Being able to effectively battle Alzheimer’s will depend on how much knowledge people have. Improving awareness about this disease is a way for people to understand the different stages. His can help many individuals deal with the disease when it affects a loved one. There are many reasons for Alzheimer’s awareness and the following list contains five of the most important.
1. Higher medical costs are a result of low awareness. Those who have a better understanding of the disease will be less likely to worry so much. This means fewer trips to the doctors and hospital, which can lower medical costs.
2. Being aware of the disease and how it can affect a senior is one way to enhance treatment. It will also facilitate a timely medical intervention. Being aware of symptoms and signs of the disease could allow a patient to be diagnosed sooner, leading to a treatment that could slow the progression of the disease.
3. Awareness will remove the stigma associated with the disease. This will help all of the people involved, including the patient and family members.
4. Management of risk factors and general awareness will lower the incidence of Alzheimer’s. If people know how to lower the risk of the disease, it may be possible to help some seniors avoid the development of Alzheimer’s. For some seniors, this will not be possible, but it is possible to slow down the progression.
5. Being aware of all information on the disease can help scientific progress. The more people know about Alzheimer’s, the more research and studies can be conducted. Many people who are involved in studies are volunteers, so awareness plays a key role.
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There are kids living in a family that includes a grandparent. In some cases, the grandparent is living with dementia. This can be scary for kids, especially when they are too young to understand the disease. To them, take the time to explain and answer questions that arise. The list below can help:
1. The best thing to do is to be honest with the child. Explain to them the grandma or grandpa is having trouble remembering things. This may help the child understand and be more willing to help.
2. Always encourage smaller children to ask questions. Try to answer them in terms they can understand. Instead of giving a medical definition of the disease, explain it in simple terms.
3. Have the child interact with the senior. Helping with simple, everyday things, such as tying shoes and helping seniors eat can benefit the child as well as the senior with dementia.
4. Explain to children that there is nothing to fear. Grandma may forget things, but she can still be a joy to be around. Encourage kids to include seniors in fun time.
5. Talk to children before the senior moves in and try to explain the situation. If the child has questions, answer them as well as you can without being too complex.
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When seniors have Alzheimer’s, it often falls to their families to determine the best sort of care for them. Unfortunately, due to lack of knowledge and preparation both on the part or the senior and the part of their family members, care that’s selected often does not have the quality of life in the senior in mind. Seniors need to create a living will with an advanced care directive to ensure that medical professionals and their loved ones know what they’d like when their care needs change and they’re not able to speak for themselves. Families should research the options and understand the types of treatment used so they are in a position to make sure that the senior’s wishes are carried out.
There’s no treatment for Alzheimer’s, so it can’t be said that there are any sure fire treatment options, however, there are some that clearly don’t have the best interests of seniors in mind:
• Improper pain control – because many seniors in the later stage of Alzheimer’s or dementia cannot express themselves, proper pain management techniques are not being administered even though it’s clear that many seniors are in pain
• Treatments don’t focus on comfort – most seniors with Alzheimer’s continue aggressive treatment until they pass away, but there is no focus on comfort at the end of their lives even once treatment is typically ineffective. Only about 11% of seniors who are hospitalized with one of these illnesses is transferred to a hospice
• Medications used can make symptoms work – often medications are administered to treat other affects of the disease like osteoporosis or high blood pressure, but these can only add to senior’s feelings of confusion and general lack of well-being
Alzheimer’s disease is a common killer in America. It is important to pay attention as to how your memory is working, and to know the differences between different types of memory loss. Short term memory loss is often associated with the hippo-campus, and is often the first sign of Alzheimer’s disease. It is important to be vigilant about your memory and how it works, and to be able to distinguish between short term memory loss and onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Below are different classifications of memory:
• Working Memory – this type of memory is often referred to things that you can hold in your short term memory for later retrieval. Working memory is located in the frontal lobe of the human brain. An example of working memory is memorizing a phone number.
• Short-Term Memory – Short term memory is thought to be located in the hippocampus, and is often associated with the first symptom of Alzheimer’s. These memories are things that people remember for a couple minutes up to a few weeks. For example, your hotel room number or a character’s name in a novel.
• Long Term Memory – Long term memory are things that you can recall and retrieve for the longest period of time. Things like your birth date or your favourite grade school teacher are examples of long term memory. The location of the brain that long term memory is stored in is unknown.
When a senior has dementia, one of the most difficult things is communication. Not only can the senior struggle with communicating, but they will also have trouble understanding what others are saying. This is why it is very important for friends and family members to learn how to communicate in different ways so that the senior has a better chance of understanding. Below are some useful tips.
1. Dealing with a person who has dementia can be frustrating, but it is important to always remain calm and never show anger or impatience.
2. Try to communicate in an area with very little distraction. There should be minimal amounts of background noises and low levels of activity.
3. Be very specific when speaking. If possible, only use short sentences. If you are asking a question, be sure to only ask one thing at a time.
4. Pay attention to the response from the senior. Watch for confusion or understanding. When speaking, try to position yourself at eye level.
5. Allow seniors time to process what was said. Dementia will cause seniors to have a delay in their reactions, so be sure to allow them enough time when communicating.
6. Since memory loss is an issue, always talk about things in the here and now. Trying to communicate past events will not be beneficial because the senior has very little memory.
