In Episode 92, host Jeff Edwards brings you a powerful and heartfelt conversation that reminds us why this podcast exists.

After attending the inspiring McGregor Dementia Seminar hosted by McGregor Baptist Church, Jeff reflects on the incredible energy, resources, and support shared with caregivers. The event was filled with meaningful connections and practical information designed to help those navigating what we call “brain change.”

Jeff also shares about his recent visit to the Alzheimer’s Support Network (ASN) in Naples, Florida, a passionate organization committed to supporting caregivers and individuals living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Karen Rodino of ASN for a conversation unlike any other. This isn’t just informative, it’s emotional. Karen’s knowledge, sincerity, empathy, and passion shine through in a way you’ll feel in your gut.

Alzheimer’s Support Network remembers those who forget.

Plus, in our recurring segment “What’s New in Alzheimer’s?”, Dr. John Huffaker answers another listener-submitted question, bringing clarity and insight to the latest in Alzheimer’s care and research.

We also revisit the FIVE TENETS, the backbone of everything we believe:

1. Take care of yourself first.

2. You can’t do it alone; find support.

3. Use the help that’s offered.

4. Create a Help Signal.

5. Caregiving: Love it or hate it, it’s your life until it’s not. Give it your all.

As GutPunched enters its third year and approaches 100 episodes, we invite you to visit GutPunched.com and help us continue building a resource hub that truly serves caregivers.

We’re here to bring trusted resources, honest conversations, and real support.

#AlzheimersCare #CaregiverSupport #DementiaCare #FamilyCaregivers #BrainChange #GutPunchedPodcast #CaregiverLife #AlzheimersAwareness #SupportNetwork #PodcastCommunity

AVAILABLE ON: GUTPUNCHED.COM, The Podcast Playground, PodBean, Spotify, Pandora, Apple, i-Heart, and many more.

In Episode 91 of GutPunched: Alzheimer’s and Caregivers, host Jeff Edwards continues his interview with Dr. John Huffaker of the Neuropsychiatric Research Center (NPRC), discussing how clinical research centers help advance Alzheimer’s treatment and provide opportunities for families.

This episode also shares caregiver adjustment strategies from the Alzheimer’s Association, focusing on coping with the emotional and practical challenges of a new dementia diagnosis.

Topics include:

• Benefits of Alzheimer’s clinical trials

• Adjusting to life after diagnosis

• Caregiver mental health

• Building a support system

• Alzheimer’s research updates

• Caregiver survival strategies

GutPunched delivers real-life Alzheimer’s caregiver advice, research insights, and practical tools for families navigating dementia care.

#AlzheimersCaregiver #AlzheimersPodcast #DementiaCareTips #ClinicalTrials #MemoryLossSupport #CaregiverResources #AlzheimersResearch #JeffEdwards #GutPunchedPodcast

Edwards welcomes listeners to Part 1 of an important conversation with Dr. John Huffaker of the Neuropsychiatric Research Center (NPRC). Together, they dive into why doing something matters, because when it comes to Alzheimer’s and dementia, doing nothing is not an option.

This episode also features another listener question in the ongoing segment “What’s New in Alzheimer’s with Dr. John Huffaker,” offering practical insight for caregivers navigating memory loss, dementia, and brain change. Jeff also highlights valuable community resources in Southwest Florida, including the McGregor Baptist Church Alzheimer’s, Dementia & The Gospel Seminar and the Alzheimer’s Support Network, a warm and trusted hub for caregivers and families.

As always, GutPunched reinforces its Five Tenets of Caregiving, reminding listeners to care for themselves, seek help, build a support system, and give caregiving everything they have, because this journey is hard, real, and deeply human.

In this powerful and heartfelt episode of GutPunched: Alzheimer’s and Caregivers, host Jeff Edwards explores the extraordinary role music plays in the lives of people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia and the caregivers who support them.

Despite cold snaps across the country (and Florida’s version of “cold”), Jeff sets the stage for an engaging and hopeful conversation centered on the healing power of music. Joined by Justin Russo, Director of Programming at Music & Memory and The Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), the episode makes a compelling case for why music is far more than entertainment; it’s therapy.

Justin explains how personalized music can spark memories, reduce agitation, improve mood, and reconnect individuals with dementia to their sense of identity. Jeff also shares fascinating facts about music’s impact on the brain and why caregivers should seriously consider incorporating music into daily care routines.

The episode also features another installment of “What’s New in Alzheimer’s” with Dr. John Huffaker, who answers listener-submitted questions and breaks down key developments in Alzheimer’s and dementia care.

As always, Jeff reinforces the podcast’s Five Caregiver Tenets, emphasizing self-care, community support, practical planning, and the emotional realities of caregiving.

The episode closes with heartfelt thanks to sponsors NPRC (Neuropsychiatric Research Center) and Heart, Body, & Mind Home Care for their continued support of caregivers everywhere.

🎧 Whether you’re a caregiver, healthcare professional, or simply someone who loves music, this episode will move you, inform you, and remind you why music truly matters.

GUTPUNCHED.COM

Available on The Podcast Playground, Apple, Spotify, Pandora, PodBean, and all the major platforms.

#GutPunchedPodcast #AlzheimersCare #DementiaCare #CaregiverSupport #MusicAndMemory #MusicTherapy #CaregivingLife #AlzheimersAwareness #DementiaSupport #PodcastEpisode

In Episode 88 of GutPunched, host Jeff Edwards takes on one of the most difficult and least discussed aspects of Alzheimer’s and dementia: the silence that surrounds it.

Jeff opens with a deeply personal reflection on how families often hide diagnoses out of fear, embarrassment, or misunderstanding. From memories of his grandmother being labeled “senile” to the unspoken rule of don’t tell anyone, Jeff explores how secrecy has shaped generations of caregivers and the heavy emotional cost that comes with it.

As medical language has evolved, Alzheimer’s, dementia, MCI, Lewy Body, and Frontotemporal Disease, Jeff asks an important question: Have our conversations evolved too? And if not, what are we missing?

Drawing from his own experience following his wife’s diagnosis, Jeff explains why openness made caregiving easier, not harder. By sharing their reality, they found more understanding, compassion, and support, and removed the burden of shame that so often follows cognitive decline.

This episode also covers:

• Congress renewing its commitment to Alzheimer’s and dementia research

• New findings on medications that may be harmful to people living with dementia

• A new installment of “What’s New in Alzheimer’s” with Dr. John Huffaker

Listeners are reminded that caregiving is not meant to be done alone and are guided by GutPunched’s Five Tenets of Caregiving, which focus on self-care, building support systems, and embracing the reality of the caregiving journey.

Jeff teases an upcoming, highly anticipated episode:
“Making the Case for Music in Dementia Care,” featuring Justin Russo.

This episode is a reminder that silence helps no one and that honesty, connection, and shared experience can bring real hope.

#DementiaCaregiving
#CaregiverSupport
#HealthcareAdvocacy
#AgingAndHealth
#CaregivingCommunity
#PublicHealth
#GutPunched

In episode 87, Jeff Edwards wraps up his discussion with Dr. John Huffaker from the Neuropsychiatric Research Center (NPRC). Fresh from his first men’s caregiver group meeting of the year, standing-room-only and filled with new faces, Jeff reflects on the power of shared experience and why no caregiver should ever try to do this alone. Together with Dr. Huffaker, the episode dives into current Alzheimer’s research, the clinical studies underway at NPRC, and the amount of credible information now available to patients and caregivers alike.

Jeff also breaks down a timely news topic: The finger-prick blood test making headlines and what it could mean for earlier detection and understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.

Listeners will hear another installment of “What’s New in Alzheimer’s with Dr. John Huffaker,” and are encouraged to submit their own questions for future episodes.

As always, Jeff reinforces the Five Tenets of Caregiving, the backbone of GutPunched, reminding caregivers to take care of themselves, ask for help, create systems of support, and give caregiving everything they’ve got.

With gratitude to sponsors NPRC and Heart, Body, & Mind Home Care, this episode delivers education, encouragement, and hope because no one should walk this journey alone.

#AlzheimersCaregiving

#CaregiverSupport

#DementiaCare

#AlzheimersAwareness

#CaregiversMatter

#YouAreNotAlone

#HopeForCaregivers

#GutPunchedPodcast

This episode begins Part One of a heartfelt and eye-opening discussion with Dr. John Huffaker of the Neuropsychiatric Research Center (NPRC), a clinical research center dedicated to improving how Alzheimer’s disease is detected and treated.

Dr. Huffaker introduces the p-tau 217 blood test, a breakthrough that may allow Alzheimer’s to be identified earlier than ever before. But what truly sets this episode apart is how the information is delivered. Dr. Huffaker takes complex science and explains it in a way that caregivers often exhausted, overwhelmed, and searching for answers can truly understand.

This episode also launches a new recurring segment, “What’s New in Alzheimer’s with Dr. John Huffaker,” where real listener questions are answered directly by a trusted expert. It’s one more way GutPunched continues to remind caregivers that their questions matter and that they are not facing this journey alone.

As always, Jeff reinforces the podcast’s Five Core Tenets of Caregiving, offering practical reminders about self-care, asking for help, creating support systems, and giving caregiving everything you’ve got because, for better or worse, it becomes your life.

Episode 86 is filled with trusted resources, supportive partners, and a consistent message of hope, hope for caregivers, hope for families, and hope for a future where Alzheimer’s is detected earlier and treated more effectively. Due to the depth and importance of this conversation, Part Two will air next week.

AVAILABLE ON:

THE PODCAST PLAYGROUND, PODBEAN, SPOTIFY, PANDORA, APPLE, AND MANY MORE PLATFORMS

GUTPUNCHED.COM/Podcast

#EarlyDetection

#ClinicalResearch

#AlzheimersCaregiving

#YouAreNotAlone

Welcome to 2026, and welcome back to Gut Punched: Alzheimer’s and Caregivers. Host Jeff Edwards opens the year by tackling one word that caregivers often feel has disappeared after a devastating diagnosis: HOPE.

When Alzheimer’s or dementia enters your life, the first feeling is often no hope — medically, emotionally, spiritually. In this episode, Jeff unpacks what hope really means, why losing it impacts both health and well-being, and why reclaiming it matters now more than ever. From psychology and medical science to faith-based reflection, this conversation explores how hope isn’t denial, it’s survival.

Jeff also breaks down current dementia therapies (as of December 2025), highlighting where real progress is being made and what caregivers should know going forward.

In the second half of the episode, Jeff reconnects with an old friend: BJ Odom, a man who jokingly describes himself as having “More Parts Than a Chicken Nugget,” the title of his newly released book. Through hardship, humor, and relentless perseverance, this guest embodies what living with hope truly looks like. His story is honest, emotional, hilarious, and deeply human, filled with laughter, tears, and optimism from start to finish.

As always, Jeff revisits the GutPunched Caregiver Tenets, essential reminders that caregiving is not a solo mission, self-care is non-negotiable, and asking for help is not a weakness.

This episode is a reminder to every caregiver who feels exhausted, isolated, or overwhelmed:
You are not alone. There is help. And yes, there is hope.

#AlzheimersCaregiver #DementiaCaregiving #CaregiverSupport #HopeForCaregivers #GutPunchedPodcast #DementiaAwareness #CaregiverLife #AlzheimersPodcast #NotSoSexyCaregiving #CaregiverHope