How to Look after a Person with Alzheimer’s

by Noel Angeles for SMN Weekly:It is not easy, but quite hard to care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease. This serious disease over time extends to all functional abilities of a person, and very soon a person becomes totally dependent on the help of other people; in most cases old people become dependent on children or other relatives.Alzheimer’s disease makes a patient especially helpless at its last stage. Exactly then a person needs care as air, because there is a high risk of injuries or serious damage, caused by the restriction of movement. Very often, patients are sent to special pensions. There, people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease get assistance, and thanks to the ongoing monitoring they are provided with proper care. Of course, for the family and relatives of a person such a solution seems right. But for a sick person moving from home will turn into an ordeal. The shape change of atmosphere and concomitant new irritants will have a devastating impact on the mental state of a person. Therefore, careful care can be the best only at home.When caring for a sick person, you have to remember that he or she constantly needs positive emotions. Humor helps to facilitate and accept the inevitability of the disease. But jokes must be careful; a patient should not think that someone laughs at him. If a patient feels negative emotions towards him, it can provoke an emotional block, and then it will be very hard to determine his feelings or state. For the same reason, a patient cannot be insulted, blamed, criticized, as well as you must not raise your voice. Caring attitude will protect him from depression and attacks of aggression against the background of the disease.A patient can have hallucinations and obsessions. All attempts to convince him of the unreality of illusions will be fruitless. In such situations, you must gently distract a patient and interest him in anything else. When helping him to take a shower, if possible, it is needed to cover the intimate organs of a patient, in order to preserve his dignity. Going to the toilet becomes harder at the last stages of the disease. Initially, a person begins to forget about what to do when feeling a necessity to go to the toilet. He cannot take his clothes off or does not understand what to do in a bathroom. Over time, the use of diapers for adults becomes the only option.Source: http://bit.ly/1MMIyr7