The Changing Landscape of Dementia

Senior Care in Palm Beach Gardens FL

Senior Care in Palm Beach Gardens FL Understanding what your loved one is going through will help you empathize with their reactions to everyday occurrences. Knowing that the changes in their brain are contributing to vast changes in how they see, hear and respond to their surrounding environment will help you understand and respond to their sometimes inappropriate behavior.

What is Happening?

A person with one of the forms of dementia is not only suffering from short term memory loss, they may also be experiencing hallucinations, disorientation, loss of inhibition, and a changing concept of time. Delusions common to diseases associated with dementia include paranoia. This commonly portrays itself as feelings of being watched or followed. They may accuse family members of stealing from them and suggest that strangers or friends may be trying to kill them.

Hallucinations are both auditory and visual. Auditory can consist of hearing repeated phrases, songs or voices. Visual hallucinations often consist of seeing relatives or friends who have passed on. Deceased pets are sometimes seen as if alive. Strangers in odd clothing and even angels have been known to appear.

Reaction

The typical reaction is to deny the person’s hallucination or delusion. “No, mom, that doesn’t really exist.” But to your parent who has seen or heard the person or sound, it is very real. Suggesting that it is not real does not make it so. Listening without attaching emotions to what your parent is telling you can help keep a calm and peaceful environment at a time when your loved one needs it the most. Anger and denial does not help the person suffering from dementia. The truth is, it’s okay for them to see deceased relatives, friends and pets, as long as it does not disturb them. Many report it matter-of-factly. Others are excited about the vision, while still others believe they are calling them to the other side and they are just not ready to go yet. As long as they are not endangering themselves or others, or becoming overly anxious when experiencing a hallucination or delusion, it’s okay. For those that find these hallucinations extremely disturbing, there are medications that can offer some relief. Be sure to speak with their primary health care provider if this is the case for your parent.

Support

Many times it is the caregiver that is more affected by the hallucinations and delusions than those suffering from them. To see these types of changes in your parent can be disturbing, to say the least. Taking time away from that environment is crucial to maintaining a calm, peaceful demeanor when present. A senior care provider can assist your parent with the daily activities of living as well as provide companionship and support during this time of ever-changing mental, physical and emotional terrain, while you take the time you need to recharge, rejuvenate and breathe. This enables you to return to your caregiving with a sense of calm that undoubtedly will rub off on your parent.

If You Or An Aging Loved One Are Considering Hiring Professional Senior Care in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Please Contact The Caring Staff at Assisting Hands Home Care at 561-829-3080 Today.