AstridGuide – Dementia & Alzheimer Guide

Dementia & Alzheimer’s

Dementia patients need proper care and attention more than anything else. Drugs can only slow down the mental degradation process. If proper care is not given, a cure may already be impossible as the condition progresses to an irreversible state.

Photo by smyrland

The patient’s family, as always, is the best source of help. Family members can give the much needed care and emotional support to the patient. They can best help the patient by trying to tell stories and happy memories to make the patient remember things. This can give the patient relief and hope for a cure and a better future.

If family members are not able to cope with the demands of the patient with Dementia, nurses and caregivers can be hired to look after the patient. These health practitioners are knowledgeable about the condition and can definitely help the patient go through the daily activities required to cope with the disease.

The nurses and caregivers can also perform various tests needed to diagnose the patient’s condition, as well as give medications at proper time intervals. It is best that the patient still stays in the house with a certified nurse or caregiver as this is the best place to help the patient remember things that may have been forgotten.

Hospitals are the next option where care for Dementia patients is given. Hospitals have efficient staff and are equipped with devices needed to help the patient recover from the condition a lot faster. Although hospital care will not be able to match the kind of care a loving family can give, still, it can provide the patient hope for better days ahead.

If hospitals aren’t the right place, there are institutions that specialize in providing treatments for patients with Dementia. These institutions can help the patient recover a lot faster, though the care given is not as personal as that given by the family. They have doctors that are trained specifically for Dementia.

Some institutions of this kind, which have done notable work and have a wonderful track record, are The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (The NINDS), John Hopkins Medical Institutions, The Frontotemporal Dementia Clinic, and The Institute for Brain Aging.

Dementia is such a difficult disease. If no proper care is given during the early stages of the condition, it may be totally irreversible and no technology will be able to help cure the patient.

The information and technology we have right now with regard to this medical condition is not enough. Continuous research should be done to be able to uncover some new developments and possibly develop measures that can prevent, or even cure, Dementia.