Dementia Careblazers

Dementia caregiving asks you to carry things nobody prepares you for, and some of the hardest parts are never said out loud. This video isn't based on research. It's based on what I've learned from working with thousands of caregivers over the past 17 years as a geropsychologist. If caregiving still hurts even though you're doing everything right, if people question your decisions, if you can't st...

If your loved one with dementia has asked you the same question five, ten, or forty times in the last hour, you know the kind of patience it takes to keep answering. And you probably know the guilt that follows when you finally run out of it. What most caregivers don't realize is that something very specific is happening inside the brain to drive this. Understanding it changes both how you respond...

Shadowing in dementia is one of the most exhausting behaviors caregivers face, and almost no one warns you about it. You can't walk to the bathroom alone anymore. The moment you stand up, they stand up. You step into the kitchen for five minutes and there they are in the doorway, watching you. The private phone calls are gone, the personal space is gone, and then comes the guilt for even wanting a...

Before the memory problems, confusion, and obvious dementia symptoms, many families notice something else first: money problems. Missed bill payments, unusual purchases, giving money away, falling for scams, or struggling to manage finances can sometimes be among the earliest signs of dementia. Research now shows these financial changes may appear years before a dementia diagnosis is ever made. In...

If your loved one with Alzheimer's disease is on one of the new treatment drugs, or you have been weighing whether to try them, the headlines from this spring may have stopped you cold. A major review from one of the most respected research organizations in the world concluded these drugs show no meaningful benefit. Researchers immediately fired back. And you are in the middle of all of it, as a c...

Have you noticed your loved one with dementia seems like a completely different person every evening? The confusion, the agitation, the restlessness — and then the nights when they're up convinced it's morning — it's exhausting in a way that's hard to put into words. It is not something you caused or something you missed. New research published in December 2025 finally gives us a neurological expl...

Making caregiving decisions is hard in a way most people around you won't understand. The stakes are real. The information is incomplete. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you're already afraid of being wrong. If you've been circling a decision for weeks — or months — and still can't seem to make a move, your brain isn't broken. There are five specific thought patterns that make caregiving d...

Being accused of stealing by the person you are giving everything to is one of the most quietly devastating things that happens in dementia caregiving. It does not just feel unfair. It strikes at your identity, your dignity, and the relationship you had before all of this. And because it can happen over and over, with no memory that it happened before, many caregivers absorb these accusations alon...

When your family doesn't believe the dementia diagnosis, it can feel like you are grieving two losses at once. Family denial is one of the most painful and isolating experiences a dementia caregiver can go through. In this episode, I'm going to explain why it happens and what you can actually do about it. If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel  here ....

A new Alzheimer's blood test was just approved by the FDA and it changes everything about how families get answers. For years, confirming Alzheimer's disease meant expensive brain scans or invasive procedures most people couldn't access. Now a simple blood draw can detect Alzheimer's markers in the body... up to 3 to 4 years before symptoms even begin. In this episode I break down what the Alzheim...

If your loved one used to fix things, run the household, stay busy and now they just sit there, you're probably wondering what happened. Are they depressed? Have they given up? Do they even care anymore? They do. And what's happening is not what it looks like. In this episode, I'm breaking down why someone with dementia withdraws from daily life, why their brain learns to stop trying, and why noth...

Bathroom challenges are one of the most common, and least talked about, parts of dementia caregiving. You've tried asking. You've tried reminding. You've tried everything. And it still isn't working. This isn't defiance. It isn't stubbornness. What's happening in the brain is making the bathroom one of the hardest spaces for someone with dementia to navigate. The bathroom requires more brain syste...

The number one mistake dementia caregivers make is waiting.  Waiting until things get harder. Waiting for the right moment. Waiting until they feel like they really need support. And it makes complete sense why. When difficulty builds slowly, your brain adapts. What felt overwhelming six months ago becomes your new normal. And before long, you stop being able to accurately measure just how much yo...

Sudden decline in dementia is one of the scariest things a caregiver can witness. One day they were walking. One day they were talking. And then almost overnight, they weren't. Most caregivers in this moment think they missed something. Or that this is just the next stage. But sudden dramatic changes are not typically how dementia progresses. And knowing the difference between expected progression...

If your loved one with dementia has become mean, sharp, cruel, or just completely different toward you, I want you to hear this first: you are not imagining it. And you are not failing. This is one of the most painful parts of dementia caregiving because it doesn't just feel hard. It feels personal. In this episode I explain exactly what is happening in the brain that causes this, why it is not th...

If your loved one with dementia believes they are living decades in the past, you are not alone. They may ask for parents who passed away long ago, think they still have a job they retired from years ago, or believe their children are still young. In this episode, I explain why this happens in dementia, why correcting someone often makes things worse, and how you can respond in a way that reduces...

Dementia behaviors can feel confusing, frustrating, and exhausting, especially when the more you try to explain or reason, the worse it seems to get. In this episode, I'm sharing 5 underrated ways to handle dementia behaviors that actually work in real life. These are practical, psychology-based strategies you can try the next time your loved one with dementia becomes defensive, upset, anxious, or...

Why does responding to dementia behaviors still feel so hard? In this video, I explain the three reasons it feels exhausting and unpredictable even when you're doing everything "right." Sometimes what worked yesterday stops working today, not because you failed, but because the brain is changing. If you'd like more practical, real-world guidance, join my upcoming Dementia Behaviors Breakthrough Pr...

Should you let your loved one with dementia help… even when it makes everything harder? You're told to keep them engaged. Involved. Independent. Let them contribute so they can maintain their abilities and feel useful. But sometimes when you do, everything takes longer. It gets messier. You fall behind. You feel frustrated. And then the guilt sets in for even feeling that way. In this video, I tal...

Can something as simple as one egg a week really lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease? In this video, I break down two long-term U.S. research studies looking at eggs and brain health. One study from the Rush Memory and Aging Project found that older adults who ate about one egg per week had a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.  A second study found that higher egg intake...

Urinary tract infections are one of the most common reasons people with dementia end up in the emergency room. In this video, I talk with Dr. Krieger, an emergency room physician, about why UTIs often look different in dementia and why sudden changes should not automatically be blamed on dementia progression. Dr. Krieger is also the creator of Uraguard, a product designed to help reduce bacterial...

Why does dementia look so different from one family to the next? This is a question I hear from caregivers all the time. Two people can have the same diagnosis and be the same age, yet their symptoms and caregiving challenges can look completely different. In this video, I break down what the 2025 NIH dementia progress report helps explain about why dementia does not follow one clear or predictabl...

Are we actually making progress in dementia research, or does it just feel like nothing has changed?  In this video, I break down what the latest dementia research really shows based on the most recent data from the National Institutes of Health. We will talk about what is changing in detection, treatment, and prevention, and what this actually means for family caregivers making decisions right no...

In this video, I share what dementia caregivers need most...and it's probably not what you've been told. This insight comes from the longest study ever conducted on human health and wellbeing: the Harvard Study on Adult Development, which followed people for more than 85 years. What researchers found challenges common assumptions about success, strength, and resilience. I break down what the scien...

Many families look back and realize the early signs of dementia were there long before the diagnosis. In this video, I share real examples from caregivers who noticed subtle changes in hindsight, things that didn't seem like dementia at the time.  These early signs often go beyond memory loss and show up in daily routines, personality, decision-making, and behavior. If you're wondering whether wha...