Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Treatment, Symptoms & AFA Help

Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Treatment, Symptoms & AFA Help

• January 30, 2024 - Legal Advocacy,

I’m Mike Hackard with Hackard Law. We litigate trust, estate, and elder financial abuse claims in California’s urban courts. We do this on a contingency fee basis.

For us, our approach corresponds to a Warren Buffett adage: “You don’t get paid for activity; you only get paid for being right.”

Addressing and often civilly prosecuting wrongdoers who exploit Alzheimer’s patients is a cause that I inherited. I wrote The Wolf at the Door: Undue Influence and Elder Financial Abuse.

The book has received fair attention across the country. This attention includes the media, legal seminars, lawyers and most importantly elders and families of elders. My book includes a chapter on “Alzheimer’s and Dementia in Financial Elder Abuse.”

My legal experience in the subject matter makes me particularly appreciative of associations, authors, and articles that address Alzheimer’s and dementia patients’ caregiver concerns. Legal insight is just a small part of the Alzheimer’s equation. The preeminent concern for families dealing with the disease is medical.

 Alzheimer’s Today is the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s magazine for families and caregivers of individuals living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Its 2023 year-end issue is rich in helpful information. One article discussed the common symptoms associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, like Alzheimer’s and dementia. I commend its reading.

The article reviews both “Symptom Types” and “Treatment Options.” Symptom Types include apathy, depression, irritability, agitation and aggression, psychosis: delusion; perceptional errors and hallucinations; motor activity, wandering and sleeping and eating disorders.

Treatment Options include the critical first step of an evaluation by a geriatric medicine specialist, a neurologist or a geriatric psychiatrist. Non-pharmacological options for mild cases include music therapy, aromatherapy, exercise of physical therapy, pet/animal therapy, and for some psychotherapy. Medications may also be necessary.

Pharmacological approaches include risks that must be discussed with medical professionals. Consulting geriatric psychiatrists can often be an important step.

Importantly, the article identifies an Alzheimer’s Foundation of America helpline. Support, guidance, and resources are provided by AFA staff. This includes licensed social workers trained in dementia care.  AFA advice is available 7 days a week by phone (866-232-8484), text (646-586-5283), or webchat at alzfdn.org.

Just remember, now is the best time to get your elderly loved ones the care they need.

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