Top 5 strategies for supporting a loved one with Dementia
Speaking with medical marijuana specialists in your area might help you determine whether medical cannabis can reduce the severity of symptoms like anxiety, agitation, or sleep disruptions. If you want to take benefit of the healing abilities of Cannabis, you can start by searching with medical marijuana doctors near me. Patients must apply for a Medical Marijuana Card to use Cannabis for dementia legally. This article will discuss five practical methods for helping a loved one with dementia.
Understanding dementia is the first and most important step in providing support to patients. Alzheimer's disease is the most prevalent type of dementia, which is an umbrella term for disorders that result in cognitive deterioration.
Dementia is a progressive condition which can get worsen as the time passes. It impacts reasoning, language, and personality, in addition to memory loss. There is no cure, but it is possible to manage the symptoms. The goals of treatment are to reduce the severity of the symptoms and enhance day-to-day functioning.
It is important to understand how the disease progresses and impacts individuals before you can support dementia patients. Some ways to deal with dementia patients include:
Try to understand dementia and its impact on individuals. Examine publications and studies from reliable sources, such as the Alzheimer's Association. Speak with experts to learn about the various treatments that are available. Medical marijuana doctors in my area may recommend different strategies for managing symptoms.
Daily activities become increasingly challenging for patients as dementia worsens. Your loved one's bewilderment and discomfort can be reduced and managed by providing a secure and orderly atmosphere. Some ways to deal with dementia patients include: Reduce Clutter: An excessive number of items can be confusing and unsettling. Keep the environment clean and in order.
Improve lighting: Inadequate lighting and dark spaces create risks of falls. Try to keep all spaces adequately lit to ensure patients can roam around easily and safely.
Employ Visual Cues: For regular tasks, use labels and reminders as aids to give patients constant reminders.
Protect Dangerous Items: Keep dangerous materials, sharp objects, and prescription drugs locked.
For added protection, caregivers should install motion sensors or GPS trackers to monitor the patient's movements. Automated alarms can be used to contact emergency medical help. Technology tools can be used to improve cognition, install alarms, and monitor movements.
Language abilities are impacted by dementia, making communication difficult. It is critical to use plain language, talk clearly, and exercise patience. Some tips for effective communication as ways to deal with dementia include: Use brief, straightforward sentences. Steer clear of unclear or complicated instructions.
Remain composed and reassuring; your tone is more important than your words. Be patient.
Employ non-verbal cues: Meaning can be communicated through gestures and facial expressions. Use visual aids as reminders.
Avoid correcting or disputing: Instead of disputing with them if they forget something, gently reroute the conversation.
Maintaining physical and mental activity can enhance general well-being and slow cognitive deterioration. It is important to keep the patients engaged in different activities and hobbies, such as cooking, gardening, and walking. Some other activities include: Use memory games: It is good to keep patients engaged with activities like crosswords and puzzles. Easy card games and puzzles can improve cognitive performance.
Music therapy: Well-known tunes might bring back pleasant memories.
Daily Walks: Mild exercise enhances general health and mood.
Art & Crafts: Coloring pages and crocheting are two calming and stimulating crafts.
Promoting these activities can reduce agitation or frustration, improve focus and aid in the management of dementia symptoms.
Traditional drugs may not always be successful in controlling agitation, anxiety, or sleep difficulties as dementia worsens. To reduce the severity of the symptoms, many families look for complementary medicines like medicinal cannabis or CBD. Helps stabilize mood by reducing agitation and anxiety.
Enhances Sleep Patterns: This could help control sleep cycles.
Reduces Pain and Discomfort: May alleviate aging-related bodily pain.
Improve appetite
It is important to speak to an expert before taking Cannabis to manage dementia symptoms. You must talk about the symptoms, your current medications and your health history. Marijuana specialists will evaluate the symptoms and give a tailored prescription. It is important to use the right strain and dose of Cannabis to ensure the success of the treatment.
Make sure you get medicinal marijuana from a licensed dispensary and abide by state regulations.
Dementia is a challenging and difficult health condition that can significant impact on the patient's life. It takes time, expertise, and emotional patience to care for a loved one who has dementia. You may ease their path by educating yourself, establishing a secure environment, enhancing communication, getting them involved in worthwhile activities, and investigating alternative remedies like medicinal cannabis.
TIME BUSINESS NEWS

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Health Line
an hour ago
- Health Line
What We Know About CBD for Macular Degeneration (AMD)
CBD has similar pain-relieving effects to THC but isn't psychoactive. Early research suggests CBD may help AMD, but it is not endorsed by doctors. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in the United States, with age and family being primary risk factors. While healthcare professionals do not currently recommend cannabis and CBD as a treatment option for macular degeneration or other eye health issues, ongoing research suggests it may one day be a possible treatment option for some people with this eye condition. Do CBD treatments help with macular degeneration? About macular degeneration treatments There are two kinds of age-related macular degeneration. Dry AMD is more common. Treatment for dry AMD includes taking specific nutritional supplements and using low-vision aids. Wet AMD is not as common, but it's more treatable. Treatments include anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) eye injections and light therapy. Generally, cannabis use is linked to lowered eye pressure and is known to help lower inflammation throughout the body. Some people with AMD have reported anecdotal benefits from CBD use. This 2022 research in the United Kingdom (IK) does indicate that CBD may possibly lower the risk of this eye condition. However, there's not enough medical research overall to support CBD as a treatment for any type of AMD. In the UK study looking at people who'd used marijuana (including CBD) more than 100 times, they did see a lower risk for AMD. But the research also indicated people experienced higher rates of blood vessel loss, possibly leading to AMD development sooner for younger people. Research on this topic has also found that many forms of CBD can't be easily administered as treatments for eye conditions. For instance, CBD oils aren't the right consistency to be made into eye drops. Can you use CBD for other eye conditions? CBD is known to have an effect on eye pressure, which could be a meaningful benefit for acute or chronic eye conditions. For example, glaucoma is an eye condition that can lead to permanent vision loss, but it has a different cause than AMD. It's often caused by a buildup of eye pressure on your optic nerve (it sends visual information from your eyes to your brain). Lowering eye pressure could potentially lower the risk of glaucoma and help treat active cases. But research is conflicting and shows there may also be side effects of using CBD for glaucoma or other eye conditions, including mental health concerns, vision changes such as color blindness, retinal deterioration, and optic nerve damage. No enough research exists to support CBD as a treatment for eye pressure or as a way to lower the risk of either glaucoma or AMD. Results are conflicting. A 2018 study found that CBD (cannabidiol) eye drops increased eye pressure in rats. But the same study found that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) eye drops reduced eye pressure by up to 30%. Treatment of AMD and glaucoma isn't the only possible eye-health-related use of CBD. Research is also being done into the use of CBD to help treat: diabetic retinopathy eye inflammation corneal inflammation eye pain Additional research is needed to determine if CBD or THC could be used in glaucoma or AMD treatment and prevention. Right now neither is approved for managing these conditions. Traditional AMD treatments Traditional, scientifically backed AMD treatment regimens depend on the type of AMD you have. They may include. Anti-VEGF injections: These injections are the most common treatment for wet AMD. They stop the growth of eye blood vessels and can prevent and possibly reverse vision loss. Light therapy: Known as photodynamic therapy, this treatment type may also be used to target and destroy blood vessels. Nutritional supplements: A combination of nutritional supplements known as the AREDS2 formula has been shown to help prevent further vision loss due to dry AMD. However, these supplements aren't proven to lower the chance of AMD onset overall. Low vision aids: These can help with any vision loss you experience due to either form of AMD or another condition. They are an essential tool in managing dry AMD. An eye doctor can help you determine the best options for you. Options may include wearing glasses, using a magnifying glass, large print materials, and an array of computer programs or mobile apps. How can you prevent macular degeneration? AMD is tied to multiple risk factors, many of which you can't control including age and genetics passed down through families. However, you can practice habits to support good eye health, which benefits your eyes lifelong. These may include: Getting regular eye exams. Don't smoke or quit smoking. Getting regular physical activity. Eating certain foods that may help your eye health, including low cholesterol foods.

Associated Press
15 hours ago
- Associated Press
DEA's Thomas Prevoznik Fails Again: Cannabis Users Poisoned While Pharmaceutical Cannabis Remains Blocked
While the DEA's Thomas Prevoznik Turned a Blind Eye, American Cannabis Users Were Poisoned: How the DEA Regulatory Failure and Inaction Enabled a Public Health Crisis. WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / July 4, 2025 / The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is asleep at the wheel - or worse, willfully negligent - as contaminated cannabis floods state markets, consumers are poisoned, and legitimate pharmaceutical research is actively blocked by the very agency tasked with protecting public health. At the center of this national disgrace is DEA's Deputy Administrator Thomas Prevoznik, the long-time bureaucrat at the helm of the DEA's Diversion Control Division. While Prevoznik parades around on taxpayer-funded panels pretending to safeguard public safety, the truth is undeniable: the DEA has utterly failed its mission. As stated on the DEA website: 'The mission of DEA's Diversion Control Division is to prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals and listed chemicals from legitimate sources while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs'. State Cannabis Chaos Exposes DEA Incompetence The latest scandal comes out of Massachusetts, where state regulators just suspended the license of Assured Testing Laboratories -one of the largest cannabis labs in the state-after uncovering what they describe as an 'intentional effort to conceal' failing safety results on cannabis products. The lab, which tested 25% of all cannabis in the state, was caught falsifying reports, hiding contamination, and greenlighting dangerous products that should have failed mandatory yeast, mold, and microbial standards. Thousands of cannabis products were put into consumer hands without accurate safety testing. Yet not a word from the DEA. Not a single enforcement action. No national recall. No intervention. The DEA's Mission: Betrayed from Within The DEA's own mission is crystal clear: 'To prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of controlled substances while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply for legitimate medical, commercial, and scientific needs.' Under Prevoznik's failed leadership, that mission has become a farce. Why Is Prevoznik Blocking Science While Allowing Poison? The hypocrisy is staggering: It's the worst of both worlds: The public is unprotected and medical innovation is obstructed. The Human Cost of Prevoznik's Failures This is not regulation. This is dereliction of duty. Time for Accountability: Fire Prevoznik, Reform DEA The solution is clear: Thomas Prevoznik must be immediately removed from his position for gross negligence and regulatory malpractice. The DEA's obstruction of pharmaceutical cannabis research must end. Oversight of cannabis research should be transferred to agencies that understand science-such as the FDA or NIH. Congress must investigate how the DEA has allowed the national cannabis market to devolve into chaos while blocking life-saving medicines from reaching patients. 'The DEA's Diversion Control Division, under Prevoznik's leadership, has failed to protect the public, failed to uphold science, and failed to meet even the most basic standards of competence,' said Duane Boise, CEO of MMJ BioPharma Cultivation . 'It's time for the DEA to be held accountable for decades of failure.' The American People Deserve Better The DEA exists to serve and protect the public, not to act as a political roadblock while Americans are poisoned and scientific progress is stalled. Prevoznik failed. The DEA failed. It's time for Congress, the courts, and the public to take back control. MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan. CONTACT: Madison Hisey [email protected] 203-231-8583 SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings press release
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Cognito achieves enrolment target in trial of Spectris system for Alzheimer's
Cognito Therapeutics has reached its enrolment goal for the randomised, sham-controlled HOPE Study investigating the Spectris AD system's efficacy and safety in treating Alzheimer's disease. The double-blind trial, with 670 subjects enrolled, is set to use the company's neuromodulating device at home for 12 months. Carried out across 70 US clinical sites, the trial will be followed by a 12-month open-label extension trial. According to the company, the Spectris AD system will deliver synchronised light and sound stimulation at the 40Hz gamma frequency, which has previously shown promise in the OVERTURE feasibility study by preserving corpus callosum structure in subjects with Alzheimer's. Results from the study indicated a 76% and 77% decrease in cognitive and functional decline, respectively, and significant white matter preservation with a 69% decrease in whole brain atrophy over six months. Subjects in the HOPE Study's treatment group will receive Active Sensory Stimulation System treatment once a day while the control group will use a Sham Sensory Stimulation System. Study visits for consent, screening, and baseline assessments are scheduled, followed by three, six, nine (by phone), 12, and 13 months safety follow-ups. The primary aim of the study is to evaluate Spectris' efficacy in slowing Alzheimer's progression against sham for mild to moderate patients, measured functionally by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study - Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) assessment and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE). A subset of clinical sites will participate in a substudy to assess additional fluid biomarkers. Subjects at these sites will undergo lumbar punctures to collect cerebrospinal fluid at baseline, three months, and 12 months. Cognito Therapeutics CEO Christian Howell said: 'Completing enrolment in this landmark trial marks a major step forward in our mission to deliver a better treatment option for people living with neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's.' The system remains investigational and is not yet available for sale. In 2023, Cognito secured $73m in Series B funding to further develop its wearable neuromodulation device for Alzheimer's. "Cognito achieves enrolment target in trial of Spectris system for Alzheimer's" was originally created and published by Medical Device Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data