Dodging Dementia
Whether you have a close relative with dementia, a history of high-risk factors for this condition, or a diagnosis of MCI (mild cognitive impairment) you may be concerned to know how personally ‘at risk’ you or a loved one is, and what you can do to ‘dodge’ what is definitely not inevitable.
In this second edition of her highly regarded Essential Guide to Avoiding Dementia, Mary Jordan guides readers through the many factors associated with developing dementia and the science behind our current understanding, including: diet, exercise, trauma, pharmaceuticals, genetics, social isolation, sleep, neurological deficits such as hearing loss, insulin resistance and diabetes type 2.
Based on her professional and personal experience of working, Mary offers a programme from which the individual reader can choose what works for them and their individual risks and circumstances.
Coping With Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
Adults are being increasingly diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and this book provides strategies for concerned individuals to help slow the onset of the condition. Around 50% of adults with MCI go on to develop dementia, but research shows that self-help through early intervention and preventative measures can hugely slow this down.
The self-help measures in this book include memory aids, health and lifestyle changes, activities, therapies and technological aids. All of them are known to improve cognition and can be incorporated into daily life. Every measure is firmly based in current research, and this book is also applicable to those with early-stage dementia wishing to delay the onset of more severe cognitive impairment.
Given the paramount importance of early intervention to prevent cognitive impairment worsening, this book is essential reading for any older individual wanting the best strategies to help with how to do this in practice.
The ‘D’ Word – Rethinking Dementia
This book offers an alternative to the present biomedical approach to dementia and the practical solutions that spring from that. The promises of future solutions in terms of a cure are non-viable if we truly understand the biological realism of dementia (the brain is wasting away and no amount of memory medicine can restore what is gone). What is important is to manage the problems we have now. At present we pass the management of dementia to low status, low paid, inexpert ‘carers’. Society needs to accept that dementia is a problem for all of us and the solution is to pay for the expert management needed. Since this solution is unlikely to be implemented this book shows how carers (both professional and family) can become the experts rather than relying on the inadequate response from medicine. If dementia is not a medical problem but a social one, then society needs to be the solution.
The Essential Guide to Avoiding Dementia
Do you worry that you have a high risk of getting dementia? Are you already affected? This ground-breaking book brings together information from a wealth of research papers and other sources that gives strong pointers about how changes in diet and lifestyle might reduce the risk or mitigate the consequences of dementia. Currently there is no cure or known cause for dementia, but the book reviews the empirical evidence on causes and connections – much of which is not usually disseminated to the public – so that readers can judge for themselves what might turn out to be true.
The Essential Carer’s Guide to Dementia
“Tell me what to expect at each stage of dementia, and how to deal with it,” Mary Jordan’s clients frequently ask her. The advice she gives, one-to-one while working for a national dementia charity and in the workshops she runs for carers, forms the basis of this practical guide. In the Essential Carer’s Guide to Dementia, Mary explains what you can expect when you receive a diagnosis of one of the many causes of dementia and what you can do to manage life going forward – how you can slow the progress of symptoms and how you can maximise available support. The earlier you start, the better you will be able to cope.
The Essential Carer’s Guide
With extensive experience of the UK’s National Health Service, caring for elderly relatives, and – most recently – working for a major dementia charity, Mary Jordan has revised and updated her Essential Carer’s Guide to provide the key information you need to hand when faced with caring for a relative or friend. With individual case stories, practical advice, entitlements & benefits and how to apply for them, as well as social needs and caring for the carer, this Guide helps to combine practical and emotional help and conveys a sense of empowerment and of not being alone.
End Of Life – The Essential Guide To Caring
‘Life is a journey, and so is end of life and we can prepare for it in the same way as we would prepare for any journey, making sure that all loose ends are tied up’. Once a taboo subject, end of life is becoming a ‘red-hot’ topic as more people realize that the care and arrangements for their own end of life are in their own hands. In addition, new government initiatives in respect of carers and caring and of dementia care are bringing the subject to the fore. This essential guide for carers, be they professional or friends and relations, provides information across a range of concerns surrounding end of life. The book tackles this difficult subject in a practical and caring way, showing how appropriate arrangements can be made to ensure the dying person’s wishes about dying and post-death (funerals or celebrations of life and mourning ceremonies) are carried out. From the practical point of view, the book covers making a Will, making an Advance Directive, donating body tissue and organs and giving directions for ones own funeral or life celebration and/or memorial service. From an emotional view point the book discusses grief including anticipatory grief, ways of coping with grief, and the importance of grieving. While invaluable for general readers facing these difficult issues, the book will be of specific interest to carers in residential/nursing homes and in hospitals together with counsellors, palliative care workers and teachers and students on courses in Health and Social Care and Nursing.
The Essential Guide to Life After Bereavement
The period following the death of a loved one can be a time of great turmoil. This sensitive book acts as a helpful and supportive road map through the initial period of loss, and through the weeks and months that follow. The authors address not only the emotional and spiritual aspects of bereavement, but also important practical considerations which are often overlooked, such as the disposal of personal possessions, dealing with funerals, memorials and anniversaries and resolving family conflict. Drawing on many real examples from their work in bereavement counselling, they offer advice on coping with negative emotions, as well as unique and helpful guidance on breaking bad news to children, people with a learning disability and people with dementia. This practical book is essential reading for all those who have experienced bereavement or loss, as well as the friends, relatives and professionals involved in supporting them.