Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia. Dementia is a condition in which cognitive function—the ability to think, concentrate, and remember—is impaired. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease makes up as much as 60 to 80 percent of all cases of dementia.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive condition, which means that it keeps getting worse. Eventually, people with Alzheimer’s disease need help with daily activities because they lose the ability to dress, bathe, and feed themselves.
The role of Alzheimer’s caregivers can be stressful, frightening, and exhausting, but you can also feel great comfort in caring for a loved one who needs you.
Facts about Alzheimer’s disease
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) says that, although Alzheimer’s disease usually affects people older than age 65, it’s not a normal part of aging. Some people develop early onset Alzheimer’s disease, which strikes as early as age 40.
People with Alzheimer’s disease often have trouble remembering things—at first, it may be something as small as the date or day of the week. Later, as the disease progresses, they may not recognize their loved ones.
Alzheimer’s disease has no cure, but some medications can help to slow the damage it does to the brain and the progression of symptoms. Although most people live an average of eight years after their symptoms become obvious, others can live with it for as long as 20 years.
Symptoms
At first, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease may be subtle and dismissed as simple forgetfulness, the Alzheimer’s Association says. But over time they get worse. Here are common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease:
- Frequently forgetting something you just learned
- Difficulty concentrating and resolving problems on your own
- Difficulty doing things you’ve always known how to do, such as driving to familiar places or using simple electronics like the TV remote
- Obvious confusion about dates, the time of day, and even the time of year
- Problems recognizing colors or reading
- Difficulty with speech, words, and communicating with others
- Losing items and not being able to remember where they are
- Being careless with finances and personal hygiene
- Becoming more isolated and spending less time with family and friends
- Having emotional outbursts or reacting inappropriately in some situations
Diagnosis
A doctor can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease by asking questions about symptoms and performing a few tests. These tests can include:
- Medical history and review of all current medications
- Review of any family history of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
- Mental status test, which uses standard questions to test a person’s awareness, such as the date and time and simple instructions or lists of objects
- Physical exam, including a neurological exam, to look for other causes of symptoms
- MRI scan of the brain
- PET scan, although this is mostly used for Alzheimer’s disease research
Researchers are learning about genetic tests that can be done to predict if a person will get Alzheimer’s disease, the NIA says. These tests are used mainly for research, however, because they can’t reliably tell if a person will get the disease.
Treatment
The NIA says that while several drugs are available to help slow and manage the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, no medications can cure it. These are commonly prescribed medications:
- Cholinesterase inhibitors (Aricept, Razadyne, Cognex, Exelon)
- Memantine (Namenda)
Although these two types of drugs work differently, they both affect chemicals in the brain related to memory and learning.
Caregiver responsibilities
When you’re a caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s disease, you can help in many ways. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, a person with Alzheimer’s disease needs to:
- Learn how to manage and understand their diagnosis
- Cope with fear and frustration as symptoms get worse
- Maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly
- Get plenty of sleep
- Limit alcohol intake
- Take all medications prescribed by the doctor
As a caregiver, you can help to make sure that your loved one does these things to stay as emotionally and physically healthy as possible.
These are other tasks you might assist with:
- Grocery shopping, cooking, and feeding
- Bathing and getting dressed
- Paying bills, picking up prescriptions, and driving to doctor’s appointments
- Planning for long-term care (such as a nursing home) when it becomes necessary
As you care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease, keep these things in mind:
- It’s important to take care of yourself—stay healthy and ask for help from others when you need it.
- Be kind, slow, concise, and clear when communicating with someone with Alzheimer’s disease.
- Alzheimer’s disease can cause anger, hostility, violence, and wandering away, and you will need to be prepared to deal with these situations.
- A time will come when it’s no longer safe for a person with Alzheimer’s disease to drive, and you’ll need to have a difficult conversation about giving up the keys.
“Exercising” your brain by learning new things and challenging yourself may help to keep your brain sharper.
Prevention
Experts don’t know how to prevent Alzheimer’s disease because they don’t know exactly what causes it. But “exercising” your brain by learning new things and challenging yourself may help to keep your brain sharper. A healthy diet and plenty of regular exercise is also thought to help keep your brain healthy.
Finding help
Alzheimer’s disease can be devastating for the person who has it, family members, and other caregivers. You can get more information, including finding support groups, through the Alzheimer’s Association.
This article is provided by PinnacleHealth
Tell us: Has your life been affected by Alzheimer’s? Are you caring for someone who is living with the disease? What words of wisdom can you offer to others who are caring for a loved one? Please leave a comment below.
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