If you have an elderly loved one who has dementia, then there are likely to be some challenges along the way. Family caregivers can be there to support, love, and care for their elderly loved one. You can even hire elder care providers to help, as well. However, before the disease progresses, it would be best to know about some challenges that you might face. Depending on what stage your elderly loved one’s disease is already at, there may already be challenges you are facing.
Repeated Questions
One of the things that happens with dementia is that your elderly loved one can’t remember things as well. Due to this fact, your elderly loved one might ask you the same thing over and over again. You will just have to get used to them doing this, as it won’t get any better. In addition, you can just accept they asked you before, and answer them this time, as well. Keep in mind that they aren’t doing this to you on purpose. It is just the affects the disease has on their brain.
Time Management
You might feel that taking care of your elderly loved one is taking up all of your time. This is another one of the common challenges for dementia care. The truth is there are many things that your elderly loved one are going to need help with now that they have dementia. When the disease progresses, your elderly loved one is going to need more and more help. However, you don’t have to take it all on by yourself. You can hire elder care providers to do some tasks and errands for your elderly loved one.
Keeping Your Loved One Occupied
You might find it more difficult to spend time with your elderly loved one than it used to be. When you visit your elderly loved one, they might get easily distracted. It might not seem like they can stay focused on certain activities. For instance, you may have played Scrabble with your elderly loved one in the past when you came to their house. Now, your elderly love one might not be able to play this game or it might take a long time to play one game. There are plenty of other ways you can keep your elderly loved one occupied. For instance, if you find things they enjoyed years and years ago, such as something they enjoyed in their early adult or even teenage years, that could help.
These are some of the common challenges that you and your elderly loved one might face when it comes to dementia care. Remember, you aren’t responsible for taking on every task that your elderly loved one needs done. You can hire elder care providers to assist you with getting things done for your elderly loved one.
Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686326/
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/dementias-including-alzheimers-disease
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