How to Support a Friend Who Has a Chronic Illness
Living with a chronic illness, such as cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes or an immune disorder, can be...
Medication
Caring For Those in Chronic Pain: How Caregivers Cope
Traditional marriage vows generally contain the words “through sickness and in health.” For some couples, chronic sickness in the form of a...
8 Tips from a Healthy Aging Expert
Like many Alzheimer’s advocates, I support increased funding for Alzheimer’s research. The goal is to discover a cure. However, the current reality...
Fecal Incontinence Can Be a Side Effect of Various Conditions Including Constipation
Many conditions can carry as a side effect some degree of fecal incontinence, so if you are affected or someone you care...
Regular Medication Reviews Important for People Taking Multiple Drugs
Dear Carol: I’ve read your articles about drugs that are bad for older brains. My dad takes a long list of drugs...
Elders Who Abuse Their Family Caregivers
Most of us have seen evidence of people being harder on those they love than they are on strangers, or even people...
What to Do When a Senior Refuses to Bathe and Change Their Clothes
The responsibility of providing care for an aging or ill loved one is a monumental challenge in its own right. But when...
Cognitive Decline After Illness Common, but Check Medications, Too
Dear Carol: Until about six months ago, my mom, 93, was as cognitively sharp as ever. Unfortunately, she was hospitalized for several...
Is the Nursing Home Overmedicating Your Elderly Loved One?
In the days before nursing homes became so highly regulated, many facilities used medications to sedate patients. Elders who were cooperative and...
Should Your Parent Risk an Anesthesia Disaster or Forego Surgery?
Just last week a reader asked me whether she should try to sway her mother, who had colon cancer, toward surgery. Her...
