Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T02:24:55.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Case 48 - Caring for the Caregiver

from Part 10 - Management Misadventures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2020

Keith Josephs
Affiliation:
Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
Federico Rodriguez-Porcel
Affiliation:
Medical University of South Carolina
Rhonna Shatz
Affiliation:
University of Cincinnati
Daniel Weintraub
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Alberto Espay
Affiliation:
University of Cincinnati
Get access

Summary

This 76-year-old right-handed man with an amnestic presentation, suspicious for Alzheimer disease and diagnosed 5 years earlier, returned to the clinic for follow-up. Although he initially experienced improvement with donepezil, his cognition progressively declined over the following three years. In the last six months, his wife, who was his primary caregiver, noted that he was more forgetful and repetitive. However, now when he misplaced objects (e.g., wallet, books), he became convinced that the lost objects were stolen, even when the missing items were found and shown to him. Her repeated attempts to reassure him that the objects were merely misplaced triggered agitation and confusion. No threatened or real physical aggression ensued. In the office, he had no recollection of the events. He was oriented to place and person. His speech was fluent and his discourse was circumlocutory. The remainder of the exam was unremarkable.

Type
Chapter
Information
Common Pitfalls in Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
A Case-Based Approach
, pp. 155 - 157
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brasure, M. et al. 2016. AHRQ comparative effectiveness reviews. In Nonpharmacologic Interventions for Agitation and Aggression in Dementia. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, pp. 1263.Google ScholarPubMed
Gitlin, L. N. et al. 2008. Tailored activities to manage neuropsychiatric behaviors in persons with dementia and reduce caregiver burden: a randomized pilot study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 16(3) 229239.Google Scholar
Gitlin, L. N. et al. 2010. A biobehavioral home-based intervention and the well-being of patients with dementia and their caregivers: the COPE randomized trial. JAMA 304(9) 983991.Google Scholar
Kales, H. C. et al. 2014. Management of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia in clinical settings: recommendations from a multidisciplinary expert panel. J Am Geriatr Soc 62(4) 762769.Google Scholar
Livingston, G. et al. 2014. Non-pharmacological interventions for agitation in dementia: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Br J Psychiatry 205(6) 436442.Google Scholar
Schneider, L. S. et al. 2006. Effectiveness of atypical antipsychotic drugs in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. New Engl J Med 355(15) 15251538.Google Scholar
Sink, K. M., Holden, K. F. and Yaffe, K. 2005. Pharmacological treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia: a review of the evidence. JAMA 293(5) 596608.Google Scholar
Tible, O. P., Riese, F., Savaskan, E. and von Gunten, A. 2017. Best practice in the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Ther Adv Neurol Disord 10(8) 297309.Google Scholar
Van Den Wijngaart, M. A., Vernooij-Dassen, M. J. and Felling, A. J. 2007. The influence of stressors, appraisal and personal conditions on the burden of spousal caregivers of persons with dementia. Aging Ment Health 11(6) 626636.Google Scholar
Yaffe, K. et al. 2002. Patient and caregiver characteristics and nursing home placement in patients with dementia. JAMA 287(16) 20902097.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×