5 Great Gifts for Dads with Memory Loss

It is often in the quiet moments with the fewest distractions that we are able to make the most heartfelt connections.

By Rita Altman

Some people struggle with celebrating Father's Day once their dad begins suffering the effects of Alzheimer's disease or other forms of memory loss.

You and your family may feel like the past traditions just aren't possible anymore. However, Father's Day can still be meaningful for both your Dad and the whole family.

As difficult as it may seem, instead of focusing on all that you and your father are losing, try to focus on his remaining strengths and interests, and all that you still have.

Take comfort in knowing that by spending time with your father, you are giving him one of the most important gifts you can give: your continued presence in his life.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES AND MUSIC AS ALZHEIMER’S THERAPY?

Can either exercise, or healthy diet, or mental activities, or socialization, or music

be used as a therapy to treat people living with Alzheimer’s?

By Wantland J. Smith
Alzheimer's Reading Room

This Man Decided to Fight Alzheimer's
-- Jay Smith

I think each of these “lifestyle” strategies should be adopted as an urgent priority as a matter of public health and national survival. But, even if the potential benefits were to become widely accepted, I acknowledge that their effectiveness will ultimately depend upon the extent of people’s willingness to commit to doing the therapy persistently.

But wait a minute! No one is promoting using these lifestyle prevention strategies as a treatment regimen. Nonetheless, I am beginning to, at least for myself, after living with the symptoms of Alzheimer’s for a long time – six years since my diagnosis of “early Alzheimer’s disease,” and more than a dozen years since the first symptoms became worrisome enough that I sought a neurological workup to try to find out what was causing them.

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