Being a caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or some other type of dementia requires creativity, patience, and empathy, the ability to step away from your individual reasoning and logic and realize why a certain behavior is occurring, and then to determine how exactly to effectively manage it. That’s certainly the situation with a family…
Awkwardness. Discomfort. Disbelief. Shame. Most of these feelings can cycle through a family caregiver’s heart when your family member with Alzheimer’s disease displays disinhibited behaviors, such as: Rude or tactless comments Unacceptable sexual advances or remarks Removal of clothes at improper times And other socially unacceptable actions The complex changes that occur to the brain…
It may come seemingly out of thin air: you put your loved one’s favorite tuna sandwich in front of her – light on the mayo, no onions – something which usually brings her enjoyment. But today, she forces the plate away and refuses to take a bite, insisting that you’ve poisoned the sandwich. Or, you’ve…
Loneliness. Confusion. Isolation. These feelings have become commonplace for a number of us during the COVID-19 pandemic, but when you factor in the challenges of dementia, the difficulties and frustrations are heightened to a completely new level. Take, for example, the short-term memory loss inherent in dementia. A family caregiver searching for the proper way…
Digging through boxes, cabinets, and closets, pulling out odds and ends from drawers, and sorting repetitively through a variety of items can be frustrating for those providing care for a loved one with dementia, but actually these behaviors are fulfilling a purpose. Rummaging can provide a measure of comfort for those with dementia, with the…
An individual who exhibits memory loss, confusion, poor judgment, repetition, and challenges with performing daily activities has the telltale symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, right? As a matter of fact, what seems to be an obvious case of Alzheimer’s may in fact be a recently discovered dementia. Known as LATE, or limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, this…
You may not recognize her by name, but you’ve probably heard her story. Joy Milne has an exceptionally unique talent: recognizing Parkinson’s disease by using her nose. Her gift came to light when she detected what she details as an “overpowering sort of nasty yeast smell” in her husband of ten years. Subsequently observing other…
In St. Petersburg, FL, being a dementia caregiver for someone you love is a fluid, ever-evolving undertaking. One day may be calm and peaceful, with your family member enjoying activities, eating healthy meals, and sharing laughter with you; while the next day could be fraught with agitation, anxiety, and sullenness. What will today bring? Identifying…
Dementia care requires both empathy and creativity to manage a range of complicated behaviors and effects, and that is particularly true in relation to incontinence, something that is quite frequent in Alzheimer’s along with other forms of dementia. These tried-and-true strategies are usually successful in decreasing the effect of incontinence and reducing an escalation of…
Agitation is among the more difficult results of dementia, and can be exceedingly complex for family members to handle. The key is in taking steps to address agitation before it’s felt and conveyed by the older adult, which involves keeping an eye on what has initiated these feelings in the past, and establishing a home…