Surviving Alzheimer's: Practical Tips and Soul-Saving Wisdom for Caregivers

SO HELPFUL. Takes away some of the fear.

There is a lot of good information for families and caregivers who are struggling with this diagnosis.The book details different phases of alzheimer's and how to deal with the behaviors that go along with it.There are references to outside sources and recommendations to community support. I recommend this highly for anyone dealing with this as a care-giver.

Excellent resource for anyone dealing with Alzheimer's or dementia in their loved ones. I was struggling to find a support group to attend while trying to make decisions for my mother. This book provided so many answers and personal accounts. You can read only the chapters that apply to current issues at hand or do as I did and devour all the information. One if the best features for me where the personal stories that opened each chapter. They helped me realize I was not alone. And the new addition covered symptoms and behaviours right up to death - which was an amazing help for me to understand and know what to expect. I have purchase 5 more copies of this book and gave them to people whose parent or wife was in the grips of Alzheimer's. I truly feel this book helped me survive.

I bought this book to read as well as give to my mom who was the 24/7 caregiver to my 95 year old grandmother who we believed to have dementia. It was a great read for the both of us and gives good insight to understanding what caregiving is like. Helped us develop more patience and understanding. Alzheimers, dementia or general aging; this book can help anyone who is caregiving for someone.This is a big book, but has a lot of good content:Talks about different stages of aging and signs to look for.Shares a lot of similar and relatable stories.Pretty easy to read and broken down into sections.Can easily skip over sections that are not relevant to you.

This book was recommended by my PCP (who just happens to be the head of my medical group’s Palliative Care Department). I have found it to contain a wealth of information that is directly applicable to everyday situations I deal with in the care for my wife of 54 years who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 4 years ago. I have recommended the book to several other friends who are dealing with similar caregiving problems, and have received rave reviews from them. I highly recommend this book if you are supporting a loved one suffering from this devastating disease.

I found this book detailed and outstandingly presented!Much thanks Paula Spencer Scott!Lance

I love the way the author organized this book! I am able to easily locate the section that addresses the specific issue I'm facing. I am so grateful for the words of encouragement and stories that show me I'm not alone. The ideas are practical and easily implemented immediately. This book is an excellent resource. My loved one is now in a facility. I wish I had found this resource 3 years ago.

Haven't finished the book yet, however, it has been very informative in providing insight into caring for an Alzheimer's victim. It is a terrible disease seeing your loved one deteriorate mentally. It's hard to see and even more so to handle personally. The book has provided insights from people that have gone through the disease with their loved ones. It's helped provide some great tips and made me realize that we are not alone in dealing with Alzheimer's. It's helped us better communicate with the inflicted. I highly recommend reading the book for it's insight and realizing we are not alone in dealing with the disease and it's victims.

Sound advice

Knowing behaviours that could potentially arise allows a caregiver to be psychologically prepared and this book has a multitude. Knowing behaviours in advance also allows caregivers to have in mind a variety of potential ways of handling them. This book was recommended by a geriatric doctor, one who treats individuals with different types of dementias. As a caregiver, I do not want to be blindsided every few days. This book gives me more confidence in dealing with a person with dementia because it contains real life information. If you are new to caregiving for a person with dementia, this book could be a lifesaver!

I bought the book in desperation and discover I'm doing most of the work-arounds recommended to carers. This sort of "be a better carer" book is like a lot of especially American positive thinking, be a better boss sort of book. It doesn't quite hit the mark though, very worthy, but assumes you, the carer can do it. Well I can't, and the book just made me depressed. Maybe a good book for carers in a care home, people training etc., but not for close family carers, their "loss" is total, and gets worse daily! And anyway, you find all these glib recommendations on websites like Alzheimer's, if you're keen on driving yourself up a wall.

I was looking for a book for my mother, who is caring for our dad recently diagnosed with vascular dementia. This is an AMAZING book! It covers all of the things we are experiencing right now, and what we may have to deal with in the future. The author has such a caring approach, keeping in mind the dignity of the loved one with dementia and the sanity of the care giver(s).

Every time I opened to a random page it described something I have experienced with my elderly mother who has dementia. It’s comforting to know that what we are experiencing is the same as others in our situation.