Member Profile

Ward,

If you are a man, you need to stop being HEARTBROKEN already and instead TAKE SOME ACTION!!

The way you describe your sister, she is abusive, evasive, and disrespectful to ...Read More

Ward,

If you are a man, you need to stop being HEARTBROKEN already and instead TAKE SOME ACTION!!

The way you describe your sister, she is abusive, evasive, and disrespectful to all parties. You say that your father has a lot of money and wants your name to be "put forward", but oh, boo-hoo, your sister won't give him access to his bank book to pay for it. Well, you and your head-buryin' brother need to figure out how to "put forward" your own money to get the POA changed to YOU exclusively. Then your father can allow you to reimburse yourselves for what should be a small expenditure.

Your sister may end up benefitting form this too, as she will have more time to focus on cutting back on her own gas and devising other personal austerity measures.

good luck.

You have to be careful with these "She won't live forever" rationalizations. My mother took in my grandmother 19 years ago and always said the same thing as a way of coping. Unfortunately for Mom, SH ...Read More

You have to be careful with these "She won't live forever" rationalizations. My mother took in my grandmother 19 years ago and always said the same thing as a way of coping. Unfortunately for Mom, SHE didn't last forever - only 11 years - which was probably due in large part to the stress of my insanely demanding, threatening, and mean-spirited granny. Who, by the way, just passed away at 105.5 and outlived Mom by about 8 years.

Can you handle 20+ years of this?

I lean towards "Sly and the Family Stone" when they said "Blood's thicker than the mud" in the song "Family Affair". IOW, exactly why are you the POA? In our society boyfriends and girlfriends come an ...Read More

I lean towards "Sly and the Family Stone" when they said "Blood's thicker than the mud" in the song "Family Affair". IOW, exactly why are you the POA? In our society boyfriends and girlfriends come and go all the time. And you are "just" the daughter of her boyfriend.

You didn't really elaborate on how this came about but I wonder if the family was fully informed of the deterioration of her condition at the time you say that "I had her appoint me as the the POA." What I'm thinking is that maybe her family assumed she was fine as long as she was healthy and living with her "boyfriend", but actually would have "bothered with her" if they had known she really needed it.

You know the actual truth of the situation, of course, but if it turns out to be true that they would have cared and taken action if informed, then that implies that you have a "stealth" POA, which IMO is legal but not ethical.

Bookwormneesa,

You asked "What's due to age, and what's (due to) her personality?" Well, there's a third very important option, and that is "What's due to her situation?" And that situation ...Read More

Bookwormneesa,

You asked "What's due to age, and what's (due to) her personality?" Well, there's a third very important option, and that is "What's due to her situation?" And that situation is that you and your mother are under peril of being shortchanged by a new will. That puts your grandma in the driver's seat and since "Power corrupts..." it's only natural that she would have those tendencies and also ever-increasingly so. BTW, right now there's a movie on cable called "The Experiment", which deals with this exact subject, except not specifically with "caregivers".

Anyway, IMO it's very likely that most 90+ old ladies would give in to the temptation to use their money to become petty tyrants with their caregiving relatives. I have often wondered if the caregiving books offer any kind of warnings to this effect. I seriously doubt it.

Hey Peg, thanks for the hug. Now that a couple of weeks have passed, the reality of just how much I have been "damaged" psychologically by 8 1/2 years of almost exclusively waiting on Grandma is reall ...Read More

Hey Peg, thanks for the hug. Now that a couple of weeks have passed, the reality of just how much I have been "damaged" psychologically by 8 1/2 years of almost exclusively waiting on Grandma is really hitting me. Gonna be tougher to rebound than I would have thought. But I'm sure that the passage of time will make all the difference. Anyway, good luck with your situation. Sounds challenging.

Hey DT,

If the estate will involve more than just "mementos", you had better take action immediately. Either read up on it, consult an attorney, create a new will, or some combination of all three.
 ...Read More

Hey DT,

If the estate will involve more than just "mementos", you had better take action immediately. Either read up on it, consult an attorney, create a new will, or some combination of all three.

When my father passed, 1/3 of the estate went to my totally-off-the-radar-screen nephew who had never been involved with our side of family in any way. My brother had died earlier and his share passed to the nephew by Michigan law.

Chances are you nieces do not see things your way at all. After all, you are an just unemployed man receiving room and board, right?

I like the Clint Eastwood line from the movie "The Unforgiven", "DESERVE ain't got nothin' to do with it."

Better protect yourself, pronto.

Good morning everyone!

I am still here, healing, and being able to sleep in for the first time in about 3 years.

Last night I took a few minutes to go back to my original post an ...Read More

Good morning everyone!

I am still here, healing, and being able to sleep in for the first time in about 3 years.

Last night I took a few minutes to go back to my original post and copy the replies into a text file on monitor #2. That way I can look at the "support" at a glance in its totality. Awesome.

So special thanks to:

beta42
ladeeda
Jam
rossellamex
PEGDBEELADY
allshesgot
stormy
Shawna
emjo
mismiley
seemeride

and anyone else I might have missed.

I am still going to describe the somewhat mystical "gifts" I received in the final days. However, my religious perspective is not the "organized" type. More like being open to the possibility of a higher power. I love what the brilliant Ian Anderson sang way back when on the Jethro Tull "Aqualung" album, "He's not the kind you have to wind up on Sunday". IA always has the ability to say a lot with just a few words.

What also came to mind was the song by Buffy St. Marie, "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot". I looked it up on YouTube to see if it was as haunting as in yesteryear, and for me the answer is YES. There is a video of it from "Gewajega" that has some intriguing Indian art to accompany the music. It's interesting that the poem was written by Leonard Cohen and you can hear his comparatively flat presentation on YouTube as well. The consensus seems to be that LC is a GENIUS while BSM is an ARTIST. It is amazing to see what she created mood-wise from the raw material.

Giamia,
Ishmael

Good afternoon everyone.

It is so bizarre to not have Grandma to look after any more. 8 1/2 years and 10 before that as co-caregiver / companion along with my mother. Staggering to think ab ...Read More

Good afternoon everyone.

It is so bizarre to not have Grandma to look after any more. 8 1/2 years and 10 before that as co-caregiver / companion along with my mother. Staggering to think about. I am not really grieving much, and I think that's because I must have gone thru that during my intense 6 day solitary vigil at the hospice. Random intense waves of sadness roll over me, of course, but otherwise I'm functioning ok.

Finally got a decent amount of sleep. I meant to respond to some of the specific comments that were made, but I'm just NOW getting the energy to start focusing.

However, before doing that, or the "Judge my sister... PLEASE" bit, or even the hospice discussion, I am inclined to write about the 5 or 6 nice little surprises I had in the final days that could be considered "gifts" or "signs".

But first I have to head over to what used to be our family home - now in DEEP foreclosure - and as Mr. Miyagi (from The Karate Kid) might have said, "Show me MOW THE LAWN".

Later,
Ishmael

mariesmom,

I was impressed by your comment "...forget sleep - I slept very little the last three weeks of Mom's life and for several weeks after she passed".
 ...Read More

mariesmom,

I was impressed by your comment "...forget sleep - I slept very little the last three weeks of Mom's life and for several weeks after she passed".

That's because I have been sleep-derived for the last 2 years, but especially so in the last couple of weeks. Somehow I thought that now that it's over, I would quickly start catching up on sleep. Instead it has been frustratingly 4 am, 6 am or just waking automatically at the time I used to get up daily to start the caregiving duties. After your comment, I'm more inclined to have patience in easing into my new (I hope) super health phase.

Hello everyone,

Thanks for all the responses and encouragement. Means a lot - really.

I wrote something more substantial earlier but somehow the wrong combo of keystrokes during ...Read More

Hello everyone,

Thanks for all the responses and encouragement. Means a lot - really.

I wrote something more substantial earlier but somehow the wrong combo of keystrokes during editing/deleting caused a browser refresh and complete loss of message. From now on the second I go over a paragraph on ANY message site I will switch over to a text editor on another monitor. Duh.

Anyway, I am thinking of starting a topic, "Judge my sister...PLEASE!" just to see what somewhat unbiased strangers think of her behavior after hearing all the facts. I certainly know what * I * think.

Also want to discuss the hospice anguish I had because despite their claims to the contrary, they DO hasten death. Which may ultimately be justifiable, but still needs to be stated explicitly. Just for now, I'll say emphatically that if I had known how they operate, I would definitely not have given up on the in-home care so quickly after she came out of the hospital. I will expand on this in my next message.

Bye for now,
Ish

Well folks, my caregiving years are now over. Grandma passed this evening in the hospice wing of our local hospital.

I'm totally exhausted. I've been driving back and forth 4 or 5 times a ...Read More

Well folks, my caregiving years are now over. Grandma passed this evening in the hospice wing of our local hospital.

I'm totally exhausted. I've been driving back and forth 4 or 5 times a day. It's only about 12 minutes from home, so I would go there intending 4 hours, decide after 2 that I need a break, go home for a short time, feel guilty, and then rinse and repeat.

If there were other family members involved, then we could do whole shifts. But with just me, it's very tough.

Anyway, I'd like to respond to some of comments that were made, but 1:30 am is not the right time. Especially following all that. Tommorow is more like it.

Meanwhile, can you believe 8 1/2 years of servitude without even so much as 1/4 day free for myself the whole time? How did that happen? How can my sister - only 25 minutes away - live with herself after contributing absolutely nothing?

Thanks to everyone who commented.
Yesterday my grandmother did not "surface" even once while I was there. By late evening her breathing had become so shallow and infrequent that I was 95% sure sh ...Read More

Thanks to everyone who commented.
Yesterday my grandmother did not "surface" even once while I was there. By late evening her breathing had become so shallow and infrequent that I was 95% sure she would be gone by morning. But no call yet and I am not about to make one.

Instead I will shower and head over to the hospice wing now. Inexcusably late start but I am wasted from over a week of extreme stress and sleep dep. Will have time for details later.

The Caregiver....How am * I * doing today??

Well, pretty darn lousy. After 8 1/2 years of taking care of my grandmother - now 105.5 - with absolutely no help from anyone, she is now in the ...Read More

The Caregiver....How am * I * doing today??

Well, pretty darn lousy. After 8 1/2 years of taking care of my grandmother - now 105.5 - with absolutely no help from anyone, she is now in the hospice wing and probably hours from death.

Don't have time to provide details now, as I am heading back to my depressing vigil in a few minutes. But I am almost certain that I could have given her a year or two more time if I hadn't agreed to the hospice care. However, it all comes down to quality of life.

She has been bedridden for at least the last 6 months, has poor hearing and vision, stopped looking at the paper altogether, has been tuning out early on our traditional 8 - 10 pm tv fare, etc. I just realized that I can no longer lift her from the bed to the wheelchair to the toilet anymore without risk of cracking a rib, or snapping some other bone. So it would have meant all meals in bed too, instead of the usual ride to our dinner table.

As of 1 week ago, she began exhibiting RAGING dementia, as opposed to her normal intermittent possibly-explainable-by-general-nastiness type. We're talking horses in the room, asking what time decades-gone relatives left our house today, and stuff like that.

Anyway, gotta go, but it really sucks because I know I could have done better than just morphine/starvation/dehydration. But even if I am right, would it be sensible for me to completely lose 24/7 more of my life for another 2 years, and go deeper into debt just to gain 2 years of ultra-low quality of life for her? Not one person I've spoken with thinks so.

More on this later if anyone is interested.

My 105 year old grandmother has reached the point where it's a coin flip whether or not she'll start choking or coughing even with plain water. Taking care of her full time gives me plenty of nap-time ...Read More

My 105 year old grandmother has reached the point where it's a coin flip whether or not she'll start choking or coughing even with plain water. Taking care of her full time gives me plenty of nap-time opportunity to research any topic to death, but for whatever reason, I never got around to googling { frail elderly dsyphagia } until your question. That search will definitely put you right on the trail to the mother lode.

For openers: "Chewing and swallowing problems (also called dysphagia) can be life threatening for elderly people and people with diseases such as stroke, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and dementia. The muscles of the mouth and throat may no longer be working properly, so bits of food and liquid will be aspirated or drawn into the lungs. Other factors contributing to dysphasia could be level of consciousness, medications, distractions and eating patterns.

As the lungs' airways become blocked, the person will begin to choke. For frail, elderly people, a choking fit can be fatal. The aspiration of food and fluid into the lungs can also cause aspiration pneumonia, a condition that is prevalent in people who are in the final stage of dementia. Repeated bouts of aspiration pneumonia will weaken a person's system and may eventually cause death. "

So you clearly stand to gain by addressing this immediately.

Some suggestions:
Use a teaspoon to avoid putting too much food in the mouth at once
Remind the person to chew each mouthful thoroughly
Touch the person's lower lip to stimulate opening the mouth
Massage the throat to stimulate the swallow reflex
Take as much time as necessary to help the person enjoy the meal

And a couple counterintuitive or at least not obvious ones:
Do not wash food down with a liquid.
Do not use straws for chewing and swallowing problems. Straws increase air swallowing and add to the number of steps required for drinking.

Konacaregiver,
I believe they remove links here pretty quickly, but I checked out your reference to doctor yourself anyway.
It's interesting that they recommend a blended salad because I was ...Read More

Konacaregiver,
I believe they remove links here pretty quickly, but I checked out your reference to doctor yourself anyway.
It's interesting that they recommend a blended salad because I was asked to make some suggestions that have worked for my 105 yo grandmother's health and mineral-wise I was saying blended / pureed vegetable soups, raw veg drinks, and veg broth. However, I KNEW that blended salads were also desirable. I just never got around to giving them a fair chance. Even for myself.

One thing I would like to add, however, regarding their kidney nutrition advice, and that is that in looking at the references provided, the dates are from the 80's. And the article copyright is 2005. The problem there is that now we have more and more awareness of the importance of EFA's in the diet. At the same time, many smart people are fingering the ever-present RBD veg oils (refined, bleached deodorized) as contributing to long-term degenearative disease. Largely because the high temperatures involved in their processing creates twisted and bizarre fat molecules (not JUST the trans fats) for which our body has not been prepared. These molecules get incorporated into our cell membranes and really screw up the works by altering the "rules" for which substances are allowed to pass thru the cell membranes. Big problem.

So because that website does not seem to take the EFA's and bad oils into account (in suggestions 1 thru 11), if you are serious about this, I would google { kidneys EFA } and see what drags in for a more complete perspective.

Why not?

These diseases are not clean cut, like macular degeneration, for example. In cases where autopsies are performed, we find that half of the Alzheimer's diagnoses were incorrect. Ev ...Read More

Why not?

These diseases are not clean cut, like macular degeneration, for example. In cases where autopsies are performed, we find that half of the Alzheimer's diagnoses were incorrect. Even the stages of these kinds of diseases are gray areas that might be arbitrarily reclassified at any moment.

It would be an odd observation of the human condition though, if the end stage of a degenerative brain disease included the condition, "No longer able to construct a deliberate lie".

I don't find this unusual either. The key elements are "99 year old" and "got up at 10 pm".

A couple of weeks ago my 105.5 grandmother paged me 4 times during the night. Page #3 involved "2 ...Read More

I don't find this unusual either. The key elements are "99 year old" and "got up at 10 pm".

A couple of weeks ago my 105.5 grandmother paged me 4 times during the night. Page #3 involved "2 dogs in the room", while #4 at 5 am involved a woman on a pink motorcycle! (she has way better dreams than I do)

I figure that 2 effects are in play. First, diminished ability to distinguish between dreams and reality, especially immediately upon awakening. And second, maybe the mind compensates for a dull, mostly bedridden existence by creating even richer dreams. Even if that point is incorrect, it's still interesting to see that her dreams are vastly more interesting than her normal routine of ordering me around 24/7. Good for her to have that outlet.

Hi Carol72156, Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Thanks for the interest in the blended soups. I should have time to respond tomorrow. Also, based on what I learned from my one year as office ...Read More

Hi Carol72156, Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Thanks for the interest in the blended soups. I should have time to respond tomorrow. Also, based on what I learned from my one year as office manager for a small landscaping company, and what I found growing in my mother's garden long after she'd gone, and also looking at your avatar, well, "The bird is the word!"

Hi,
Your out-of-the-blue hug came at just the right time the other night. I had just put my 105 yo grandmother to bed when a monster wave of sadness, loneliness, and yes, "spookiness" crashed ove ...Read More

Hi,
Your out-of-the-blue hug came at just the right time the other night. I had just put my 105 yo grandmother to bed when a monster wave of sadness, loneliness, and yes, "spookiness" crashed over me, looking to take me under. Decided to check out my computer, and surprise - the spell was broken. Honestly, I was LMAO for about 10 minutes!

Thanks.

weathernut,
You must have slipped between the cracks, reponse-wise, because people usually respond much quicker.

My own situation is that I am taking (absolutely solo) care of my 105 y ...Read More

weathernut,
You must have slipped between the cracks, reponse-wise, because people usually respond much quicker.

My own situation is that I am taking (absolutely solo) care of my 105 yo grandmother for 8 years now, beginning with almost a full year in which my mother (RIP) struggled against lung cancer. I am very big on "alternative" nutrition, and even though my grandma is one of the nastiest centenarians imaginable, she still gets the benefit of my ideas and practices. If you googled "top 10 wonder foods" or anything remotely like that, chances are that she is getting most of what you'd find in the various lists. And just as importantly, not getting very much garbage food either.

Anyway, a while ago someone was describing their "sleepy granny" and I volunteered my ideas on homemade blended or pureed "cream of vegetable" soups, and thought I would get some feedback if they tried it out. I figured that with the person having nothing to lose but a little labor, and knowing that the food had "bio-assimilable" minerals up the wazoo, that maybe they would give it a try. Nope, nothing.

IMO, it's pretty obvious - the "Old Folks at Home" have lousy digestion across the board. They don't chew well, and don't produce as much stomach acid and digestive enzymes as they need. So, pureed veg soups, broths, and raw veg drinks are great. I'm sure that the cells of every piece of asparagus, broccoli, carrot, onion, spinach, celery, parsnip, squash, parsley, etc, I used all had the necessary ingredients to sustain life. Which is more than I can say for "Ensure", for example.

Of course, I have no idea what you are currently doing. But those veg sources, plus probiotics (in the form of the right yogurts), essential fatty acids, coconut oil and / or MCT oil, fresh fruits, B complex, adequate C, D, sublingual B-12, etc, etc. might work wonders.

Also, the lymphatic function is being seen as more and more important these days, and it ABSOLUTELY requires for the the body to MOVE. I think in the future as our cell phones become artificially intelligent, they'll remind us every couple of hours to jump up and do a 3 minute circulation-boosting workout. Or have our personal robot give us a lymph-boosting massage. Till then, we have to improvise.

Well, I'm 99% sure this was not the kind of response you expected, but it might be good for a diversion anyway.

Good luck.

27 answers so far, but I don't think anyone mentioned insomnia as one of the most common side effects of prescription drugs. Is that a possibilty in this case?

OrangeBlossom,

It's good to see someone with your perspective writing here.

If anyone has seen films like "Escape from New York" or Mel Gibson's "Mad Max" series, then you've see ...Read More

OrangeBlossom,

It's good to see someone with your perspective writing here.

If anyone has seen films like "Escape from New York" or Mel Gibson's "Mad Max" series, then you've seen a portrayal of a broken-down society where certain areas are a lawless free-for-all. That's pretty much the way I see our current health practices. IMO, somewhere down the line, maybe 50, 100, or 200 years from now, we will look back at this period as a time of insanely barbaric ignorance.

Medical research has been CO-OPTED and CORRUPTED by Big Pharma. That is beyond a doubt.

Here's a sample illustrating the problem from Science Daily in January 2008:

"Anti-Alzheimer's Mechanism In Omega-3 Fatty Acids Found"

"Many Alzheimer's researchers have long touted fish oil, by pill or diet, as an accessible and inexpensive "weapon" that may delay or prevent this debilitating disease. Now, UCLA scientists have confirmed that fish oil is indeed a deterrent against Alzheimer's, and they have identified the reasons why."

... "the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in fish oil increases the production of LR11, a protein that is found at reduced levels in Alzheimer's patients and which is known to destroy the protein that forms the "plaques" associated with the disease."

and here's the key...

"But he (Dr. Cole) is hopeful that the NIH will conduct a large-scale prevention clinical trial using fish oil at the earliest stages of the disease -- particularly because it is UNLIKELY that a pharmaceutical company will do so, since fish oil in pill form is readily available and inexpensive.

So, Alzheimer's is big, it's obviously important, but key research into nutrient-based prevention is something for which we can only HOPE. Meanwhile drug research goes on like wildfire.

Let's think about part of our "cultural wisdom" - "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Is that the way medical research shapes up today? A 16 to 1 ratio in favor of prevention?

How about Thomas Edison?

He stated that "The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Looks like he had no idea how far off "the future" would be.

It's preposterous that we spend so much on drug research when we haven't even mastered the ABC's of good health. You mentioned that "the soil was far less contaminated with artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, industrial pollutants, acid rain, etc". That might correspond to the letter 'M'. "Naturally occuring vitamins, minerals, and natural enzymes" might be letter 'N'. And so on.

Now, consider the statement, "Proper functioning of the lymphatic system is a cornerstone of good health, yet it is often over-looked by Western medicine." How can something as straightforward as "the basic plumbing system" be overlooked? How about, "In Europe, Lymphatic Drainage Therapy is frequently performed prior to radiation or surgery to prevent the complication of lymphedema."? Is Europe part of a different planet?

We really need to attack the basics of health with an engineering mentality. How does this system truly work?

Anyway, I could go on forever, but I won't. I'll just say that IMO medical science should have listened to Edison. By now we would each have a wonderful "Owner's Manual" for the human body, instead of the random half-assed guidelines we may or may not make up for ourselves.

But despite all that, I see a lot of wonderful signs that the times are changing, and I am optimistic that we are going to get back on track.

Italianbabs,

I agree with you completely.

We used to have these crazy ideas floating around, like "Illegal search and seizure", "innocent until proven guilty", "the right to pri ...Read More

Italianbabs,

I agree with you completely.

We used to have these crazy ideas floating around, like "Illegal search and seizure", "innocent until proven guilty", "the right to privacy", and "the right to face your accusers". What happened?

So now the gov needs a warrant to walk in on a drug dealer or violent criminal, but for an accused caregiver, just barge right in?

Somewhere between the extremes of "doing nothing", and "sending in the SWAT team", there ought to be at least one intermediate solution.

For example, if the complaint was health related, they might call you and you could say, "Look, we just saw Dr. Schmo last week. Please give him a ring. Not only that, but the pharmacy can verify that we filled her 6 prescriptions the day before yesterday."

It seems to me that there must be different levels of suspected abuse, and that realization alone calls into question the practice of all-or-nothing solutions.

Not only that, but the investigating agency by now knows that many of the complaints are going to be illegitimate claims from interfering troublemakers.
Neighbors, ex-employers, AH family members. That's the real world for ya.

Anyway, I see why we need to protect the anonymity of the complainer, but I think that the victimized caregiver should be entitled to see the exact wording of the complaint.

The author failed to heed her own advice - "If you're going to make something up, make it GOOD".

CarolF

"Did she limit her fats? And did she use unsaturated oils?"

That is right on the money.

As a point of reference, the brilliant physicists who worked on the Manh ...Read More

CarolF

"Did she limit her fats? And did she use unsaturated oils?"

That is right on the money.

As a point of reference, the brilliant physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project all understood that they "Stood on the shoulders of giants". IOW, their work would not have been possible without all the theorizing and research that had gone before.

Now comparing that to nutrition and in particular Essential Fatty Acids, then back when catchlab's mother was in her 30's, 40's, 50's, and maybe even 60's, their were no EFA giants in sight. So IF the EFA's truly are ESSENTIAL - meaning that you MUST get them in your system or suffer long term degenerative consequences - then how likely is it that his mother really had ideal nutrition? Not very, IMO.

Anyway, it's very late now, but since catchlab ended that post with the incredible statement that "There are a lot of people out there who just believe nonsense!", I will just provide 2 quick scoops of.... nonsense.

First scoop, from July 2008, "medpage today", reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine:

"In patients with early Alzheimer's disease, a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with less brain loss in the hippocampus, a cross-sectional study showed.:

"All analyses were adjusted for age, gender, education, and whole brain volume. "

"We found that, in early-stage Alzheimer's, cardiorespiratory fitness is correlated with regional brain volumes in key areas affected by the disease," Dr. Hornea said. "This suggests that maintaining cardiorespiratory fitness may positively modify Alzheimer's-related brain atrophy."

"She said that "this is the first study to show any relationship between fitness and the hippocampus in Alzheimer's patients."

"An association between physical fitness and the degree of age-related brain atrophy has been established in healthy patients but not as well in those with Alzheimer's.

"This is the first time that MRI brain imaging has been used to demonstrate the connection between cardiorespiratory fitness and Alzheimer's-related brain changes in the hippocampus, an area of the brain important for memory and spatial navigation. In Alzheimer's, the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage."

So folks, think about that. If ordinary, run-of-the-mill age-related brain atrophy correlates with dementia, and "cardiorespiratory fitness" correlates negatively with the brain atrophy, then what does that suggest?

Second scoop of nonsense, from July 2011, an article entitled "The 9 Brain-Fitness Foods that Protect Against Alzheimers Disease":

"Research published in the journal Archives of Neurology indicates that certain foods protect the brain and reduce the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease."

"The researchers were able to identify certain dietary patterns which correlated strongly with a lower risk of Alzheimer's. The diets which seemed to protect the brain were high in omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, vitamin E and folate. The brain-fit diets also featured lower intake of saturated fats and vitamin B12."

"It was found that the participants who followed this eating pattern most consistently had a 38% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's than those who deviated from it most widely. Interestingly, it was discovered that the use of dietary supplements and/or alcohol did not affect risk levels for developing Alzheimer's."

Coconut oil, anyone?