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Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources: The Silent Crisis of Benzodiazepines, Antipsychotics and Dementia Care
Narration provided by Wondervox.
Reprinted with permission from Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources
By
Even with my decades of experience in elder care and gerontology, navigating dementia care for my father was nothing short of overwhelming for my family. Nevertheless, despite all the challenges, my dad spent all but one month of his 18 years with Alzheimer’s, cared for by my mother at home.
Sadly, his last month was spent in a memory care facility (and on hospice care) until he died in the hospital after a bad fall and severe head injury in the facility. He was on lorazepam (Ativan®), in the category of benzodiazepines, despite his risk of falling and a body of scientific evidence describing this medication to be contraindicated for individuals with dementia.
Like many of you caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia, we second-guessed our every move and trusted others.
Since his passing, our family has grappled with a lot of ‘should’ve,’ ‘would’ve’ moments and regrets as we look back and think about what we could’ve done to better advocate for his wellbeing.
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Mark McNease On Topic (Substack)
Subscribe to Mark McNease On Topic HERE
Tis the season for stockings full of crap
Who doesn’t want to end the year with a Trump-ordered impeachment of President Biden, the man who kicked his ass once and will kick it again?
Who doesn’t want to see Ukraine abandoned in the manger while Jesus, Mary, and the Republican House head off for selfies and sleigh bells?
Who doesn’t look forward to a continuation of all-Trump-all-the-time media coverage of the only man whose obituary I long every day to read?
Who takes comfort in knowing even monsters die?
Me! Me! Me!
Can we stop calling them ‘Supreme’?
Unsurprising, to say the least. The Republican justices (for that’s what they are, not “conservative”) are political hacks through and through. They lie and deceive and live lavish, kingly lives bought and paid for. We can’t do anything about their unaccountable power at this point, but we can stop pretending they deserve the least bit of respect, no matter how they decide. America is so broken, in so many ways. It all appears to have been a very long-lasting fiction that is now threadbare and exposed as the corrupt-from-to-to-bottom smoke and mirrors it always was.
From Dahlia Lithwick in Slate:
“With each new peek behind the curtain, this fantasy becomes more difficult to buy into, even for those desperate to believe. It turns out that the justices—at least five of them on the right—are functionally indistinguishable from cynical partisan lawmakers making deals in the Senate cloakroom. It turns out that abortion rights vanished in America because five conservatives barely tried to hide the fact that they could do that, simply because they could do that. And it turns out that they’re increasingly bad at covering their tracks.”
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Savvy Senior: What Is the Retirement Saver’s Credit and How Does It Work?
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
Can you explain to me how the retirement saver’s tax credit works? My wife and I are in our fifties and are looking for creative ways to boost our retirement savings beyond our 401(k). Is this something we may be eligible for?
Struggling to Save
Dear Struggling,
If your income is low to moderate and you participate in your employer-sponsored retirement plan or an IRA, the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit (aka “Saver’s Credit”) is a frequently overlooked tool that can help boost your retirement savings even more. Here’s how it works.
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The Twist Podcast #247: Eggnog and Impeachment, Listeners’ Favorite Things about Christmas, and an Interview with Equality Florida’s Carlos Guillermo Smith
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we add Congress to the naughty list, hear listeners’ favorite things about Christmas, and enjoy an interview excerpt with Carlos Guillermo Smith, Senior Policy Advisor with Equality Florida.
The Twist Podcast is brought to you by Queer We Are where you’ll find a podcast, newsletter, merch and more in the Queer We Are shop.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing
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One Thing or Another Podcast #67: A Conversation with Professor and Author Lucas Hilderbrand on his New Book, ‘The Bars Are Ours’
Fasten your headphones for a conversation with Professor Lucas Hilderbrand, whose latest book, The Bars Are Ours, offers a meticulously researched, scholarly and always engaging look at the history of gay bars and their place in queer culture over the decades. We talk about his life, his career, and his dedication to a subject that is as significant as ever.
About Lucas Hilderbrand
Lucas Hilderbrand is Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape and Copyright, also published by Duke University Press, and Paris Is Burning: A Queer Film Classic.
Hilderbrand lives in Los Angeles and teaches film and media, visual, and queer studies at the University of California, Irvine. He has written on the pleasures and politics of video bootlegging, the mediations of queer memory, and the ambiguities of experimental documentary.
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Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast #71: A House in the Woods 2 (Chapters 4-6, Podcast Edition)
Enjoy another three chapters of my newest book as a Mark McNease Mysteries podcast exclusive! This week it’s chapters four, five and six of ‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due.’ I’ll be offering three chapters every week, narrated by my very own Wondervox. No audiobook narrators were harmed in the production of this podcast! Fasten your headphones for weekly commentary, updates, and serialized fiction from yours truly. Comments and encouragement are welcome! You can leave a voice message for me here. I’m listening!
About ‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due’
A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they’ve been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when?
Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they’re part of it, and that these nightmares aren’t really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.
Mark McNease Mysteries Podcast Copyright MadeMark Publishing
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One Thing or Another Podcast #66: A Conversation with Robert Kesten, Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library
Listen in as I chat with Robert Kesten, Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We talk about the need to preserve our history, the mission of the Stonewall Museum, and how we can sustain an awareness of our past and present in a way that informs our future.
Robert Kesten (he/him/his) has worked globally promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and furthering democracy. This work has taken many forms including writing and producing an award winning documentary on learning about the Holocaust at the Concentration Camps in Poland, Working on the Ghanaian Constitution, coordinating and producing events leading to Ukrainian independence, producing events for the first AIDS day treatment center in the nation, pushing for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ukraine (the first Soviet Republic to do so).
Kesten comes to Stonewall National Museum and Archives with national and international experience, taking ideas and bringing them to life. This position brings full circle his active engagement in the LGBTQ+ community and his commitment to using history as a tool to make sense and fashion a response to today and tomorrow.
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The Weekly Readlines December 9
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Time Magazine named talent Taylor Swift as its Person of the Year, offering a refreshing break from politics and acknowledging the megastar of her generation. Haters gonna hate, she’s great.
Kevin McCarthy announced he’ll be leaving Congress at the end of this year, marking the abrupt close of a pointless political career. Hunter Biden was indicted in California on tax evasion charges, while multiple-indicted one-term president Donald Trump attacked a judge’s wife to the wild applause of his plant-based supporters everywhere.
And incumbent school board member Karen Smith in Central Bucks County (PA) was sworn in on a stack of banned books.
LGBTQ NEWS
Republican States Are Gayer Than You Think – Newsweek
NewsweekWisconsin governor vetoes anti-trans youth healthcare ban – Windy City Times
Windy City Times -
The Twist Podcast #246: Taylor Triumphant, Christmas Listicles, and An Interview with Lila Szyryj, Miss Wisconsin 2023
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we congratulate Time’s Person of the Year Taylor Swift, share some listener voice messages, consider the worst Christmas songs ever, and listen in to Rick’s interview with Lila Szyryj, Miss Wisconsin 2023.
The Twist Podcast is brought to you by Queer We Are where you’ll find a podcast, newsletter, merch and more in the Queer We Are shop.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing
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Dreamshaping: Name Your Poison
Narration provided by Wondervox.
Dreamshaping: On Shaping Reality and Living Our Dreams is a feature at LGBTSr on the ways we create our lives.
Mark McNease
Observing the current cultural and political climate, I’m reminded of a scene from the westerns once so popular with American moviegoers. A bartender in a grimy, dusty saloon, says to a weary customer, “Name your poison.” The customer asks for whiskey—they all drank whiskey in the movies, with names like Rot Gut and Dead Eye—and the bartender serves him from a bottle on the shelf. The customer throws back a mouthful from a greasy shot glass, grimaces as it burns its way down his throat, then smiles, slaps the glass on the counter and orders another one. That sure felt good.
Today we have many things to choose from besides whiskey as we name our poisons. We have twenty-four hour cable news channels to make sure we’re alarmed, angry and indignant. We have addictions of a breathtaking variety, from sex to nicotine to apps making us feel special with every little balloon bursting on our smartphone screens, while data miners dig further and further into what remains of our privacy. But like that weary cowboy in that filthy saloon, we like the way it feels going down and we order another one.
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Savvy Senior: How to Ease the Winter Blues
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
What can you tell me about seasonal affective disorder? I’ve always disliked winter, but since I retired and am home a lot more, the gray, cold winter months make me feel really blue.
Sad Sam
Dear Sam,
If you get depressed in the winter but feel better in spring and summer, you may indeed have seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, a wintertime depression that affects roughly 5 percent of Americans.
In most cases, SAD is related to the loss of sunlight in the winter months. Reduced sunlight can upset natural sleep-wake cycles and other circadian rhythms that can affect the body. It can also cause a drop in the brain chemical serotonin, which affects mood, and can increase the levels of the hormone melatonin, which can make you feel more tired and lethargic.
If you think you may have SAD, a trip to your doctor’s office is the best way to diagnose it or you can take a SAD “self-assessment” test at the Center for Environmental Therapeutics website at CET.org/assessments. If you find that you have SAD, here are several treatment options and remedies that can help.
Jim Miller Light therapy: The most effective treatment for SAD is sitting in front of a specialized light therapy box for 20 to 30 minutes a day, within the first hour of waking up in the morning. Light therapy mimics outdoor light to cause a change in brain chemicals linked to mood.
While you can buy a light box without a prescription, it’s best to use it under the guidance of a health care provider and follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. Most health insurance plans do not cover the cost.
The best light therapy lamps provide 10,000 lux of illumination, many times stronger than typical indoor light, and have a diffuser screen that filters out ultraviolet rays and projects downward toward the eyes.
Some top-rated light therapy products include the Carex Day-Light Classic Plus Bright Lamp ($145); Northern Light Technology Boxelite-OS ($205); and the budget friendly Verilux HappyLight Luxe ($70), all of which are available at Amazon.com.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: Even though SAD is considered to be a biological problem, identifying and changing thought and behavior patterns can help alleviate symptoms too. To help you with this, choose a therapist who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy and who has experience in treating SAD. To locate someone in your area, Psychology Today offers a search tool at PsychologyToday.com/us/therapists/cognitive-behavioral-cbt.
Antidepressants: Some people with SAD benefit from antidepressant treatments too. Some proven medications to ask your doctor about are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the extended-release antidepressant bupropion.
But keep in mind that it may take several weeks to notice full benefits from an antidepressant. In addition, you may have to try different medications before you find one that works well for you and has the fewest side effects.
Lifestyle remedies: Some other things you can do to help alleviate your SAD symptoms include making your environment sunnier and brighter. So, open up your blinds, sit closer to bright windows and get outside as much as you can. Even on cold or cloudy days, outdoor light can help, especially if you spend some time outside within two hours of getting up in the morning.
Moderate exercise such as walking, swimming, yoga and even tai chi can also help alleviate SAD symptoms, as can social activities.
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.
Comments, suggestions or encouragement always welcome! We’re listening …
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Cat Talk Radio with Molly DeVoss and Dewey Vaughn: Feeding Your Senior Cat
Senior cats, those seven years and older, require a different diet than younger cats. With the right nutrition, cats can live long, healthy, happy lives. Tune in to find out what you should be looking for in your senior cat’s food.
Cat Talk Radio is all about cats, what makes them do what they do, why they occasionally misbehave and what cat guardians can do to fix it. We educate you on how to modify unwanted cat behavior by providing the proper environment and stimulation, enabling cats to express their natural behaviors in ways that are preferable for both the humans and cats. You will learn how to have fun with your cat, fascinating cat facts and be inspired to try new things, which will lead to a happier relationship and closer bond with your cat. We’ll also call attention to the plight of cats in our country, feel compassion for their challenges and share the message.
