Alzheimer's care for the
patient and the caregiver:
Alzheimer's care
is available for both the patient and the caregiver. Obviously,
proper Alzheimer's care is only available when educating yourself and
following through on the recommendations of available professionals.
The following 9 suggestions should help both yourself and those that
you love in providing Alzheimer's care.
(1) Be informed.
You need to become as informed as possible. The more you know
about Alzheimer's disease and other dementing illnesses, the more
effective and helpful you can be for your loved ones in devising
strategies to manage behavioral problems.
(2) Share your concerns
with the Alzheimer's patient. You may share your concerns
with the Alzheimer's patient if they are mildly to moderately
impaired. At that stage they may be able to take some part in
managing their problems. They may be able to hear your worries and
grief and together devise memory aids that may help him/her to remain
independent. Also, mildly impaired individuals may benefit from
counseling to help them accept and adjust to their limitations.
(3) Getting enough rest.
One of the more difficult things family members frequently have
to deal with is that the caregiver may not get enough rest or have the
opportunity away from their caregiving responsibilities. This can
make the Alzheimer's caregiver less patient and unable to tolerate
irritating or frustrating behaviors. If things feel like they are
getting out of hand, you should ask yourself if this may be happening
to you. If so, you should try to find ways to get more rest or take
more frequent breaks from your caregiving responsibilities.
(4)You should use your
common sense and imagination. Your common sense and
imagination are your best tools along with your ability to adapt. If
something can't be done one way, ask yourself how else it could be
done or if it must be done at all. For example, if an individual with
Alzheimer's can eat with her/his fingers but not with a fork, why
waste your time resisting the inevitable. Simply serve as many finger
foods as possible. If they insist on sleeping with his/her hat on and
this is not harmful, you probably should just go along with it.
(5) Hold on to your
sense of humor. If you hold onto your sense of humor, it
can get you through many crises. A person with Alzheimer's
disease is still a person and may still need to and be able to enjoy a
good laugh. Also, sharing your experiences with other Alzheimer’s
families may be helpful. Frequently, these other families find these
shared experiences funny as well as sad.
(6) Try to establish
environments with as much freedom as possible, while also maintaining
structure. You need to establish a regular, predictable,
and simple routine for meals, medication, exercising, bedtime and
other activities. You should try to do things the same way at the
same time every day. Through having an established regular routine,
the Alzheimer's individual will gradually learn what to expect. You
should change routines only when they are not working. Keep the
person’s surroundings reliable and very simple. Always leave
furniture in the same place and put away any clutter.
Also See! Alzheimer's Care: 9
Ideas That Really Work - Page 2
