1. Health
2. Other Concerns

Medications

• Article - 15 Essential Diabetes Drug Tips

  15 tips for people with type 2 diabetes, and their caregivers, about taking oral medications

• Article - How to Get the Help You'll Need to Care for Your Parent With Cancer

  Comprehensive information on getting help when caring for a parent with cancer. Related information is available in the cancer section of Caring.com.

• Checklist - 8 Questions to Ask When Your Parent Has a Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis

  These 8 questions will help you make get oriented quickly when your parent's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

• Article - 3 Acute Diabetes Complications You Can Help Your Parent Avoid

  Find out how to help your parent with type 2 diabetes avoid short-term complications such as low or high blood sugar (hypo- or hyperglycemia).

• Article - Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes: A Beginner's Guide

  A guide to the oral medications available to people with type 2 diabetes.

• Article - Medicare: A Beginner's Guide

  Medicare: A Beginner's Guide. What is Medicare? Who's eligible for Medicare? What's covered by Medicare? How much does Medicare cost?

• Article - Monitoring Blood Glucose: What You Should Know to Help a Parent with Diabetes

  Monitoring the blood glucose of a parent with diabetes helps identify which treatments work best. Here are the basics of blood glucose monitoring.

• Article - Parkinson's Disease: How Medicines Can Ease Your Parent's Symptoms

  Here are the options for drug therapy for Parkinson's disease -- and what to expect in terms of benefits and side effects as the illness progresses.

• Article - Parkinson's Disease: A Beginner's Guide

  This beginner's guide to Parkinson's disease helps you understand your parent's diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options.

Blog Posts

• Blog Post - Tune in to PBS for Help and Hope on Caregiving

  A new PBS documentary, "Caring for Your Parents," is Reality TV of the purest form -- recognizing that family members now provide 80% of the eldercare in the United States.

• Blog Post - Should You Put Type 2 Diabetes to the Test?

  Researchers are asking whether daily self-monitoring is worth the effort and expense.

• Blog Post - Alzheimer's Meds: Time for a Reality Check?

  The absence of good news about Alzheimer's medications reminds caregivers that learning behavioral therapy is paramount.

• Blog Post - Quick Quiz: Should Your Parents Stay at Home or Move?

  Quiz to help adult children figure out whether aging parents can stay at home or should move to retirement communities.

• Blog Post - Diabetes Studies: Good News? Bad News? Who Knows?

  How to make sense of drug study findings for people caring for parents with type 2 diabetes.

• Blog Post - Dr. Death Wants Your Vote

  By throwing his hat into the political ring, Jack Kevorkian has stirred renewed debate about doctor-assisted suicide.

• Blog Post - Call Us Cancer "Carepartners"

  When you're helping someone you love battle cancer, you're right there on the front lines with them.

• Blog Post - Memory Trouble? Don't Assume It's Alzheimer's

  Memory loss isn't always Alzheimer's: a review of types of memory loss

• Blog Post - Desperately Seeking Senior Care Specialists

  A shortage of senior care doctors concerns baby boomers and their aging parents; find tips on how to locate a geriatric specialist.

• Blog Post - A Promising New Lung Cancer Vaccine

  This week brought welcome news for people with non-small cell lung cancer: Long-term results from a clinical trial showed that a new immune-boosting treatment worked as well or better than chemotherapy at reducing relapse.

• Blog Post - Exciting News For Heart and Stroke Patients

  Two-drug combination blood pressure therapy lowers cardiovascular risk in patients with high blood pressure.

• Blog Post - A Healthy Gift for National Women's Health Week

  National Women's Health from May 11 to 17 is full of useful health prevention activities on-line and off.

• Blog Post - Old Meets New: High-Tech Toys Help Seniors Deal With Diabetes

  A handy list of high-tech gadgets that can help take the hassle out of dealing with diabetes for seniors and their caregivers.

• Blog Post - Kennedy's Cancer Has Everyone Talking About Brain Tumors

  The announcement about Senator Edward Kennedy's brain tumor has the world talking about gliomas.

• Blog Post - A "Sandwiched" Daughter Says Enough is Enough

  A "sandwich generation" caregiver describes how asking for help saved her sanity — and her family.

• Blog Post - Could You Have Diabetes -- And Not Know It?

  Find out if you're at risk for type 2 diabetes by taking the American Diabetes Association's Diabetes Risk Test.

• Blog Post - Too Much and Too Little Shut-Eye May Be Bad for Health

  Too little and too much sleep can be a health hazard. Find tips on helping your parents get just the right amount of rest.

• Blog Post - Solutions for Seniors Who Struggle to Get Enough Zzzs

  Sleep problems are common among the elderly; find ways to help your parents get a good night's rest.

• Blog Post - A Big Butt May Keep Diabetes at Bay

  New research suggests that body fat found around the buttocks may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

• Blog Post - Wii Senior Sports Craze May Get Your Parents Moving

  The Wii video game is a hit among seniors; a fun and gentle way to get them moving.

• Blog Post - Playgrounds for Seniors

  They're marvelously designed for safe, healthy geriatric activity. And they're fun!

• Blog Post - The Plot Thickens: Another Clue in the Alzheimer's-Diabetes Mystery

  New research may help explain the connection between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Plus tips if you suspect your parent with type 2 diabetes has Alzheimer's disease.

• Blog Post - Robots and Other High-Tech Solutions Help Seniors Stay at Home

  New high-tech monitoring systems allow seniors to age in place with greater safety and freedom, but also raise privacy concerns.

• Blog Post - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People With Diabetes

  Find advice from self-help writer Stephen R. Covey in a guide for people with type 2 diabetes and their caregivers called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People with Diabetes.

• Blog Post - A "Hip" New Sound or a Noisy Nuisance?

  Why some artificial ceramic hips squeak and what people with hip replacements are doing about it.

• Blog Post - In Case of Stroke, Better Call a Neurologist

  New research suggests that stroke patients treated by neurologists have better outcomes.

• Blog Post - Wanted: Companionship for a Dad with Diabetes

  How to find senior companionship for your aging and ailing parent.

• Blog Post - Use of Restraints in Nursing Homes: Down But Not Out

  The law limits how and when nursing homes can use restraints. What to do if your parent is confined by belts or bed rails.

• Blog Post - My mother has asked not to be resuscitated if she has a medical crisis, but my siblings disagree on what constitutes a medical crisis.

  Before she showed signs of dementia, my mother decided...

• Blog Post - A Drug for the Bones Causes Risk to the Heart

  New research shows that the osteoporosis drug Fosamax nearly doubles the risk of atrial fibrillation.

• Blog Post - Reverse Mortgages: Looking for Trouble?

  Reverse mortgages--a loan for people ages 62 and older...

• Blog Post - Real Men Can Have Brittle Bones

  Because osteoporosis is underdiagnosed in men, the American College of Physicians issued new guidelines urging doctors to screen men for osteoporosis.

Questions & Answers

• Question - Which medicines cause memory loss?

  This question has been answered by a Community Member

• Question - Why does the drug levodopa seem to work well for my father with Parkinson's only at certain times of the day?

  This question has been answered by a Caring.com Expert

• Question - What's an A1c test and why is it important for my dad to take it?

  A diabetes expert gives you the scoop on A1c tests and why your parent with diabetes might need one.

• Question - Why does my father keep refusing to take his medicine, and how can I get him to take it?

  This question has been answered by a Caring.com Expert

• Question - Is there a way to prevent or treat bone pain when my father takes neulasta after chemo?

  Here are some pain management options for those suffering bone pain due to chemotherapy.

• Question - What's the best way to deal with my dad's incontinence after his stroke?

  Some tips on helping your parent deal with incontinence following a stroke.

• Question - Is it common for Alzheimer's patients to have good and bad days with their memory?

  If a parent with early Alzheimer's or dementia has both good and bad days, it can mean that some situations are more confusing or stressful.

• Question - Do they have medications for a 75 yr old woman that shakes really bad but does not have Parkinson's?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - What can I do to encourage my elderly parent to use a walker or cane?

  Ideas to encourage your parent to use a walker or cane.

• Question - What can I cook for my diabetic husband?

  Find tips on how to help your newly diagnosed partner or parent with diabetes eat well.

• Question - When the doctor prescribes a narcotic painkiller, don't we need to worry about addiction?

  An answer to the question of whether you need to worry about addiction when your parent is taking strong medication for cancer pain.

• Question - How can I help my mom, who seems really down about her diabetes diagnosis?

  Offers guidance on helping your parent deal with depression following a diabetes diagnosis.

• Question - Is there a medication I can take for my arthritis that won't cause a skin rash?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - How should we deal with my dad's anxiety attacks after his stroke?

  If a parent feels anxiety after a stroke, is this normal? Or are panic attacks or anxiety after a stroke something that requires therapy or drugs?

• Question - What's carbohydrate counting and should my dad do it?

  A diabetes expert gives you the scoop on why your parent might want to count carbohydrates and what carb counting means.

• Question - Are nurse aides and healthcare technicians qualified to pass out medications at an assisted living facility?

  Unanswered. Can you help?

• Question - Does levodopa eventually stop working?

  This question has been answered by a Caring.com Expert

• Question - When is the right time to call in hospice?

  Hospice care is generally reserved for those who are diagnosed to be near death. But other options for help with care may be available.

• Question - How can I get my parent to eat without nagging?

  This question has been answered by a Caring.com Expert and a Community Member

Tips & Reflections

• Tip - Create an Emergency Card Listing Medications for Your Parent With Parkinson's

  Taking medicine on time can be critical to a Parkinson...

• Tip - Medicine Dispensers: The Right Pills at the Right Time

  If your parent has trouble keeping track of medications...

• Tip - Medicare Coverage for Your Parent With Diabetes

  Find out what diabetes services and supplies are covered under Medicare.