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Articles by Beth Witrogen
Older Women, Younger Men
Robin Stanton supposes her appreciation for younger men was honed during the feminist revolution. Growing up in Ohio in the 1950s, she married her high school sweetheart at age 22. They had two children, but before long she realized her traditional marriage was killing her soul. To Stanton's dismay, her husband seemed threatened by her intelligence and high spirits, as well as her singing career.
Older Women, Younger Men
Robin Stanton supposes her appreciation for younger men was honed during the feminist revolution. Growing up in Ohio in the 1950s, she married her high school sweetheart at age 22. They had two children, but before long she realized her traditional marriage was killing her soul. To Stanton's dismay, her husband seemed threatened by her intelligence and high spirits, as well as her singing career. kAmQw6 H@F=5 56?:8C2E6 >6 3J D2J:?8 x >:89E 92G6 925 3C2:? D>2CED 3FE 5:5?VE 92G6 2 =:4< @7 4@>>@?
The bad food served in California prisons is a problem for human rights and public health
Inmates are served food through the Aramark Correctional Services on Tuesday June 24, 2014 at The Charles E. Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, Mich. An overseer hired by the state after a series of problems says Michigan’s prison food service contractor will boost worker pay, staffing levels and training.
Medicine Tips for Seniors
What special risks do medications pose for seniors? For many older people, needing a prescription medicine is almost as inevitable as gray hair and reading glasses. Two-thirds of all seniors take at least one medication each day, and 25 percent take three or more. Many seniors owe their lives -- or at least their lifestyles -- to medications, but the remedies can also carry serious risks. As a senior, you're especially vulnerable to the effects of prescription drugs.
Pain and the Elderly
If you're a senior with a chronic condition such as arthritis, most days start with an ache. Your joints hurt as you crawl out of bed. Even a relaxing walk may be out of the question, because your feet are too sore. You may, in fact, feel like Marilyn P., who was unable to return to work as an office manager in her 60's after an operation on her neck did damage to her nerve endings.
Preventing Falls and Fractures
How can I prevent fractures? If osteoporosis has started to thin your bones, even a simple fall or twist can have devastating consequences. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 10 million people have osteoporosis, and almost 44 million more have low bone mass, which places them at risk for fractures. Indeed, one out of two women over 50 -- and one out of four men -- will suffer osteoporosis-related fractures in their lifetime.
Beth's Story: A Caregiver's Diary
Although my father had battled a rare but non-metastasizing form of cancer for 25 years, my mother had never been sick a day in her life. The alarming news of her illness, that it was not arthritis but in fact Lou Gehrig's disease with an accompanying Alzheimer's-type dementia, came from out of a cruel nowhere one September day.
Adult Day Service
Anybody who met Mable Weaver would have never guessed she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. As the Berkeley, California, resident entered her 80s, she was alert and active, and she even held a job as a housekeeper. At that time, her next-door neighbor and daughter, LaFrancine Weaver Tate, was the only person who suspected a problem. And as Tate soon discovered, it was a problem that would change her life as surely as her mother's.
When Your Spouse Dies: Coping With Loss and Grief
When her 69-year-old husband died of Alzheimer's disease, Dorothy Wellborn was surrounded by loving friends and family. She wept with them at the memorial service. She watched as the coffin closed on her husband's frail body, then went home with her children. But a few weeks later, when they flew back to their respective homes, she woke up to an empty house. The solitude was agonizing, especially for someone who had never lived alone.
Long-Distance Caregiving
It was the call that every adult child dreads: My mother had become terminally ill with Lou Gehrig's disease, and my father was dying of cancer. Both of my parents were dying, and I lived 1,200 miles away with a career and family of my own. In my youth, when my parents were healthy, I had longed to leave their nest; now that they were ill, the distance between us weighed heavily.
When a Parent Moves In
Ethelinn Block thought her father's strange behavior was just signs of grief over the loss of his wife, and that he would return to normal in time. But after three years, Arthur's decline became alarming. He forgot to pay bills and keep appointments; he misplaced things. His business faltered to the point that his children had to close it down. As loss piled upon loss, eventually the family had to take away his car, too.
Caring for a Parent with Alzheimer's
Susan Spiker could never have imagined that at age 27, with a busy married life and two young sons, she would simultaneously become a caregiver to her mother. But six years ago, at age 61, Betty Spiker was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). "For quite a while after my mother's diagnosis, I think I was in denial," says Spiker, who was 33 when we spoke, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Uncooperativeness and Alzheimer's
In a memoir about caring for her husband, who had Alzheimer's disease, Lela Knox Shanks recalls that he once shouted at her, "Get out of here! You're an impostor trying to break up my marriage!" Afraid for her safety, she ran out the back door, sat in the sun, and cried, trying to figure out what to do. After 30 minutes or so, she tapped hesitantly at the back door. Her husband opened it, and exclaimed in relief. "Where have you been?" he cried. "I've been looking all over for you.
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