How to Treat Depression From Alzheimer's Disease

Depression is common in Alzheimer's disease. Depression in the elderly is more likely to lead to suicide than any other age group. There are drugs and other treatments that seem to help depression in Alzheimer's. Here are some things that help treat depression in dementia patients.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Practice yoga. Depression from Alzheimer's disease can be helped by practicing yoga. Yoga's postures, controlled breathing and meditation work together to ease depression. The Yoga website is an excellent resource that has general yoga information, exercises, clothing and supplies.

2. Try vitamin B-12 supplements. Finnish scientists found that individuals with high levels of vitamin B-12 in their blood respond better to various treatments for depression than others with lower vitamin B-12 levels.

3. Use acupuncture to treat depression from Alzheimer's disease. Acupuncture is found to treat both anxiety and depression in Alzheimer's and vascular dementia patients.

4. Treat depression with an unusual nerve toxin derived from an ocean-dwelling snail. This is a new discovery that may enable scientists to effectively develop medications for dementia in Alzheimer's disease patients as well as other nervous system disorders.

5. Consider using traditional medications for depression in Alzheimer's disease. Some proven antidepressants work well and some new drugs are being tested that are proving effective for depression, especially in the elderly Alzheimer's patient.

Tips & Warnings

• Realize that physical factors such as co-occurring illnesses can lead to depression, especially in Alzheimer's disease. Vascular changes in the brain is one reason as well as poor eating causing vitamin deficiencies.

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