3GenFamily Blog

When my mother phoned me to say that she was diagnosed with glaucoma, I wasn’t especially worried. I thought that it was just an eye pressure issue that she could solve with eye drops.

No muss, no fuss.

World Glaucoma Day—March 12, 2010
World Glaucoma Week—March 7-13,2010

When I heard about World Glaucoma Week and World Glaucoma Day, my curiosity got me to read the material on several great websites.

All Eyes on Glaucoma

World Glaucoma Day

Glaucoma Research Foundation 

Boy, did I learn a lot of shocking information!

Do You Know Which of These 5 Myths About Glaucoma Are True?

1. Glaucoma is a disease of the 80 year old crowd.

Answer: False

While being over 60 is a risk factor, glaucoma affects young children and people 20 to 40 as well as the aged.

2. Glaucoma is a minor disease.

Answer: False

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide. It is estimated that 4.5 million persons globally are blind due to glaucoma[1] and that this number will rise to 11.2 million by 2020[2].

3. Glaucoma is always caused by abnormally high pressure inside the eye.

Answer: False

Recent studies have shown that glaucoma is neuropathy or nerve damage to the optic nerve caused by complex factors. While high intraocular pressure (IOP) is a risk factor, even people with normal IOP can have glaucoma. You have a higher risk if you are:

• African-American
• Over 60
• Family members have glaucoma
• Hispanics, especially 60 and over
• Asians
• Steroid users (including inhalants for asthma)
• Eye injury
• Severe nearsightedness
• Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• Central corneal thickness less than .5 mm

4. There are always symptoms that indicate someone has glaucoma.

Answer: False

In the majority of cases, there are no advance warnings that someone has glaucoma until loss of vision has started to happen. One type of glaucoma, closed angle glaucoma, comes on suddenly with pain, redness in the eye and nausea. This is a medical emergency that needs to be treated immediately.

Because there are no warning signs in the early stages of glaucoma,  it is very important to get a complete eye exam every year, particularly if you have one or more of the risk factors. Here is a list of free glaucoma screening resources. Medicare is on this list. Let your parents know.

5. Glaucoma can be cured .

Answer: False

Unfortunately, glaucoma is a chronic degenerative disease with no cure yet. Once vision is lost, it cannot be regained. So, to prevent blindness, it is important to identify the disease early and work to halt or slow vision loss. The latest treatment options are on this page of the Glaucoma Research Foundation website.

So, arm yourself with information and see your eye doctor for a check up. Encourage your family members, young and old, to do the same. It could save your sight!

References:

1. World Health Organization data from www.who.int/blindness/causes/priority/en/
2. Quigley et al. Br J Ophthalmol 2006; 90:262-267

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© 2010 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. I did not receive any compensation from the websites mentioned in this article. Some of the links on this website connect to affiliate programs that provide a small commission (books from Amazon, for example.) Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use my Contact form) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.

Did you see the letter today in the Dear Abby newspaper column?

What’s a newspaper? Ok, for those of you who only get your news online you can see Dear Abby at this link.

In today’s Dear Abby column, a woman wrote in to report that she was diagnosed with kidney problems but has them under control and is feeling great. Last year about this time, the woman saw a letter in Dear Abby about the National Kidney Foundation and their Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP). She got the free screening and discovered that her kidneys were not functioning well.

As a result of the screening information, the woman’s doctor took here off of two medications that may have been too much for her kidneys to handle. Her doctor also recommended major diet and exercise changes.

Take the Quiz About Your Kidneys

What are kidneys? What the point? Here is a fun, fast quiz prepared by the National Kidney Foundation to help you understand what all this means to you.

26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease. That’s 1 in 9 adults.

By becoming aware of the risk factors, getting screened and making changes to diet and exercise, you could add happy, pain-free years to your life. Your kidneys filter toxins out of your body. If they don’t work, the toxins build up in your body.

Ever had a toilet back up in your home? It’s kind of the same thing.

It has been three years this month since my father died. As you know from reading my posts, Dad had a lot of medical problems. But the death certificate stated only one reason for his death—end stage renal disease.

In other words, his kidneys failed.

Dialysis Didn’t Work

To my knowledge, my father’s regular doctor didn’t do screenings for kidney problems during the time I was his caregiver. During Dad’s next to last hospital stay in January 2007, the specialists couldn’t offer any hope. His kidneys were too far gone.

They recommended dialysis. After six weeks it was clear that dialysis wasn’t working. Dad got worse rather than better.

“ If he had only followed up when we first saw problems,” the doctor said. He showed me the records from 2004. Dad had been hospitalized with chest pains. The doctors did a routine set of blood and urine tests and noted that his kidney function was reduced.

The hospital staff advised my father to follow up with a kidney specialist after he got out of the hospital.  He didn’t.

This hospital has a sophisticated electronic medical records system. These systems only work, though, when ALL of the doctors involved have access to them. His regular doctor may not have gotten those records because she wasn’t contracted with that particular hospital. So she may not have known to track for kidney problems.

When I became Dad’s caregiver in 2005, I didn’t know that there was a problem with his kidneys. Diabetes, yes. Heart disease, yes. Stroke, yes. Prostate cancer, yes.

Because his vascular dementia was getting worse, my father may not have even understood the need to make changes to keep his kidneys functioning. He was more concerned with making it into the bathroom on time.

His regular doctor had prescribed Lasix, a diuretic, a number of times to get rid of the swelling in his ankles and legs. Unfortunately, Lasix can be hard on your liver and kidneys. According to the drug manufacturer, the prescribing physician should be closely monitoring the function of those organs with blood tests.

So, here is the page on the National Kidney Foundation website with a list of free screening dates and locations. If your family has a history of kidney problems, you have high blood pressure or you take a number of prescription drugs, get screened.

Next year at this time, you could be the one writing about how your life has changed for the better.

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© 2010 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. I did not receive any compensation from the websites mentioned in this article. Some of the links on this website connect to affiliate programs that provide a small commission (books from Amazon.) Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use my Contact form) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.

Blog spam is bad. Sometimes you see it on blogs that don’t have anyone moderating the comments. Links to porn sites, male enhancement, you name it. It’s all in a long comment made up of nonsense words with a thousand links. 

As a reader of 3GenFamily Blog, you never see those. I use a Wordpress spam editor to catch them automatically. But, there is another kind of spam that you need to know about.

The comments look sort of legit but out of context. They don’t relate to the post. The following comment was posted on When Adult Siblings Fight: 6 Steps to Heal the Hurt  just the other day:

“Its really great, this blog has got really very great stuff which helps us to know what is actually going on. This is really a very great it has very good postings too. Keep it up the good going.”

Well, certainly it is flattering—maybe a bit too flattering. So I looked up where the comment came from. The Wordpress comment area gives me a way to find out. No, it won’t say a person’s name or street address. But, it will tell me if it originated from the US or a major Internet Service Provider overseas.

The comment above came from New Delhi, India.

Are they reading my blog in New Dehli?

Only because they’re being paid.

Indian workers are being hired to place links to certain websites in the comments. They are called back links. It gives that website an advantage with Google’s search engine ranking system.

The website that the Indian workers were posting was about assisted living. I won’t give them more help by telling you the exact name. They claim to help you find the right assisted living.

You won’t see these bogus comments posted on my website. I delete them because they just aren’t real.

It is important to recognize that a few businesses targeting seniors are scamming the search engines. So, the first or second place search engine results don’t always go to the most reputable website. It may be the one that did the best job gaming the system.

Before you give your name and email to any website, here are things to look for:

1. The Contact Us page has a real company name with a real address that you can see in Google maps.
2. The About Us page gives the name of the owner or operator of the website.
3. Look for trust marks like BBBOnline, Truste, or Verisign.

Other ways to research a website:

1. Do a search in groups.Google.com to see if anyone is talking about this website.
2. Do a search for reviews on Yelp.com if this is a local business.
3. Look in the Better Business Bureau listings.

Back in 2005 when I became my father’s caregiver, there were very few websites targeting seniors and their caregivers. Now that has changed.

There are hundreds of websites. And along with the dedicated professionals and legitimate business owners, a few criminals are looking to take their share of your money.

It has never been more true . . . Let the buyer beware!

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© 2010 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. I did not receive any compensation from the websites mentioned in this article. Some of the links on this website connect to affiliate programs that provide a small commission (books from Amazon.) Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

“Dad’s been admitted to the hospital. We’re going to . . .”

You and your siblings have been living your own lives for quite a while. That contentious relationship you had a children has been gone for a long time . . . or so you thought.

“No. You need to wait until I get there.”

In the middle of a family crisis, at the worst possible time, the old patterns and reactions reappear. Now, they add even more stress to the situation.

You may think, “What is wrong with my brother/sister? Why are they acting like this?”

The short answer is–your parent trained each of you to behave the way you do.

Observational studies by Dr. Judy Dunn have found that children as young as 12 months are closely watching how their parents react to their siblings. They absorb the rules of conduct and  model their behavior based on what their parents do.

Depending on how your parent has treated each of you, you are fulfilling the role that was part of the unwritten code back when you and your siblings were children living at home. You are also responding to your feelings about it. Anger, resentment, fear, love, anxiety—you name it.

Peter Goldenthal, Ph. D offers strategies to heal long lost issues in his book, Why Can’t We Get Along: Healing Adult Sibling Relationships. As a practicing family psychologist, Dr. Goldenthal has been helping adult siblings create better relationships for twenty years.

This book suggests a multitude of thoughtful ideas and strategies to create a better relationship with your brother or sister. One of the strategies in the book, and one that I found most helpful, is:
exonerate your parents.

Not just forgive them.

Exonerate. . . (definition: to free somebody from blame or guilt.)

Author Joe Vitale tells a story in one of his books about getting together with an old friend from high school after years of being gone from his hometown. The conversation drifted to Joe’s difficult relationship with his father. His friend commented to Joe that no one gets up in the morning and asks, “how do I want to mess up my kid today?”

Your parent was doing the best that he/she could under your family’s particular circumstances. Often, your family is re-playing the roles, arguments and blaming that have been handed down for generations.

But, you can end the cycle by stepping outside of the situation. Forgive your father or mother and stop blaming them.

Dr. Goldenthal suggests that, if you have trouble forgiving your parent for long ago hurts, you can begin a process of exoneration by asking your parent what it was like when he/she was a child. Or, you can look through family albums and listen carefully to what your father or mother says about your grandparents and aunts and uncles.

I know that I could not have stepped in as caregiver for my Dad if I had not started a process of forgiving him. Over the course of the two years that I was my father’s primary caregiver, I got hear many stories about his early life and struggles.

It was fascinating to listen to his stories about World War II.  He was a terrified young soldier sailing on a ship in the Pacific when Japanese planes attacked the ship.  Even after 60 years, the fear was so real that he began to cry.

Suddenly, his long-time animosity to all things Japanese made more sense. Mortal terror had turned to anger upon his return to civilian life.

Anger was a continual issue in his life. It always angered my father when I didn’t meet his expectations. Yet, once I understood that the anger came from other events that had nothing to do with me, I was able to sidestep the guilt of supposedly not measuring up.

Exoneration is an effective tool.

In the next blog post, “acknowledgement is powerful.”

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© 2010 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Some of the links in this blog post connect to affiliate programs that provide a small commission (books from Amazon.) Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

When my Dad was sent to the ER for a nosebleed that wasn’t stopping, the doctor cauterized the wound and released him to go home. But, the second time it happened, he spent a brief time in the hospital before being released to a rehabilitation facility.

There was a time when most regular hospitals provided long term acute care. But insurance companies and Medicare have put limits on the amount of time that someone can stay in the hospital. They have done this to reduce costs.

So, if the patient is recovering, according to the guidelines, the doctor must discharge him or her. If the hospital keeps the patient, it risks not being paid for the hospital stay.

Still, some people are not fully recovered when the hospital must discharge them. Many nursing homes are now also rehabilitation facilities so they can take many of these patients for a short time. But, not those that still require acute care.

How can someone require acute care but not need a hospital? Well, they might need to be on or close to expensive breathing machines or need kidney dialysis. Perhaps, the patient needs to have staff trained in medical emergencies available 24/7.

If this is the first time you are being told that your loved one can’t go directly home after a hospital stay, you may be stunned. It is not unusual for the social worker or the doctor to tell you, “Your Mother will be discharged the day after tomorrow.”

What do you do? You aren’t trained to give this kind of care!

This is where the Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTAC) comes in. The social workers at the regular hospital will give the family a referral to one or more LTACs when the doctor believes that the patient needs continuing care before going home.

Some LTACs are part of a regular hospital system. Some are part of a nursing home corporation. How do you find out if the one closest to you is any good?

Medicare has a rating system for all hospitals. You can find it at this link on the Medicare website.

Medicare also rates nursing homes. You can find it on the Medicare website at this link.

Your state’s Office on Aging may also have additional reviews and rating systems. For California, you can use http://www.calqualitycare.org/.  This is a free information and referral service.

And, make sure to visit each facility. You don’t have to be an expert on hospitals. Look for order and cleanliness. Listen for staff who aren’t happy being there.

Still not enough information to make a decision?

Another resource is a geriatric care manager for help with care for an aging parent. You can search for one in your area from their association website http://www.caremanager.org/.  An experienced geriatric care manager will know which LTACs are the best in his/her area. They work closely with all the facilities and know which ones are good. 

Using these resources, along with suggestions from family or friends who have been in this situation, will help you find the right location for your loved one.

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© 2010 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. I don’t receive any compensation for the links in this article. Some of my other blog posts contain links that provide a small commission (books from Amazon, for example.) Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

It is one of the smallest things that I do time-wise, yet I learn so much from doing it. As a Health Maven for the Caregiving community on Wellsphere.com, I answer questions from others about a wide range of issues in providing care for loved ones. I don’t get paid to do this.

Recently, I was asked, “How do I get my Mom to take her medication?”

Now, the person asking the question didn’t provide any other information. I only had her question.

It got me pondering.

Why does an aging parent fail to take his or her prescribed drugs?

My Dad was really good about taking his medications until about a year before he died. When I look back on it, almost all of these factors were involved to some degree.

7 Reasons Why Parents Won’t Take Medication

1. Side effects- Is your Mom experiencing any problems after she takes her medication? Does it make her dizzy, nauseous, tired, sore in the muscles, have headaches, etc.? She may not want to take the meds because of some side effect that leaves her feeling worse than before. It is important not to ignore side effects. Let her doctor know as soon as possible. The doctor may want to change the dose or even change to a different medication.
2. Drug interactions – If your Mom is taking two or more drugs, she could be experiencing a problem due to the drugs interacting. Some drug combinations don’t mix. Many pharmacies have special computer programs that alert the pharmacist to possible bad combinations. But, if your Mom gets her medication by mail or from two different doctors/pharmacies, problem combinations can go unnoticed. The Drugs.com website has a drug interactions checker. You put in the name of the medication you want to check and it gives you a list of other medications that may interact with the one your Mom is taking. Some foods and herbs can interact with medications, too. Grapefruit and grapefruit juice is a major culprit. Here is a website run by a pharmacist that lists possible bad combinations.
3. Worried about the cost – Some seniors knowingly miss medication because they are trying to save money. In this case, ask her doctor if there is a generic form of the drug that can be prescribed instead of the expensive name brand. Compare prices at different pharmacies. Walmart and Costco sell some generics at incredibly low prices. Medicare Part D Drug Plans vary widely in the medications they will cover. Is your Mom paying full price for a medication that would be covered under another plan? Here is a document that describes them for each state. It pays to comparison shop.
4. She just forgets – If your Mom is an active volunteer or still works or otherwise has a busy life, she may be forgetting to take her medication because she is busy. Many women devote their lives to helping others but neglect their own health. My Mom was like that. So, if she understands the importance of taking her medication, it is a matter of setting up a reminder routine, like putting the medication bottle out on the counter in a conspicuous spot. Or, put a reminder note on the fridge, the tea kettle, the coffee pot or wherever she will see it. Some cell phones have alarms you can set as reminders during the day. Wellsphere.com, has a way to send yourself text or email messages as reminders. Find the routine that works for her.
5. Your Mom has dementia – Some forgetfulness is normal as one ages. But, if you have explored all of the other options above and she just can’t seem to get her medications on schedule, then she may have more serious problems that you should not ignore. My Dad functioned well on his own until he was 81. Gradually, his capabilities began to slide. He only took some of his medications or only some days. At that point, he needed help. He was mentally no longer able to keep his meds straight. In my Dad’s case, he also had trouble cooking. He would forget that pots were on the stove even when he set a timer. His usually neat checkbook was a mess. Bills weren’t getting paid and he got collection notices. It took a while for me to understand that he had lost his ability to function and needed regular care. If your Mom is at this point, you need to discuss various ways to provide care for her depending on finances. Can a family member or close friend visit to help with medication? Do you need to hire an in-home care provider? Does your Mom qualify for help from your local Office on Aging (in the phone book under “County Offices.”)
6. You are caring for your Mom in your home –She is stubbornly refusing to take the medication you are giving her. This is a most challenging spot to be in. Your roles have reversed — you are the parent but your Mom isn’t cooperating. The best thing you can do is to become detached emotionally from the situation. Your Mom is not fighting you. She is desperately trying to stay in control of some part of her life. It is frightening to be aware that your abilities are slipping. So give her some control. Give her a choice between water or juice with her pills. Create a rewarding situation, “After you take your pills, we will watch your favorite TV show.” This is not manipulation. This is dealing with your Mom at her level today rather than where she used to be.

The best thing you can do is take a step back and try to understand the reason your parent doesn’t want to take the medication. Check to see if the problem is real.

I was shocked to discover that my Dad was right when he refused his medication. After a hospitalization, he was prescribed double doses by mistake! When we checked with his regular doctor, she immediately changed the doses.

As sick as he was, Dad was right!

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© 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. I don’t receive any compensation for the links in this article. Some of my other blog posts contain links that provide a small commission (books from Amazon, for example.) Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

Have you been following the trial in Delaware between eBay and Craigslist?

eBay claims that the officers of Craigslist are trying to reduce eBay’s percentage of ownership of Craigslist and change voting rights. Much of Craig Newmark’s (the founder of Craigslist)  testimony centers around what Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay,  did or did not promise them before he signed the agreement to sell part of Craigslist to eBay.

The attorneys for eBay have gotten Craig to admit in court that the promises were not in writing and “if it is not in writing it doesn’t exist.”

Get Promises in Writing

The same rule applies to agreements for assisted living centers and in home care providers. Get all promises in writing.

When my Dad and I toured a senior care facility that had both independent and assisted living, the marketing director reassured my father that they rarely kept the security deposit when a person moved out.

When my father moved into independent living after being on the waiting list for several months, he didn’t pay attention to the stains on the vinyl floor in the kitchen. He didn’t cause the stains so he was certain that he was not responsible to pay for them.

I visited him a few weeks after he moved in. Of course, I notice the big orange blotch on the floor. No amount of scrubbing got it out. So, I took pictures with my camera phone to record that the stains were there at the time he moved in.

A year later when my Dad was no longer able to remain in independent living, I helped him move to the assisted living side. That meant paying all fees for his previous apartment in independent living.

Have you already guessed that the company tried to charge my father for the damage to the vinyl that was there when he moved in?

You are right! To get the charge removed, I had to make a complaint with the NJ department that oversees assisted living facilities.

What you won’t be able to guess is the major complaint I had with this assisted living facility. I did not get the agreement to move my Dad to the assisted living side until 2 months after he died! I kept politely asking for it and kept getting excuses. But, I trusted the managers. They seemed like such caring people.

Business Is Business

Well, they were caring people.

But, this was a business. They expected me to pay the bills even before knowing what the rules were.  Any and all bills.

The facility had new owners who were intent on having the business make money. You can figure out the rest.

Fortunately, the State of NJ took a dim view of this type of behavior after I made that formal complaint. I might not have made the complaint, though, if my father was still living, for fear of being rejected by other facilities.

Avoid Surprises

The best way to avoid having a problem is to get all promises in writing. You should get a copy of any agreement before you have to sign it. Take time to read it and get help understanding it, if necessary. A geriatric care manager or an elder care attorney can explain things to you. It is well worth the cost.

This advice applies to doctors, clinics and other health professionals, too. Get all fees and charges in writing, in advance if you can. Medicine is a business, too.

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© 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

Each day you get up and do your best to care for a loved one. But, some days it seems impossible not to get discouraged.

If this was one of those days for you, here is a quick video reminder that others have been there, done that, and gone on to better times.

You can too!

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© 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

Baby boomers didn’t invent it.

Family caregiving has been going on for a long time.

My earliest memories include long drives in our shiny, black  Plymouth to visit my grandfather’s older sister wherever she was assigned. Ciocia (aunt in Polish) Pelagia was a nun. She didn’t speak a word of English.   

Until her arthritis made cooking and cleaning impossible, she contributed to her community by tending to the basic needs of the younger sisters who taught in schools or nursed the sick in hospitals. Our family entourage would visit with Ciocia on Sundays and bring her news about our family and small gifts of candy or cookies.

In her later years, my Dad would slip her a tiny bottle of brandy “for medicinal purposes.” I don’t remember how old I was, but I can remember wondering if nuns were allowed to drink brandy. 

When their time came, my parents took care of my grandparents. And, more recently, I did the same for my father.

When my turn came in 2005, there wasn’t much talk about family caregiving. There were websites for nursing homes and assisted living but scarely any information on the Internet about caring for loved ones at home.

Today, the Internet has dozens of blogs and websites dedicated to families caring for family. This blog is part of the groundswell.

On October 30, 2009, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation naming November 2009 National Family Caregivers Month.  The White House proclamation said,  ” I encourage all Americans to pay tribute and support those who are caring for their family members, friends, and neighbors in need of assistance.”

The truth is that we need family caregivers. 

The proclamation put it this way:  ”As the foundation of America’s long-term care system, these individuals give millions of Americans the peace of mind and security that only family can provide.”  No doubt about it.

Creating a safe and comfortable environment for another family member is hard work. It costs money. It takes sacrifices. It can be exasperating and discouraging. You can feel unappreciated.  It is service with a capital “S.”

If you know someone caring for a family member, take the time to express your appreciation and gratitude. Phone call, greeting card, letter, email, text message — whatever means of communication works for you. 

Do it today.

Click the “Share This” link below to email this post to a friend or social networking site. Thanks for reading!  Feel free to comment.

 © 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.

By CK Wilde for 3GenFamily Blog

The scientific community is abuzz since the announcement that the 2009 Nobel Prize for Medicine has gone to Drs. Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak. In 1985, they discovered an enzyme call telomerase.

What’s Telomerase?

Our genes have ends on them called telomeres. They are like the plastic tips on a pair of shoelaces that keep the laces from unraveling. If you have ever had that little plastic piece come off your laces, you know what I’m talking about.

Now imagine what would happen if each time you tied your shoes the plastic cap got shorter. Eventually you would be left with no plastic tip. The shoelace would start to unravel. 

Something similar to that happens with cells.  Each time the cell divides, the telomeres get shorter until finally the cell can’t reproduce itself accurately and dies. Each cell has a fixed number of times it can divide.

Except in the case of cancer cells.

They become “immortal” and just don’t die. They keep reproducing more and more cells. 

Dr. Blackburn and her colleagues discovered that this enzyme, called telomerase, protects the telomeres. Their work, which began in the 1970’s, gives us a better understanding of the mechanism by which a cell ages. It offers tantalizing ideas that could become the basis for cures for diseases that cause premature aging and, of course, cancer.

Who Wants to Live Longer?

Blackburn’s research also hints that by manipulating telomerase in the human body, people can reduce aging to live longer, healthier lives. And, several companies have wasted no time in developing small molecule plant extracts that turn on the expression of telomerase in human cells.

Of course, this research is riddled with controversy. Some researchers believe that increasing telomerase in a person’s body could inadvertently encourage cancer cells to grow along with healthy cells.

I know of a very prominent businessman blogger who has chosen to participate  in the clinical trials of one of these molecules. TA-65 was developed by Geron from the Chinese medicinal herb astragalus.

The blogger has written that, although he has only been participating in the trial a short while, his tests indicate that he is getting younger based on his bio markers (telomeres). And, he has noticed he has more endurance and strength.

Natural Solutions

To me, other studies pursuing the connection between nutrients, lifestyle and telomere length are more interesting (and safer). A recent study by Richards and co-workers studied leukocytes (white blood cells). Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a predictor of aging-related disease and decreases with each cell cycle and increased inflammation.

The researchers concluded that higher levels of Vitamin D were correlated with longer telomeres in women. We are just discovering all of the wonderful things that Vitamin D does in our bodies. These results suggest that a combination of sunshine, good nutrition and supplements can be instrumental in living a longer, healthier life.

Did you know that how you perceive a stressful situation is more important than the stressful situation itself?

Dr. Blackburn along with Elissa Espel conducted a breakthrough study of mothers caring for a child with a chronic illness.

“They found that the more stress the women reported experiencing, the shorter their telomeres. Women with the highest levels of perceived stress had telomeres shorter on average by the equivalent of at least one decade of additional aging compared to low-stress women.” Ten years older!

And, the key word here is “perceived”.

No matter what you may be experiencing, if you believe you are stressed out, your body is reacting to that perception. If you don’t react emotionally to the situation, your body doesn’t either.

Huge Implications For Caregivers

Are you caring for an ill parent, spouse or child? If you are feeling stressed, you need to get your stress under control. You could choose: exercise, sharing your feelings with someone who understands, meditation, prayer, or getting away from the situation for a short while.

That, in combination with healthy eating and supplements, will keep you living longer. Your loved one is counting on you. And, you deserve it!

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 © 2009 CK Wilde. All Rights Reserved. Please feel free to link to this post but you must have prior written permission (please use the comments) to reproduce this post either whole or in part.