If you have come across this article, there is a good chance that someone you know has been recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This will certainly come with a lot of stress and emotion, as this diagnosis is very challenging for everyone to cope with.
Tip 1: Self-educate about Alzheimer's disease
By reading this article, you are already well on your way to learning more about Alzheimer's disease. Although learning about the prognosis and the more severe forms of the disease may be unpleasant to digest, going into this new challenge knowing what to expect will prepare you for stressful situations in the future.
Tip 2: Make the home as friendly as possible for the person suffering from Alzheimer’s
Numerous studies have shown the importance of keeping people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in a familiar routine for as long as possible. This will not only improve their quality of life substantially, but it will also help reduce emotional changes that will become more prevalent as the disease worsens.
Try to arrange furniture and other potential obstacles so that they aren't in the way of the main paths this person typically follows throughout the house. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease will have problems coordinating movements as the disease worsens and falls become much more common in the later stages of the disease.
Remember that a person with Alzheimer’s is still pretty independent in the early phases of the disease. Allow them to make their own decisions and create their own daily routines. Forcing them to do something that is new or unfamiliar will only lead to frustration and anger.
Tip 3: Communication is extremely important
As you already can expect from the tone above, this will be a challenge for everyone involved in the treatment of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. It doesn’t matter if you are the spouse, close friend, or child of the patient; you will all be depressed with this news.
The key thing to remember is that it is okay to be depressed but you must use it to motivate each other to help improve the patient's quality of the life as much as possible. The burden of being a caregiver often falls on the patient's spouse. Based on statistics, that means that there is a good chance that this spouse is also elderly and may not be able to support both themselves and their partner.
If one of the team members voices that they are too overwhelmed, make sure there is another team member able to help take some of the responsibilities to allow for a chance to rebalance your emotions. Even taking a personal day off of work can be a good decision to help relieve the burden from the main caregiver. Caring for a sick family member is one of the main causes of family tension and can quickly turn into a toxic situation that can last for decades. Try to balance the obligations to help keep the family intact moving forward.
As the disease worsens, symptoms will become harder and harder to manage and the personality of the person with Alzheimer's can dramatically change. A kind and polite person can become vulgar and combative so make sure this caregiving team divides more of the responsibilities amongst each other as the disease worsens to avoid burning out.
Tip 4: Continuously ask for professional help throughout the whole process
This should be obvious, but with all the chaos going on in the lives of caregivers dealing with Alzheimer’s, remembering to consult with doctors, nurses, therapists and physical therapists can be hard.
Medical experts represent a very good and often under-utilized component of the management of a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Medical professionals have valuable experience and often have a large network of colleagues that could be helpful in each individual case. If you are the caregiver of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s, do not be afraid to ask the doctor or therapist if they know anyone else who could be helpful in improving the life of the person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
If you establish a relationship early on with a medical professional, they will be able to use their expertise more effectively to help build a treatment strategy that works for every one involved.
It is also important to remember to care for your own health during this process. Be vocal about your symptoms or worries when you come in for visits with the person with Alzheimer’s. In many cases, support teams are so focused on the wellbeing of the patient that they forget they are suffering from preventable conditions as well.
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