{"id":335,"date":"2018-10-26T17:16:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T17:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assistinghands.com\/fort-myers\/?p=335"},"modified":"2024-06-22T19:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T19:00:03","slug":"senior-care-pain-identification-seniors-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assistinghands.com\/14\/florida\/fortmyers\/blog\/senior-care-pain-identification-seniors-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Identify Signs of Pain in Dementia Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dementia patients experience severe or chronic pain but studies have shown they often receive fewer pain relief medications than healthy senior adults.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Other studies have shown that their incidence of pain is actually higher than other seniors, possibly affecting 45% to 80% of dementia sufferers.\u00a0 This is why it is so important to be able to identify signs of pain in people with dementia<\/p>\n

Why Dementia Patients are Not Treated for Pain<\/h2>\n

The reason seniors with dementia are not as likely to be treated for pain is due to the difficulty dementia patients often have verbalizing their pain and discomfort as compared to healthy seniors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dementia patients struggle with memory and verbal capacity, affecting pain reporting. They may not accurately report pain levels. Consequently, health professionals must assess non-verbal cues. Proper pain management requires understanding and addressing these challenges.<\/p>\n

In the elderly, symptoms may actually be different than they would be in a younger person. For seniors with dementia, the effects of pain can easily be misidentified as symptoms of dementia. Individuals who are in pain may become more aggressive or depressed, and pain may cause mental impairment such as lack of focus.<\/p>\n

Pain is the body\u2019s way of saying that something needs our attention.\u00a0 Unidentified pain can leave a condition or infection untreated, causing an increased risk of complications in the dementia sufferer. If left untreated, pain can cause mental and functional decline and even reduce mobility.<\/p>\n

Common Signs of Pain in Dementia Patients<\/h2>\n

Dementia patients can and do experience all different types of pain. Regardless of the source, the person suffering from dementia may provide family members and memory care services<\/a> with some clues that the person is experiencing pain.<\/p>\n

Caregivers\u00a0can help monitor seniors with dementia and notify family members that there are pain indicators present. There are some specific pain indicators that seniors with dementia may show:<\/p>\n