The 36-hour day : a family guide to caring for people who have Alzheimer disease, related dementias, and memory loss / Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins.

Includes index.

1. Dementia. What is dementia? -- The person who has dementia -- Where do you go from here? -- 2. Getting medical help for the person who has dementia. The evaluation of the person with a suspected dimentia -- Finding someone to do an evaluation -- The medical treatment and management of dimentia : The physician ; The nurse ; The social worker ; The geriatric care manager ; The pharmacist -- 3. Characteristic behavioral symptoms in people who have dementia. The brain, behavior, and personality: why people who have dementia do the things they do -- Caregiving: some general suggestions -- Menory problems -- Overreacting, or catastrophic reactions -- Combativeness -- Problems with speech and communication : Problems the person with dementia has in making himself understood ; Problems the person with dementia has in understanding others -- Loss of coordination -- Loss of sense of time -- Symptoms that are better sometimes and worse at other times -- 4. Problems in independent living. Mild cognitive impairment : Managing the early stages of dementia -- When a person must give up a job -- when a person can no longer manage money -- When a person can no longer drive safely -- When a person can no longer live alone : When you suspect that someone living alone is developing dementia ; What you can do ; Moving to a new residence -- 5. Problems arising in daily care. Hazards to watch for : In the house ; Outdoors ; In the car ; Highways and parking lots ; Smoking ; Hunting -- Nutrition and mealtimes : Meal preparation ; Mealtimes ; Problem eating behaviors ; Malnutrition ; Weight loss ; Choking ; When to consider tube feeding -- Exercise -- Recreation : Meaningful activity -- Personal hygiene : Bathing ; Locating care supplies ; Dressing ; Grooming ; Oral hygiene -- Incontinence (wetting or soiling) : Urinary incontinence ; Bowel incontinence ; Cleaning up -- Problems with walking and balance; falling : Becoming chairbound or bedfast ; Wheelchairs -- Changes you can make at home : Should environments be cluttered or bare? --

6. Medical problems. Pain -- Falls and injuries -- Pressure sores -- Dehydration -- Pneumonia -- Constipation -- Medications -- Dental problems -- Vision problems -- Hearing problems -- Dizziness -- Visiting the doctor -- If the ill person must enter the hospital -- Seizures, fits, or convulsions -- Jerking movements (myoclonus) -- The death of the person with dementia : The cause of death ; Dying at home ; Hospice ; Dying in the hospital or nursing home ; When should treatment end? ; What kind of care can be given at the end of life? -- 7. Behavioral symptoms of dementia. The six R's of behavior management -- Concealing memory loss -- Wandering : Reasons that people wander ; The management of wandering -- Sleep disturbances and night wandering -- Worsening in the evening ("sundowning") -- Losing, hoarding, or hiding things -- Rummaging in drawers and closets -- Inappropriate sexual behavior -- Repeating the question -- Repetitious actions -- Distractibility -- Clinging or persistently following you around ("shadowing") -- Complaints and insults -- Taking things -- Forgetting telephone calls -- Demands -- Stubbornness and uncooperativeness -- When the person with dementia insults the sitter -- Using medication to manage behavior -- 8. Symptoms that appear as changes in mood. Depression -- Complaints about health -- Suicide -- Alcohol or drug abuse -- Apathy and listlessness -- Remembering feelings -- Anger and irritability -- Anxiety, nervousness, and restlessness -- False ideas, suspiciousness, paranoia, and hallucinations : Misinterpretation ; Failure to recognize people or things (agnosia) ; "You are not my husband" ; "My mother is coming for me" ; Suspiciousness ; Hiding things ; Delusions and hallucinations -- Having nothing to do -- 9. Special arrangements if you become ill. In the event of your death -- 10. Getting outside help. Help from friends and neighbors -- Finding information and services -- Kinds of services : Having someone come into your home ; Adult day care ; Short-stay residential care -- Planning in advance for home care or day care -- When the person with dementia rejects the care -- Your own feelings about getting respite for yourself -- Locating resources -- Paying for care -- Should respite programs mix people who have different problems? -- Determining the quality of services -- Research and demonstration programs --

11. You and the person who has dementia as parts of a family. Changes in roles -- Understanding family conflicts : Division of responsibility -- Your marriage -- Coping with role changes and family conflict : A family conference -- When you live out of town -- When you are not the primary caregiver, what can you do to help? -- Caregiving and your job -- Your children : Teenagers -- 12. How caring for a person who has dementia affects you. Emotional reactions : Anger ; Embarrassment ; Helplessness ; Guilt ; Laughter, love, and joy -- Grief -- Depression -- Isolation and feeling alone -- Worry -- Being hopeful and being realistic -- Mistreating the person with dementia -- Physical reactions : Fatigue ; Illness -- Sexuality : If your spouse has dementia ; If your impaired parent lives with you -- The future : You as a spouse alone -- When the person you have cared for dies -- 13. Caring for yourself. Take time out : Give yourself a present ; Friends ; Avoid isolation -- Find additional help if you need it : Recognize the warning signs ; Counseling -- Joining with other families: the Alzheimer's Association : Support groups ; Excuses -- Advocacy -- 14. For children and teenagers -- 15. Financial and legal issues : Your financial assessment : Potential expenses ; Potential resources -- Where to look for the forgetful person's resources -- Legal matters --

16. Nursing homes and other living arrangements. Types of living arrangements -- Moving with the person who has dementia -- Finding a nursing home or other residential care setting : Paying for care ; Guidelines for selecting a nursing home or other residential care facility -- Moving to a nursing home or other residential care facility -- Adjusting to a new life : Visiting ; Your own adjustment -- When problems occur in the nursing home or other residential care facility -- Sexual issues in nursing homes or other care facilities -- 17. Preventing or delaying cognitive decline. Normal changes : General mental and physical health -- Lifestyle factors : Physical exercise ; Diet -- Potential treatments and cures ; Mental exercise ; Medications and vitamins -- Limiting exposure to toxic chemicals : Aluminum -- Head injury -- 18. Brain disorders and the causes of dementia. Mild cognitive impairment -- Dementia : Alcohol abuse associated dementia ; Alzheimer disease ; Cortical basal ganglionic degeneration ; Depression ; The frontotemporal dementias ; HIV-AIDS ; Lewy body dementia ; Primary progressive aphasia ; Progressive supranuclear palsy ; Traumatic brain injury (TBI or head trauma) ; Vascular dementia ; Young or early onset dementia -- Other brain disorders : Delirium ; Korsakoff syndrome ; Stroke and other localized brain injury ; Transient ischemic attack -- 19. Research in dementia. Understanding research : Bogus cures -- Research in vascular dementia and stroke -- Research in Alzheimer disease : Structural changes in the brain ; Brain cells ; Neuroplasticity ; Neurotransmitters ; Abnormal proteins ; Protein abnormalities within brain cells ; Nerve growth factors ; Transplants of brain tissue ; Drug studies ; Metals ; Prions ; Immunological defects ; Head trauma -- Epidemiology -- Down syndrome -- Old age -- Heredity -- Gender -- Neuropsychological testing -- Brain imaging -- Keeping active -- The effect of acute illness on dementia -- Research into the delivery of services -- Protective factors -- Appendixes. 1. Using the Internet ; 2. Organizations.

Dementia -- Getting medical help for the person who has dementia -- Characteristic behavioral symptoms in people who have dementia -- Problems in independent living -- Problems arising in daily care -- Medical problems -- Behavioral symptoms of dementia -- Symptoms that appear as changes in mood -- Special arrangements if you become ill -- Getting outside help -- You and the person who has dementia as parts of a family -- How caring for a person who has dementia affects you -- Caring for yourself -- For children and teenagers -- Financial and legal issues -- Nursing homes and other living arrangements -- Preventing or delaying cognitive decline -- Brain disorders and the causes of dementia -- Research in dementia.