In 2003, it cost the average person about $60,000 to be in an assisted nursing home in Florida. That is money that is costly and can often also include a loss of quality of life. Yet, one drug has been found to help in delaying the necessity of entering the nursing home by sustaining a longer, better quality of life during Alzheimer’s patient’s lives.
The University of South Florida’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute performed a study looking at the Medicaid program’s records. They studied individuals that were over the age of 60 that suffered from dementia. Some where taking the drug already (a drug called ChE-Is) and others were not. It found that those patients that were taking the drug already tended to be older and there were more women then men doing so. After the study was completed, they found that the average patient remained out of nursing homes for about three months longer than those patients that did not take the medication.
It further considers the costs. It seems that the cost of therapy for a patient taking ChE-Is is less than that of placing them in a nursing home and footing that bill. Of course, from a personal standpoint, individuals will want to remain at home as long as possible because of the quality of life benefits they receive.
In either case, the important consideration is that this medication can offer an increased time period of being able to function outside the nursing home and without constant care. Not only is that a more affordable option, but this medication may be a way of delaying the inevitable.
To read more, visit http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=53153&nfid=rssfeeds
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I am confused as all the articles I have read seem to link Sundowner’s with Alzhiemers Disease. Is this the same thing and what should I be looking for? My elderly mother lives with me and is displaying all the signs and symptoms I have read about but she does not remember them and thinks we are all picking on her or in her words “out to get her”. This is so confusing and so heartbreaking and I am so lost and without a clue what to due and worse trying to get her doctors to listen and understand what is happening. I tell them what I see and she denies the facts of it and they look at me like I am a monster. Last night she called the police out several times because she saw a man, a man with a pair of pliers, a man and small child a mand and a woman with a small child and a dog all trying to get into the house or take my car or vandalize it. No one was there I walked the grounds several times during the night as did the police and my niece and yet we could not convinc eher otherwise and now she says she “hates” s and I am the worst daughter anyone could ever have. This is breaking my heart and I don’t know who to turn to or contact for help. Anything you can tell me will be more than I have and appreciated.
Debby Harris, Benton, Arkansas