Stroke: How Can It Impact Memory?

By Jim Smeaton

The home care professionals at Always Best Care of Western NC, serving Asheville, Hendersonville, and surrounding western North Carolina communities, know that a stroke can impact your elderly loved one in numerous ways. In fact, the location and severity of your senior's stroke can result in a wide range of lasting side effects. Memory impairment is one of the most common effects of a stroke, but this interruption in memory can manifest in several different ways. Here are a few key pieces of information to remember if your elderly loved one has recently suffered from a stroke and you suspect that memory loss has take hold because of it.[1]

Different Types of Memory Loss

When it comes to memory loss, it is important to note that not all types of this cognitive disruption are alike. In fact, there are several different kinds of memory loss associated with stroke. Depending upon where the stroke occurred and how severe it was, your elderly loved one may experience difficulty with verbal, visual, or informational memory. Additionally, they may suffer from vascular dementia, which is a general and oftentimes progressive decline in cognitive function that spans more than one type of memory.

Exhibiting Different Symptoms

While memory loss may seem like it would impact your senior in a certain way, there are even more symptoms than types of memory loss that might result from a stroke. Confusion is a very common symptom, as well as short-term memory loss. Additionally, your elderly loved one might start to wander, might get lost in places with which they are familiar, may have a difficult time following simple instructions, or might begin facing challenges regarding money management and transactions.

Exacerbating the Condition

Memory loss that is sparked by a stroke or other condition can be devastating, but it is important to remember that there are environmental and other elements that can make this cognitive impairment worse. Certain medications can cause memory loss to strengthen in severity. Additionally, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs can make memory loss more severe. Finally, sleep deprivation, stress, nutritional deficiency, and depression can also contribute to the exacerbation of memory loss. In addition, these issues can cause a loss of memory, so it is important to determine whether or not your elderly loved one's cognitive impairment is caused by the stroke or by their state following this event.

The elder care professionals at Always Best Care of WesternNC encourage you to learn more about the side effects of stroke, including memory loss, to best care for your loved one.

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[1] http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=memory

Four Steps to Successful Medication Management

Medication management is a very important responsibility. As a caregiver, you must ensure that your elderly loved one takes the right medication, in the right dose, at the right time each and every day. This can become an overwhelming task—especially if your senior has a variety of prescriptions. Although it is a big undertaking, successful medication management does not have to be too complicated.
In fact, simplifying the process is the best way to ensure that you succeed in providing the quality medication management that your loved one deserves. Here are four ways to make this task easier and more successful.

1. Fill all medications at the same pharmacy. Building a relationship with the pharmacist will allow you to feel comfortable asking any questions that may arise. Furthermore, your pharmacist may be able to catch incompatible prescriptions before your loved one begins taking the latest medication recommended by their doctor. Because seniors often have a variety of doctors on their side, this is an incredibly important aspect of proper medication management.
2. Keep all of the literature about your elderly loved one’s medications in one, easy to access location. With this bundle of literature, keep any notes that you take while speaking to the doctor or pharmacist.
3. Go with your senior to the doctor’s office if they are comfortable with you doing so. When a new medication is prescribed, ask the doctor any questions that both you and your loved one may have. By the time you leave the office, you should both understand why the medicine was prescribed, its intended effect, possible side effects, and how soon it should start working.
4. Maintain a list of all of the medications your elderly loved one is taking and when they are to be administered. Include the proper dosages. Additionally, mark each time you give your senior their prescription on a calendar or in a notepad so that you can document when they took each medication.

As you manage your senior’s medication, remember to monitor your loved one for any side effects or adverse reactions. Keen observation paired with these four tips will help you manage your loved one’s medication successfully.

Seven Tips for Fall Prevention

Falling causes an alarming number of injuries for elderly individuals each year. From tripping over rugs to stumbling over clutter in the walkway, seniors can fall due to a long list of hazards.  At Always Best Care of Western NC, which serves Asheville, Hendersonville, and surrounding western North Carolina communities, senior care professionals encourage families to protect their loved ones against such hazards.

Accidents happen; this is a fact that cannot, in many cases, be avoided. Despite this fact, there are many instances in which fall prevention can keep your elderly loved one from sustaining painful and, in severe cases, fatal injuries.  The following seven tips will help you protect your senior against falls and the harm that they can cause:

• Clean your elderly loved one’s home. Seniors commonly fall after tripping over a misplaced object, such as a pair of shoes left in the walkway.  By cleaning up each day, you can maintain a safe and tidy environment that offers clear walkways to your elderly loved one.
• Examine the flooring of your senior’s home for any damage.  Cracked tiles, loose floorboards, and ripped carpet can cause them to trip and fall.  Should you find any warping, tearing, breaking, cracking, or other damage, fix it as soon as possible.  While doing so, make sure that all rugs are secured to the floor with double sided tape and that their ends lie flat.
• Ask your senior and their doctor if they would benefit from a cane, walker, or other mobility aid. Make sure that the equipment your elderly loved one uses is the right size and in good repair.
• Move any cords that are strung across walkways or in other hazardous areas. In some cases, this may require moving the furniture so that televisions, DVD players, and other electronics are closer to electrical outlets. You may also consider running them overhead if your senior does not want the furniture moved or if there are no other options.
• Install safety equipment, such as grab bars, bath chairs, non-skid mats in bathtubs and showers, and handrails along stairways.
• Keep stairways, hallways, bedrooms, and bathrooms well lit. Additionally, have your senior’s vision checked annually to ensure that they can see any obstacles in their path.
• Have your senior wear slippers or shoes that have non-skid soles instead of just wearing socks.

At Always Best Care of Western NC, professional home care providers help families create safe environments for their seniors. If you need assistance making your loved one’s home a bit safer, do not hesitate to reach out to professionals for help.

Nine Foods to Help Prevent Dementia

A new report from the Alzheimer’s Association says that one out of three seniors die with Alzheimer’s, although that is not necessarily the cause of death. While research is still ongoing about how to stave off Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, some research suggests that certain foods may help protect against mental decline and even prevent brain-wasting diseases. Alzheimer’s is identified with inflammation, so the thinking is that foods with anti-inflammatory properties may be able to delay age-related cognitive disorders. Nine commonly available foods could help prevent mental deterioration, and they even taste good.

1. Dark chocolate. Studies show that the flavonoids in cocoa increase blood flow to the brain and may help to protect against conditions that reduce cerebral blood flow, such as dementia and stroke.
2. Red wine. Drinking wine in moderation can protect cognitive function and decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. This is due to the high levels of flavonoids and possibly other polyphenolics such as resveratrol in red wine.
3. Clams. It’s thought that when vitamin B12 levels are low, blood levels of homocysteine will raise, significantly increasing the risk for dementia, heart attack and other ailments. Clams contain 98.9 micrograms of vitamin B12 in just a 100-gram serving, or 1,648 percent of the recommended dietary allowance.
4. Asparagus. One study found that individuals who were deficient in folate, a form of vitamin B9, were 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia. One cup of asparagus will take care of nearly 66 percent of your daily folate needs.
5. Wild salmon. According to one study, an average of three servings of oily fish a week adds up to an almost 50 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The reason is the omega-3 fatty acid and other nutrients such as vitamin D and B12 can help to prevent neurodegenerative disorders.
6. Walnuts. In moderation, walnuts were found to help improve motor and cognitive skills in older rodents, due, it is believed, to a combination of polyphenols, omega-3 fats and other bioactive substances.
7. Cherries. The antioxidant compounds, anthocyanins, which give cherries their bright red color, possess anti-inflammatory properties that could work like pain medications but without the nasty side effects.
8. Turmeric. A study found that curcumin in turmeric, commonly used in curry dishes, removes plaques from the brain. Plaques are thought to contribute to the degradation of brain cells and lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
9. Apples. The skins of apples contain quercetin, found to protect the brain from damages associated with Alzheimer’s disease, in studies conducted by Cornell University.

Adapted from the Conscious Life.