Dealing with Alzheimer's and Dementia
Dealing with the daily care of someone with memory loss carries an extra burden for caregivers.
Whether your loved one has Alzheimer's disease or another related disorder, impaired reasoning interferes with the person's ability to express their own wishes.
Depending on your loved one's level of impairment (e.g. early, mid, or late stage), he or she may be able to share concerns and help make decisions.
A person with early-stage Alzheimer's disease or Dementia is often quite capable of expressing preferences and should be encouraged to participate.
However, someone in a more advanced stage of the disease will require the caregiver to handle all the decision making.
Figuring out how much to give and when to take over is a delicate process.
Guidelines to help a person suffering from limited memory loss or confusion
- Don't be condescending, treat the person respectfully and keep in mind that talking about long-term care is difficult and emotionally charged.
- Make the environment work. Eliminate noise distractions (turn off the radio or TV), make sure the person isn't hungry, and the room temperature is comfortable.
- Choose a good time of day. If your loved one is most alert in the morning or mid-day, don't wait until the evening to talk. If there are "good days" and "bad days", choose a good day.
- Use appropriate communication techniques. Use simple sentences; ask one question at a time and give adequate time to answer. Try not to ask multiple choice questions. Gently help the person stay on track and help prompt for missing words or names.
- Remain calm. Your tone of voice should be even and your manner relaxed. If you get excited or upset, this is may cause your loved one to become agitated.
- Allow participation in smaller decisions, as appropriate. If you have trouble getting meaningful responses to important questions, allow the person to express preferences for small daily activities (e.g., when to bathe, what to have for lunch).
- Use your own good judgment. If participation is not possible, don't be too hard on your loved one -- or yourself. Realise that at a certain point, choices may actually be a source of confusion or anxiety.
Care
giver options for someone with Alzheimer's or Dementia
There is no "one size fits all" care situation when it comes to Alzheimers or Dementia, each case is individual.
In addition to your loved one's specific care needs, their personal preferences will be a major factor. Care is taken to match a personal carer they really hit it off with.
When exploring the options, keep an open mind and look at the range of services available. Most of all don't discount the relief to you, the caregiver, by getting additional help.
The Best of Care experienced care team can fit into your life seamlessly, and assist you in day to day problems that may occur, as little or as much as you need.
Best of Care caregivers are fully experienced in dealing with people who are confused or forgetful. Knowing how to manage behavioural problems like short-term memory loss, paranoia or accusations, wandering away or getting lost, home safety issues, and "cueing" (reminding or walking the patient through the steps to eat, dress, or use the bathroom) are helpful to ensure that your loved one is treated with respect.
Specialised adult day care for people with Alzheimer's or Dementia
Some adult day care programs specialise in helping individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related disorders, with activities that are appropriate for people with memory loss.
As part of the service, Best of Care can advise you on all the best options that are available in your area.
Best of Care has funding available through Career Angels and Take a Break programmes, which provide in home support on a regular, on-going basis. These programmes are initiatives of the Australian Government.
Call one of our our Care Co-ordinators on (03) 5272 3133 for advice and support.
Alzheimer's disease and medication
Over-medication can be avoided
"The belief that reaching for tablets is the only way to keep a person with memory loss and confusion calm is a common misconception", says Best of Care Director, Ann Cotterell.
"By paying more attention to how we communicate past memories, carers have the rewarding satisfaction of seeing a distressed person's day flow more easily, allowing the patient to experience more pleasure in the moment".
The Best of Care workshops, run by Ann, show how carers can help people affected by the distressing symptoms of forgetfulness and confusion improve their quality of life.
The
workshops provide a comprehensive range of strategies to deal with all
sorts of behaviours related to Alzheimer's and Dementia.
The workshop model of care is thorough and successful. Many aged care facilities have received valuable training for their staff from Ann.
Alzheimer's disease and Dementia is devastating for both the patient and the people closest to the person. A lot of people do not know how to communicate with a person with Alzheimer's and Dementia in a way that makes the moment enjoyable. The workshops can help.
"It is wonderful to have the opportunity to learn wonderful simple heartfelt ways to make the day enjoyable and flow for the person you love" said a recent participant after one of Ann's seminars.
The perils of over-medication
Some doctors and family members insist that medication will improve the life of a person who has Dementia.
In Geelong there was an elderly gentleman who had Dementia who insisted that he could see little people sitting around the house!
It may sound amusing, but it was quite distressing for the gentleman in question, and his wife. His wife took him to the Doctors and the man was prescribed a drug.
Within a week of taking this drug, this once tidy upright man slouched, was disheveled, and shuffled when he walked. He continued to see little people and the medication was doubled. The once proud man started mumbling and losing control of his bodily functions.
His wife Gladys had a meeting with Ann who used a style of communication from neurolinguistic programming that assisted this man to find a way to distinguish between what was real and what wasn't. The couple were able to go back to the Doctor to have the medication stopped. After all, it was not having the affect it was hoped to have.
(Best of Care's Director, Ann Cotterell, is known as one of Australia's
leading Alzheimer's disease experts, with her innovative workshops on
Dementia and Alzheimer's held as a benchmark throughout the industry.
Ann is the author of a publication on Alzheimer's disease called "Focus
on Feelings", and was a keynote speaker at an international conference
for psychiatric nurses regarding innovative strategies for Dementia).