Vonnies Health Spot

RESOURCES FOR THE LONG-TERM CAREGIVER

I have several friends who are in the position of being long-term caregivers. The responsibility is tremendous. And the toll it takes on their health is daunting. But for many it is the only option. Whether the affected person has suffered a stroke, has Alzheimer’s, or is afflicted with some other illness, caregivers need all the support they can get. Following is a list of helpful resources for people in that position:

WEBSITES
•    www.alz.org/we_can_help_resource_lists.asp
Sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association. Click on “Caregiver Guides” for a list of publications for caregivers recommended by the Alzheimer’s Association.
•    www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/home.jsp
Sponsored by the Family Caregiver Alliance. Click on “publications” or “newsletters” to read articles dealing with topics such as caregiver depression, hiring in-home help, or self-care for caregivers. These facts sheets can also be ordered for $2 each from the Family Caregiver Alliance at 180 Montgomery St., Suite 1100, San Francisco, CA 94104 or by calling 1-800-445-8106.
•    www.care-givers.com
This is a website for empowering caregivers, which features articles, suggested readings and a newsletter.
•    www.healthinaging.org/public_education/eldercare/1.xml
This site is sponsored by the American Geriatric Association Foundation for Health in Aging. Free Eldercare at Home book covers topics such as pain, dental problems and bone weakness; also provides articles on topics of interest to caregivers and links to resources.
•    www.niapublications.org/adear
Provides a list of free publications that can be ordered either online or by calling 1-800-438-4380.

BOOKS
•    The Comfort of Home: An Illustrated Step-By-Step Guide for Caregivers by Maria Meyer (Care Trust Publications)
•    The Eldercare Handbook: Difficult Choices, Compassionate Solutions by Stella Henry and Anne Convery (HarperCollins)
•    The Fearless Caregiver: How to Get the Best Care for Your Loved One and Still Have a Life of Your Own by Gary Barg (Capital Cares)
•    Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers by Rosalyn Carter and Susan K. Golant (Random House)
•    Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s: A Groundbreaking Approach for Everyone Dealing with the Disease by Joanne Koenig Coste (Houghton Mifflin)
•    The Resourceful Caregiver: Helping Family Caregivers Help Themselves by National Family Caregivers Association staff
•    Surviving Your Spouse’s Chronic Illness by Chris McGonigle, PhD (Henry Holt & Company)
•    Share the Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill by Cappy Capossela and Sheila Warnock (Fireside Publishing)
•    The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer’s Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life (4th Edition) by Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins (Johns Hopkins Press)

MAGAZINES
•    Today’s Caregiver Magazine 1-800-829-2734, P.O. Box 21646, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33335, www.caregiver.com

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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

WHY DO WE LOVE BABIES?

When I was younger, I was not very interested in babies. I was so focused on developing my career that I couldn’t envision myself as a mother and neither could I connect with other females who would oh and ah over newborns who were proudly trotted into the office by their glowing (but usually worn-out) mothers.

Then I had my own.

Like the born-again Christian or the reformed smoker, I was converted. The mothering instinct had been awakened and I found the whole experience of the developing fetus, the birthing and the caring for children to be a holy, elevating experience. As is my way, I embraced the role with enthusiasm and became a rabid nurturer who sought out only the best for my children and protected them fiercely from harm. Also, an aspect of parenting that many of us may not connect with when we’re starting this odyssey is that “once a parent, always a parent.” In other words, even as our children grow up and leave the nest, we still want the best for them and do everything in our power to support their own odysseys as they go off into the world. As an extension of the learning experience I had as a parent, I have now come to realize how important our children are and how, in the bigger picture, they represent the future of humankind.

Now a group of researchers led by Morten Kringelbach and Alan Stein report that there is a possible brain basis for parental instinct. The hormone oxytocin is partially responsible for us bonding with our own young, but now their seems to be an area of the brain called the medial orbitofrontal cortex, which becomes highly specifically active within a seventh of a second in response to (unfamiliar) infant faces, but not to adult faces.

The investigators were searching for answer to the question of why we almost instinctively treat babies as special, protecting them and enabling them to survive. Darwin originally pointed out that there is something about infants that prompts adults to respond to and to care for them, which allows our species to survive. Nobel-Prize-winning zoologist Konrad Lorenz proposed that it is the specific structure of the infant face, including a relatively large head and forehead, large and low-lying eyes and bulging cheek region, which serves to elicit these parental responses. But the biological basis for this has remained elusive.

Using a neuroimaging method called magnetoencephalography (MEG), at Aston University, UK, the research team found a key difference in early brain activity of normal adults when they viewed infant faces compared to adult faces. A wave of activity occurred within a seventh of a second upon presentation of an infant image, was to fast to be controlled by conscious mind, so therefore deduced to be instinctive.

The clinical application of this research is in the area of post-partum depression. There is evidence linking depression to the nearby subgenual cingulated cortex, which is strongly connected with the medial orbitofrontal cortex. This lends support to the possibility that changes to activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, secondary to depression may adversely affect parental responsivity. Postpartum depression occurs in approximately 13 percent of mothers after birth. The present findings could eventually provide opportunities for early identification of families at risk.
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Photo credits: mother & baby, aldomurrillo-iStockphoto.com; loving family, dolgachev-iStockphoto.com
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Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.

RELATIONSHIPS ARE DICEY THINGS

One of the most important skills one needs to learn in life is how to get along with others. You may be the most brilliant genius, but if your knowledge about how to build and keep relationships is lacking, I guarantee you most likely will limit your own development because of it. Kindness and diplomacy usually win out, but sometimes we need a little help. Following are some methods for handling different situations.

RESPONSES TO VERBAL ATTACKS
Advice from Nando Pelusi, PhD, psychologist in private practice, New York City:

➢    Ask the person what he/she is upset about. This shows that you want to communicate, not argue—and it puts the responsibility back on them.
➢    Concede one kernel of truth, if there is one, but deny the generalization. For example, if your brother calls you a screw-up, admit to one specific error but say that it does not represent everything you do.
➢    Take a guess at what you think the person is feeling. “You sound angry. I’m sorry you feel that way.” Do not blame.
➢    Resist the urge to win. Instead, listen and ask questions, which will ultimately help the other person independently arrive at a workable solution.

BETTER WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
From Justin Kruger, PhD, psychologist and associate professor of marketing at Stern School of Business, New York University, New York City, comes this advice: Be very careful with written communication, such as e-mail. It’s very easy for these messages to be misunderstood. Humor and sarcasm often fall flat, or worse, are taken literally as offensive statements. E-mail doesn’t convey tone of voice. The sender may have a tone in mind that conveys humor when composing the message, but that tone won’t be conveyed to recipients. One trick: Read a humorous or sarcastic memo out loud in a flat, nonhumorous tone. If it doesn’t sound like what you’re trying to convey, rewrite it.

CONVERSATION WITH THE HEARING IMPAIRED
Let’s face it. As the population grays, more and more of us will suffer from various degrees of hearing loss. It can be very frustrating to not know for sure if you’re being heard totally or to wonder if you’ve been misunderstood and it sometimes can have devastating effects. LifeLedger Tips, which assists caregivers via the Internet, www.lifeledger.com, gives some techniques to smooth the communication process.

➢    Eliminate background noise. Turn off the radio or television for the length of the conversation. You can always turn it back on when you’re finished.
➢    Sit at eye level in their line of vision. Look them in the eye when speaking. Facial expression goes a long way to enhance understanding.
➢    Ask if they can hear you. If not, change the pitch of your voice, not just the volume. Refrain from shouting, that is upsetting to both of you and it doesn’t improve communication at all.
➢    Show that you are listening in return. Look at them when they are speaking.
➢    Allow extra time for the hearing impaired person to respond.

HOW TO ENCOURAGE COOPERATION  
We often encounter people who are reluctant to do what we ask them to do, whether when dealing with a recalcitrant child or teenager, or with a member of the staff at work who resents your authority. Eric Knowles, professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, chief scientist at www.omegachange.com and co-editor of Resistance and Persuasion offers this advice. Say, “I know you may not want to do this, but ….” People are 29 percent more likely to grant a favor when the person asking uses this phrase. The reason is because you’ve shown that you understand that someone is reluctant empowers them to feel that they have a choice. They then can decide that it might not be such a bad thing to grant your request.

For more relationship tips, try www.bottomlinesecrets.com.

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Photo credits: angry couple-Jason Stitt; pouting girls-Elena Elisseevva

_______________________________________________________  Disclaimer: The purpose of this weblog is not to dispense medical advice nor in any way is meant to be construed as diagnostic or prescriptive. Always check with your physician before beginning any new program or trying any of the items discussed in the posts that appear on this site.