Tag: Alzheimers disease

Alzheimer’s Care Facility

More than 4 million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Statistics show that the number of sufferers will continue to increase as more people will reach the retirement age.

People who are diagnosed with the disorder do not have to be confined in the hospital. The best Alzheimer’s care facility does not cost much because the patient can be treated in the comforts of one’s home.

What are the changes that need to be done to the home? The good news is, none. Those who are taking care of the patient should just be sure it is clean, clutter and noise free at all times.

If the family members are busy with other things, an ad can be placed in the paper or someone can call the agency to have a caregiver look after the sufferer. These specialists are trained to give aid to the patient.

What activities are done in the care facility? For starters, memory exercises will be done so the patient can still remember the names of the family members. A basic one will be through the use of flash cards that have the name and photo of the person.

Most of the time, the caretaker will be beside the patient. Instead of doing nothing, it wouldnt hurt to strike up a conversation. It does not have to be anything serious but just enough to keep the person active because an inactive mind may lead to depression.

The individual should always make eye-to-eye contact when talking to the patient at the same time speaking slowly and clearly for the other person to understand.

Alzheimer sufferers tend to wander off. The patient could walk to the end of the street or even walk farther without the caretaker even knowing and that is worse. A failsafe system must be put in place such as making sure the doors and windows are locked at all times.

Should the patient manage to get out, the second fail-safe will be to attach a bracelet or a card. This will make it easy for someone to return the person home or be informed where the sufferer can be picked up.

The Alzheimer’s care facility is open 24/7 with most of the concentration spent at night. This is because the symptoms are more active during this time so the best way to calm the patient down is through a little exercise.

The patient can help do the dishes or work on the laundry. A cup of warm milk or tea can be given. If this doesn’t work, perhaps going for a little stroll together outside for a little exercise may make the sufferer sleepy and go off to bed.

Some states have nursing homes and reputable home care facilities to treat the patient. There are numbers in the directory as well as in the Internet that people can inquire.

The individual should not be surprised should the place not accept just anyone who can no longer take on the burden of taking care of the loved one because of the limited space and the stage of the disease.

The person can choose to pay a huge sum or spend the remaining days with the loved one close to home to at least have a few good memories until the patient will finally go off to a better place.

Alzheimers Information

Unbelievably, one out of ten people over the age of 65 have Alzheimers disease. In fact, in a recent statistic polls, almost 19 million Americans suffer one way or the other from this dreaded progressive disease. Below are some information that you will find useful about the disease.

What is Alzheimers disease?

Alzheimers disease is a degenerative problem characterized by memory loss as well as loss in thinking skills. It is actually part of a constellation of memory and brain problems called dementia. It can lead to behavioral changes, loss of language skills, disorientation, confusion and increasing dependency. Most experts believe that Alzheimers is caused by a problem in the genetic make-up and is often associated with old age.

What are the signs and symptoms of Alzheimers disease?

What is however difficult with this problem is the fact that the onset of the disease will often manifest in symptoms often associated with forgetfulness when getting old. What separates this problem though is the fact that people with Alzheimers will eventually even forget normal routines and simple tasks. For instance, patients with Alzheimers can forget how to hold a spoon and fork while others will forget how to brush their teeth and take a bath. Believe it or not, some medical experts even say that some even forget hoe to breathe, something which comes quite naturally with a person.

One problem though with this is the fact that one can actually have no way of knowing whether it is ordinary forgetfulness or Alzheimers when it is just in the initial stages. It can start with ordinary forgetting of names and faces until it progresses to something major that can render the person totally incapacitated.

Who are affected by Alzheimers disease?

Although there are cases of Alzheimers that affected people in their 30s, most patients are over the age of 65 and a vast majority is over the age of 85. In addition to old age, experts believe that a family history of the same problem or of dementia may predispose someone to the disease. This is because experts pinpoint a defect in the genetic make up of the person who has Alzheimers disease.

People who are not much into mental pursuits or work that do not much involve mental strains will also most likely develop the disease compared to people who often stretch their mental muscles. In fact, one of the way to prevent the onset of dementia is to exercise the brain all the time especially during old age.

Even when one is already retired from work, old people should not forget to still use their minds by engaging in mental pursuits such as reading, answering crossword puzzles and even playing board games.

How do you diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease?

As mentioned earlier, it is extremely difficult for a person to differentiate an ordinary case of forgetfulness and dementia at the beginning of the progression. Some of the symptoms of the disease such as slow mental processing and forgetfulness may be attributed to other problems such as thyroid gland problems, reactions to medications that are being taken, and even just a normal aging process.

To really ensure that the problem is indeed Alzheimers, doctors rule out other possibilities and conduct series of tests. The only way actually to conclusively determine the presence of Alzheimers is to examine a cross section of the brain tissue when a person is already dead.

Finding caregivers for people with Alzheimers disease

One of the most dreaded diseases in old age is Alzheimers disease. Although unlike cancer and heart problem, this is actually not fatal. In fact, people with Alzheimers can live for a long time with proper care. That is actually the problem most of the time.

With Alzheimers disease, the patient need to be taken cared of all the time. This is because the memory loss will often render the patient incapable of thinking and reasoning. Some will even forget how to do the simplest of tasks, like brushing their teeth and even eating with a spoon and fork.

Alzheimers is a progressive and degenerative disease that affects the brain. The problem often leads to massive memory loss not only in terms of ones memories but also ones learning. Patients will forget everything that they have learned even routinary tasks that they have learned when they were just tots. Some people will also find it hard to learn new things and may even lose their language abilities. They will have difficulties in their speech and in their writing.

Because of this, caring for a patient with Alzheimers disease can be extremely difficult. It is actually like caring for a newborn babe but while a baby will slowly learn to function independently, patients with Alzheimers will lose what they have learned and will slowly become more and more dependent with their caregivers. Thus, it is important to find a caregiver that is both professionally-capable and caring as they will determine the progress that the patient will have as well as their over all condition and behavior.

Here are some tips in finding a good caregiver for an Alzheimers patient.

Choose a professional

It is good to look for a person that is already well experienced in caring for people with Alzheimers. Not only will their experience come in handy when it comes to dealing with the patients medicines and medical routines, they will also be more patient because of prior knowledge.

One problem though in hiring these kinds of people is the money that you will shell out for their salaries. Private nurses and caregivers are expensive enough as it is without adding the burden of a specialization. If you just cannot afford to hire someone with enough experience, try one who has worked with old people and then give him or her materials that will make them familiar with the basics of the disease.

Choose someone you know

Nothing beats hiring someone that you already know or someone that you have already seen working. Patients with Alzheimers will have a lot of quirks and behavior that can be extremely irritating and difficult to deal with. Thus, it is important that you choose someone that you know will have a lot of patience and care.

Of course, if a member of the family can spare the time for the patient, that is good. If not, you can ask for recommendations from people that you know. Chances are they know someone who can take care of a patient with Alzheimers.

Choose someone strong

Although this is actually not a major issue, it is also important that you choose someone who can deal with the patient and the often back breaking tasks. Remember that because the patient is full- dependent on the person, they will sometimes need to carry them or guide them when walking.

Keeping people with Alzheimer’s busy

Alzheimer’s disease is considered the 7th leading cause of death in the United States in 2004. The death toll continues to rise every year. The disease is the third most costly in the U.S. Heart disease and cancer are the first and second most costly respectively. It is recorded that there 24 million people with dementia worldwide, the figure will more than double by 2040.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that is irreversible with no known cause or cure. The disease affects two major types of abilities. Alzheimer’s affects the very simple everyday activities such as dressing, eating, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, and even walking. One needs to be assisted in order to accomplish such tasks.

The other ability affected by the disease are the performance of more complex tasks like managing finances, driving a car, preparing and cooking meals and working in a job. It is normal for people with the disease to experience problems with complex tasks first which later on move to the more simple everyday jobs as the disease progresses.

Treatment is vital for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Treating a patient requires the conglomeration of the expertise of a family doctor and various medical specialists like psychiatrists or neurologists, psychologists, therapists, nurses, social workers, and counselors. Because the disease affects not only the patient but the whole family as well.

It is very important that family members work closely with the doctors in administering the treatment. The family should be informed of activities that are dangerous for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Some of these activities include driving or cooking.

Treating dementia related symptoms of Alzheimer’s vary. But such treatments can only be effective if the dementia is caused by factors like medications, alcohol, delirium, tumors, depression, head injury and infections. There are, however, some treatments that are being used to “cure” the well being of a person afflicted with the disease.

Activities like playing music, personal interactions, playing videotapes of family members, walking and light exercise and pet therapy have been found to be successful in helping people develop friendship, mutual support and spiritual connectedness with the people around them.

However, one should remember that such activities can be beneficial to one but could be detrimental to another patient. The best activity for a person with Alzheimer’s varies. Former hobbies or points of interest of a person could also be used to help people with the disease and their families to cope.

One could assist the person to engage in activities like supervised gardening, singing, cooking, painting and drawing as long as routine is established. It is very important to engage in these activities on a regular basis for this could help the person establish a sense of stability.

Some therapies combine various activities and have proved to be fairly successful and garnered some favorable results. Such programs combine music, exercise, crafts and relaxation which obtained the best results.

Some even add various structured sessions like meditations, sensory awareness and guided imagery in their attempts to calm and pacify the already unstable behaviors of patients with Alzheimer’s.

Aside from daily physical exercise and social activities, some of the things that you also need to consider in treating a patient are proper nutrition and health maintenance; daily activities that will give the feelings of accomplishment for the individual; keeping the patient out of harm’s way; and knowing the physical and emotional limitations of the patient, the care giver team and the family.