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This episode is about adding functional medicine to our mom Rosemary's early onset Alzheimer's care team, and how it's helped support her over the last year.

We start with a quick update on where things stand outside of the medical side — her disability application is still pending after ten months on the Compassionate Allowances list, we're working on getting her back into memory care therapy through insurance, and we've started filling out power of attorney and other estate planning forms now, while she's still able to participate in that process.

Then we get into the main topic: what a year of working with a functional medicine doctor alongside her neurologist has actually looked like. We talk through the diet changes she was given — cutting gluten, dairy, sugar, peanuts, and corn to manage blood sugar and inflammation — the supplements she takes daily, and the adjustments and mistakes that came with managing all of it. We share specific moments that showed us how connected her diet is to her cognition, including a stretch of months where she was unknowingly drinking a protein latte with dairy and sugar in it, and the decline in her word-finding and mental clarity during that time, which reversed within about a week of cutting it out.

We also bring our mom Rose on to share her own experience — what it's been like managing this many dietary changes and supplements for over a year, whether she can tell what's actually helping, and how she's approaching exercise, sleep, and stress a year into her diagnosis.

This episode covers functional medicine for Alzheimer's, early onset Alzheimer's care, Alzheimer's diet and nutrition, blood sugar and cognitive decline, brain health supplements, sleep and amyloid plaque clearance, power of attorney for dementia patients, and Social Security disability for early onset Alzheimer's.

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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This is the practical, unglamorous side of caregiving: wait lists, referrals, insurance chats, second opinions, and learning that you're allowed to ask for better. If you're just starting to build a care team for someone you love, this episode is the one we wish we'd had a year ago.

When our mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, we thought getting a neurologist meant we were set. We were wrong. In this episode, we walk through everything it actually took to build a care team that works with her to support her health, mind, and wellbeing- including how to get second opinions and keep pushing for new medical conversations, especially after our first experience with her original neurologist post-diagnosis, who told her: "there's no cure, good luck."

While we understand the diagnosis we face, and we're not expecting an immediate cure, having a medical team that knows we want to spend as much time with our mom as possible, and slow the cognitive decline as much as possible, was important to us. This includes pursuing other kinds of support like working with a functional medicine doctor to support her entire body system, therapy, and memory therapy too.

We get into the parts nobody prepared us for: the insurance fight when a $900 memory therapy bill got denied after a coverage switch, the referral chase between PCP and neurologist, and why we ultimately went looking for a therapist who specializes in Alzheimer's and dementia specifically- because grief this specific needs someone who's seen it before. We also talk about why functional medicine can put you at odds with a traditional neurologist, and where our dad's skepticism has created real friction in how we approach mom's care.

In this episode: early onset Alzheimer's | building a care team | functional medicine | neurologist second opinion | memory therapy | Alzheimer's insurance denial | Alzheimer's therapist | caregiver advocacy | PCP referral | geriatric care manager

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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This is a real-time update from April 2026, nearly a year into our mom Rosemary's early onset Alzheimer's journey. And honestly, the weeks leading up to April 2026 is a lot!

We share some of the specific moments that stopped us in our tracks lately. A medical video she watched with us, cried through, and had absolutely no memory of two weeks later. A store name she's known her whole life that suddenly meant nothing to her. Getting turned around in a parking lot and feeling too ashamed to ask for help. These aren't dramatic moments on their own, but together they're painting a picture that's hard to ignore.

We also get into what it's like to watch someone close to her still not fully grasp where she is right now, the gap between what we're seeing from across the country and what's being acknowledged on the ground, and why that gap is starting to feel urgent in a way it didn't before.

And we talk about driving. Not because we're there yet, but because we're starting to have the conversation with ourselves about when we will be, and what losing that independence is going to mean for her.

No framework. No tidy takeaway. Just an honest conversation about where we actually were at.

In this episode: Alzheimer's progression | early onset Alzheimer's | memory loss | remote caregiving | caregiver support | family dynamics | Alzheimer's caregiver update

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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When someone you love is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it hits fast. In this episode, two sisters document the real mechanics of building and managing a care team for their mom, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in June 2025.

This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s an honest walkthrough of what they’ve tried, what’s broken, and what’s actually working, including the Skylight calendar system that gave their whole care team shared visibility, the medication tracking spreadsheet that evolved over months into something they couldn’t live without, and how they use Zoom’s remote screen access to troubleshoot tech from hundreds of miles away.

They also break down how they divide responsibilities across four people using a RACI framework borrowed from the corporate world to clarify who’s responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. Because when you have multiple people caring for one person, communication gaps aren’t just inconvenient. They have real consequences.

And if you’re doing this alone? These tools still apply. A shared calendar, a medication spreadsheet, a Zoom session to help from afar, these aren’t team luxuries. They’re systems any caregiver can build, and they scale up the moment someone in your life says “I want to help.” This episode will give you something real to hand them.

If you’re an adult child managing a parent’s Alzheimer’s care, a spouse trying to build support around someone you love, or a solo caregiver figuring out how to hold it all together, this is a starting point. Not a perfect roadmap, but a real one.

In this episode: remote Alzheimer’s caregiving | building a care team | dividing caregiver roles | Skylight calendar for dementia | medication management | RACI for family caregiving | Zoom for remote caregiving | early onset Alzheimer’s | solo Alzheimer’s caregiver

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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In this episode, we start to unpack all the things we had to learn and unlearn about Alzheimers. In this episode we'll talk about the differences between Alzheimer's and dementia, and the differences between being in the early stages versus having early onset Alzheimer's. We also share where things stand with our mom this week- because it was a hard week. The more you know, the more empowered you are to care for your loved one.

If you're in the thick of a new diagnosis and still trying to make sense of the language around it, we hope this one helps. You're not behind. We're all just figuring it out as we go.

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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This is Part 3 of our three part series on getting to our mom Rose's Alzheimer's diagnosis.

We take you from the beginning of April through to June 2025, to the day we got the blood test results that confirmed what we had feared. Along the way we walk through the neuropsych evaluation process, what moderate cognitive impairment actually means, the MRI results that made our parents think everything was fine, and the exhausting back and forth of trying to get everyone to see what we were seeing once all the puzzle pieces finally came together.

We share what it felt like to wake up on a Tuesday morning, open an email, and see a number that was nearly six times the positive threshold for Alzheimer's disease. We talk about how we told our dad, how he told our mom, and the FaceTime call that night where we all sat with it together for the first time.

This episode is also about everything that happens in the space between suspecting something and knowing it. The yo-yo of results that seem alarming and then get explained away, the frustration of feeling like you are being dramatic when the paperwork is right there, and the complicated grief of finally having an answer you were never hoping to be right about.

If you are in the middle of trying to get a diagnosis for someone you love, this episode is for you. Keep pushing. Get on every wait list. Bring a written list to every appointment. Fight to be taken seriously. The earlier you know, the more time you have to take action.

Walk with us! Join our team at the Walk to End Alzheimer's in Buffalo, NY this September 2026 — or donate! 100% of proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Association: act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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In Part 1, we walked you through the early signs we noticed over years of visits and trips. In Part 2, we share the story of the one week that changed everything.

It was the end of March 2025. Felicia and Dave were heading to Hawaii, and our mom flew to Orlando to meet Amber before they both traveled up to Plattsburgh to watch Oliver for the week. What we thought would be a manageable week of grandma helping with a nine month old turned into the moment we could no longer explain things away.

From getting lost in the airport, to struggling with a baby gate, to asking the same question four times in thirty minutes, to not remembering an entire middle of the night wake up that she was fully present for, this was the week the puzzle pieces stopped looking like coincidences and started looking like a pattern we couldn't ignore.

We share what it felt like to be in the thick of it without a diagnosis, how frustrating and heartbreaking it was to watch our mom get defensive about things that weren't her fault, and the Target run and late night gas station parking lot conversation with our dad that finally set in motion what would lead to an official diagnosis.

This is Part 2 of a three part series. The diagnosis is coming. But first, you need to see what it took to get there.

If you've ever had to convince someone you love that something is changing with their brain, struggling with dementia symptoms, this episode is for you. We're sharing every detail because the earlier you recognize these signs, the more time you have to take action and fight for the person you love.

Walk with us! Join our team at the Walk to End Alzheimer's in Buffalo, NY this September 2026 — or donate! 100% of proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Association: act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

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In this episode, we take you back to before there was a diagnosis, before there was even a name for what was happening to our mom. We walk through the early signs we noticed over a series of visits, and how many of the signs we missed because they were easy to explain away.

From getting lost in a hospital parking lot, to wandering a hotel hallway in Washington DC, to struggling with a video game in Orlando, to losing her job and never quite finding her way back- this episode traces the quiet, creeping trail of signs that told us something wasn't right.

This is Part 1 of a three-part series leading up to our mom's official Alzheimer's diagnosis. Because the road to understanding what's wrong with someone you love is rarely a straight line. It's years of excuses, disagreements between us, and moments that don't quite add up until suddenly they do.

If you've ever watched someone you love change slowly and couldn't find the words for it, we hope this episode helps. We're sharing these early signs because we almost missed them, and we believe that catching them sooner rather than later matters. The earlier you recognize what's happening, the more time you have to take action, build a care team, and explore the things that may help slow the progression. We don't want anyone to look back and wish they had known sooner.

Walk with us! Join our team at the Walk to End Alzheimer's in Buffalo, NY this September 2026 — or donate! 100% of proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Association: act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818

Support the show

Thanks for walking this journey with us. Conversations Through Alzheimer's is hosted by sisters Amber and Felicia, and new episodes drop every Monday through September 2026.

If this show has resonated with you, share it with someone who needs it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Follow along on our socials:

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@conversationsthroughalz
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConversationsThroughALZ

Support the Alzheimer's Association by joining our Walk to End Alzheimer's team or donating: https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/NY-WesternNewYork?pg=team&team_id=1057467&fr_id=19818