Parents or Grandparents Suffering from Dementia? Always Best Senior Care Can Help

Dementia can be caused by nearly 40 different diseases and conditions and it can be difficult to deal with while trying to care for your parents or grandparents.

The Encyclopedia of Mind Disorders lists various types of dementia. 

Primary dementias are characterized by damage to or wasting away of the brain tissue itself. They include Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontal lobe dementia (FLD), and Pick's disease. 

Multi-infarct dementia (MID) or vascular dementia is caused by blood clots in the small blood vessels of the brain. 

Lewy body dementia is another type. Lewy bodies are areas of injury found on damaged nerve cells in certain parts of the brain. They are associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but researchers do not yet know whether dementia with Lewy bodies is a distinct type of dementia or a variation of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

There is also dementia related to alcoholism or exposure to heavy metals, dementia related to infectious diseases, and dementia related to abnormalities in the structure of the brain. 

Here are some suggestions for dealing with parents and grandparents who are suffering from dementia:

1. Be sensitive and gentle about informing the patient of the diagnosis. Be prepared to patiently repeat the information at times when you're trying to help the person understand why they can't do something or why you are taking over a task the person used to do.
2. Set up home care and develop a positive attitude.Dementia patients are able to read body language and to respond to the positive attitudes of the caregiver. Where patient and caregiver have had problems in their past relationship, it can be especially challenging to empathize and be kind, so a support system for the caregiver is most important.
3. Learn to communicate with an Alzheimer's patient.Acknowledge requests and respond to them. Don't argue or try to change the person's mind, even if you believe the request is irrational. Be affectionate with the patient, if this feels natural.
4. Remember the worth of the person as a human being.Even if they don't seem to respond, the person deserves to be loved and cared for, touched, and spoken to. Much like an infant, the dementia patient thrives on human contact.
5. Manage behavior problems. Be accepting of the increasingly limited capabilities of the person with dementia and implement care strategies accordingly. Do your best to be patient, kind, flexible, supportive, and calm.
6. Expect the patient to totally lose their memory. Be ready with boundless patience. Many Alzheimer's sufferers have no awareness of their loss of memory.
7. Get emotional support for yourself. The above suggestions can be hard to implement. You have your own sense of grief and loss about the diagnosis - feelings that may be compounded as you see the person you've known and loved gradually lose their familiar personality and abilities.

Always Best Care Senior Services can assist with Alzheimer's and dementia care from one day a week, just a few hours a day, to 24-hour care, seven days a week. 

Call us at 860-533-9343 to find out how we can provide you with the support you deserve.