Dementia Careblazers

If you've ever felt like every appointment, every follow-up, and every ounce of attention goes to your loved one with dementia while nobody ever asks how you're doing, you're not imagining it.
Dementia care as a system was built around the person with the diagnosis, not the person keeping them alive day after day. And it's not just that you get overlooked. Most of what we call dementia care is reactive, waiting for a crisis before it teaches you anything, and even the best behavior advice skips right over the grief you're carrying underneath it.
In this episode I break down the three ways dementia care gets it completely backwards, and what actually changes the moment we stop waiting for things to get worse. 
The Dementia Care Toolkit is officially available for pre-order. ➡️ Preorder the Dementia Care Toolkit Here: https://careblazers.com/toolkit
This book was written for the real-life moments of dementia caregiving, the moments when you're overwhelmed, unsure what to do, and need something practical to reach for.
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00 - The 3 ways dementia care gets it backwards 
1:00 - Backwards #1: all the focus goes to your loved one, not you
2:20 - Backwards #2: the system waits for a crisis instead of preventing one 
4:44 - Backwards #3: behavior advice skips the grief underneath it
7:13 - What changes when we stop waiting
 
→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc 
→ Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast 
 
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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

You made the hardest decision of your life and moved your loved one with dementia into memory care. Then you waited for the relief you were promised. It never fully came. You still feel completely wiped out after visits, even good ones, and no one has explained why. Placement changes the physical work of caregiving, but it does not turn off your nervous system, your grief, or the recovery your body still needs.
In this episode I break down the three real reasons your exhaustion continues after a memory care placement, and what to actually do about it.
If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.
The Dementia Care Toolkit is officially available for pre-order. This book was written for the real-life moments of dementia caregiving, the moments when you're overwhelmed, unsure what to do, and need something practical to reach for.
➡️ Preorder the Dementia Care Toolkit Here: https://careblazers.com/toolkit
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00 - Why the exhaustion hits even after a good visit
1:32 - The misconception that memory care makes things easier
2:34 - Why your nervous system stays on high alert
5:05 - The grief of losing someone who is still alive
8:59 - Three ways to support your own recovery
→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc 
→ Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast 
 
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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

You've probably seen the headlines about Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs and Alzheimer's disease. One week it sounds like a breakthrough. The next, not so much.
 
A large study found a much lower rate of Alzheimer's diagnoses in people taking these medications. Then a major clinical trial published this year found something very different.
 
Neither one is wrong. And understanding why matters, especially if you're the one trying to make sense of it for your family.
 
In this video I walk you through what the research on Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs actually found, the meaningful difference between preventing this disease and treating it once it's already there, and what this means whether your loved one already has Alzheimer's or you're a caregiver thinking about your own brain health.
If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.
→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc 
→ Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast 
 
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00 - The Ozempic and Alzheimer's headlines everyone's seen
0:51 - The study that found a 40 to 70% lower Alzheimer's risk
2:09 - Why a diabetes drug could protect the brain
4:16 - The 2026 clinical trial that changed the picture
5:26 - Prevention vs. treatment: what the research actually means
 
#dementia #dementiacaregiver #ozempic #alzheimers #dementiaresearch
 
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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

If you're a dementia caregiver who barely recognizes yourself anymore, I want you to hear this before anything else: you are not broken, and you have not become a different person. Years of pouring everything into someone else can quietly erase the parts of you that existed before caregiving ever started. This isn't a personality change. It's what sustained, nonstop caregiving does to a nervous system. There is an actual name for what's happening to you, and once you understand it, it becomes something you can work with instead of something to fear. 
In this episode I explain what's really going on in your brain after years of dementia caregiving, and I share four specific ways to start feeling like yourself again.
If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.
→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc 
→ Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast 
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00 - Why dementia caregivers stop feeling like themselves
1:44 - The psychological term for losing your sense of self
2:47 - How suppressing your emotions changes your brain
4:40 - Four ways to start feeling like yourself again
#dementia #dementiacaregiver #dementiacaregiving #caregiverburnout #selfcare
 
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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.

Dementia caregiving asks you to carry things nobody prepares you for, and some of the hardest parts are never said out loud. This video isn't based on research. It's based on what I've learned from working with thousands of caregivers over the past 17 years as a geropsychologist. If caregiving still hurts even though you're doing everything right, if people question your decisions, if you can't stop replaying every hard moment in your head, I want you to hear this first: none of that means you're failing.
In this episode I walk you through five truths about dementia caregiving I wish every caregiver knew, the ones that can make this whole journey feel a little more possible to live. 
If you'd like to see this episode on video, you can hop on over to my YouTube channel here.
→ Join the Care Collective: https://tinyurl.com/podcast-cc 
→ Get free weekly tools and tips in my newsletter, The Dementia Dose: https://tinyurl.com/dementiadose-podcast 
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00 - Why this caregiving journey always involves pain
2:40 - Why you can't control how others feel about your caregiving decisions
5:00 - Why you can't take away your loved one's emotional pain
6:50 - Catching the harsh things you say to yourself
7:49 - Why no caregiver has all the answers, and why that's okay
#dementia #dementiacaregiver #dementiacaregiving #caregiversupport #alzheimers
 
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Hi, I'm Dr. Natali Edmonds, a board-certified geropsychologist specializing in dementia care. Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, Lewy body, vascular, or mixed dementia, we believe that to create a dementia-friendly world, we must first create a caregiver-friendly world.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare provider for medical guidance.