AstridGuide – Dementia & Alzheimer Guide

Dementia & Alzheimer’s

Caring for a person with any disease is never easy. It is especially difficult when a person tends to not understand things and forget common things, as is the case with Dementia.

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The first step towards caring for such patients is providing them with a sense of well-being and physical safety. Things that were taken for granted before may require planning now. Intensive planning must be undertaken for home-safety and social life.

The patient must be communicated to properly with each and every phase of this disease. They also should be allowed fun and socializing with people even if they may not recognize them. Visitors should be scheduled to prevent surprises and to have something to look forward to.

The next step is planning. First of all, the caregiver must be careful as to how the news of the diagnosis is broken. The caregiver may need to explain to the patient why he/she cannot do something that other people can do. Sometimes, the patient may not even remember that he/she has Dementia, and in this case, he/she should always be told that they have a memory problem.

Then the caregiver should develop a positive attitude. This is because we can only try to cure a person when they have hope that they can be cured. This hope comes directly from the caregiver. The caregiver themselves should have emotional support as it may be sometimes impossible to take care of the patient. The caregiver should always be affectionate to the patient. All requests should be acknowledged.

The next step is scheduling the day. This step should involve training of the patient, milestones that the patient can look forward to including fun and also a time when the patient can go outdoors.

The caregivers should remember the essential human worth of the patient. They should remember that the patient is an actual person who has just had a terrible calamity. Taking the patient to see other Dementia patients may help relieve them that there are others similar to them.

The last but most necessary step is patience. The patient should be dealt with patiently and it should be remembered that his or her behavior abnormalities are not purposeful. The caregiver should try to help the patient in every possible way and sending the patient to an institution should be considered as the last resort.

In the end, the caregiver must remember that managing a Dementia patient is a difficult work and may be overwhelming at times. Every day may bring new challenges that the caregiver might find difficult to face. The caregiver should learn to cope with changing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior.