suffering from a bout of depression or clinical anxiety, or if you find your relationships with others marred by withdrawal, irritability, or sudden angry outbursts, you know that it is time to step back. Obviously you cannot do away with your care giving, yet this may be the time to either find a support group that will allow you to channel and vent your anger in a safe environment, or perhaps you may wish to find a relief caregiver who can come in when you need a break. Ideally, these two combined will help you preserve your emotional and physical health.