Rebecca asks: My grandmother is getting older and was recently diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's Disease. She is still very healthy and independently living on her own. We have talked about her desire to remain at home and independent for as long as she can. How can we keep her safe in her home?

This month, my husband and I enter the seventh year of living with Alzheimer's (AD). The past seven years have been years of learning, of facing the inevitability of age, and what aging means, of stretching myself to accept new responsibilities. I am no longer the only caregiver.

TORONTO - When Elizabeth Allen was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, her first reaction was outrage that she had developed the progressi...

Glen Campbell made our feet move, our hips sway, touched our hearts and made us smile with "Rhinestone Cowboy," and many more. Now, the rivers of his memory are receding. Glen Campbell has joined the list of millions diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

Back when I was young and saw an old couple in a restaurant, sitting throughout a meal without apparently offering a word to each other, I used to think, "How awful." Now, many of those who know about my husband's Alzheimer's (AD) will ask me, "Do you have any conversation at all with him?" Well, that depends on how you define conversation.

There may be saints among us, but I am not one of them. One does not usually associate the words lucky and Alzheimer's disease. But within the world of almost six million North American families struggling with the emotional and financial costs of this terrible disease, I am lucky in many ways.

Yes, when I write about how a caregiver should take care of him or herself, I am talking to myself as well as to others. I know how hard it is. For two years, I did not leave my husband. Like so many others, I postponed my own doctor's appointments telling myself I didn't have the time, and turning down invitations from friends. But firm words from two doctor friends helped me decide to take the occasional afternoon for myself.

It seems to me that Alzheimer patients have quite a lot to be angry about. It is tempting to take it personally, to be hurt, to even get angry ourselves. But that accomplishes nothing. We know that, in the end, this is a battle that Alzheimer's will win. But the disease doesn't have to win every round. I try to think of myself and my husband as partners in the fight. If I can calm his anger with a hug or a smile or a word of understanding, we have won at least one round.

I have found online support groups to be a tremendous help. I can turn to them any time, in the middle of the night if necessary, skim through the various postings to find the ones that have situations similar to mine. Those postings have provided me with a great learning lifeline. So, I will offer no advice. Each caregiver must find his or her own way. But over the next few postings I will share some things that have worked for me.

In observance of World Alzheimer's Month, we have put together a list of foods with protective benefits against Alzheimer's disease. It's important to take note which of these foods you are consuming on a daily basis and which you may opt to include in your daily diet.

Memory is not just our past -- it is also our present. Memory tells us how to send an email, how to get from here to there, to put on our underpants before our outerwear, how to use a knife and fork, even how to swallow. Memory is the ON button for every function we take for granted. That is the mystery that surrounds every Alzheimer's patient. How much are they aware of what they are losing?

I don't think of myself as a caregiver -- I am a wife, honoring the vows I took so many years ago. I have had the better, and the richer -- ( speaking of experiences and not money). Now I am living through their opposites: the sickness, and the poorer -- (in this case both experiences and money: Alzheimer's is expensive).

Alzheimer's has stolen two bits of my husband's self -- his ability to manage his finances and his joy in cooking -- and with that, a large part of his dignity. And the thief has robbed me too -- of companionship, laughter, what our friends used to call our ballet in the kitchen.

Given that we are in the neurologist's office at my request, I should not have been surprised -- no, not surprised, floored or shocked -- by the diagnosis. But I was. The doctor's visit was prompted by a cluster of seemingly small incidents. And so, my beloved husband became one of the five million Americans diagnosed with this thief of a disease. What's more for every human being diagnosed, there is a circle of others -- partners, family, friends, employers, employees -- who are also victims, robbed of memory and relationships.

It's frightening to learn that almost 70 per cent of new Alzheimer's sufferers will be women, but research today still focuses on men. Even today, at the grass roots level of research, it is the male rat that's studied because the hormones in the female rat make it too complex.That really got me thinking: if this is something Canadian women think about then obviously so do women all over the world. So the Women's Brain Health Initiative was born.

Thirty years ago a scientist named Stan Prusiner coined a new word -- prion -- which turns out to be a protein molecule that's misfolded. In many neurodegenerative conditions, something triggers misfolding. If you can interrupt that, then you stop the formation of plaques. If you stop plaque formation in a human brain, you could prevent Alzheimer's, or at least delay it.

While regular physical activity has long been regarded as an important component of healthy aging, its impact on mental health has remained less explored -- until now. Several new studies on the role of exercise for the prevention of mental decline in older adults have been presented at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Vancouver, Canada.

Quick Study [kwik stuhd-ee]: The Huffington Post Canada's tips to make your life a little sweeter, five minutes at a time. Think of it as a cheatsheet...

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Bilingualism may delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, a brain scanning study suggests. The study by Canadian researchers in the journal Cortex o...