Includes index.

1. Dementia -- What is dementia? -- The person with dementia -- Where do you go from here? -- 2. Getting medical help for the person with dementia -- The evaluation of the person with a suspected dementia -- Finding someone to do an evaluation -- The medical treatment and management of dementia -- The physician -- The nurse -- The social worker -- The geriatric care manager -- The pharmacist -- 3. Characteristic behavioral symptoms of dementia -- The brain, behavior, and personality : why people with dementia do the things they do -- Caregiving : some general suggestions -- Memory 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 -- 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 getting confused -- 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 bedbound -- 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 why 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 -- 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 with 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 with 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 is impaired -- 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 with 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. Brain disorders and the causes of dementia -- Dementia -- Dementia associated with alcohol abuse -- Alzheimer disease -- Vascular (multi-infarct) dementia -- Lewy body dementia -- The frontotemporal dementias, including Pick disease -- Depression -- Binswanger disease -- HIV-AIDS -- Other brain disorders -- Delirium -- Senility, chronic organic brain syndrome, acute or reversible organic brain syndromes -- TIA -- Localized brain injuries -- Head injuries (head trauma) -- Anoxia or hypoxia -- Mild Cognitive impairment -- 18. Research in dementia -- Understanding research -- Bogus cures -- Research in vascular (multi-infarct) dementia and stroke -- Research in Alzheimer disease -- Structural changes in the brain -- Brain cells -- Neurotransmitters -- Abnormal proteins -- Nerve growth factors -- Transplants of brain tissue -- Drug studies -- Metals -- Prions -- Immunological defects -- Head trauma -- Epidemiology -- Down syndrome -- Old Age -- Heredity -- Gender -- Promising clinical and research tools -- Keeping active -- The effect of acute illness on dementia -- Research into the delivery of services -- Protective factors -- Appendix 1. Using the Internet -- Appendix 2. Organizations.