A friend and I were talking about her mother who had passed away after years battling Alzheimer’s. Maria has had a great deal of experience with dementia. She had worked as a nursing home manager for several years, had to put her ex-husband into a nursing home visiting him regularly, and eventually cared for her mom at home until her death. What we were discussing was how

One of the most difficult aspects of caring for someone with dementia is coping with difficult or conflictive behavior. All the literature says don’t take this personally, they can’t help themselves; it is their condition. But it affects us when someone screams at us or says ugly things. We immediately react before we can rationally understand this isn’t them saying or doing those hurtful things. In normal

Marilynn was watching television with her husband. Her eye caught some movement in the corner of the room. She screamed, “Harold, a bunch of little people running all over the bedroom!” Harold was used to Marilynn’s hallucinations; she had several a day, usually little people. Harold was used to hearing about Marilynn’s hallucinations; she had several a day, usually little people. He understood her diagnosis of dementia

When words begin to fail during dementia those who care for them must learn other methods to communicate. One of those methods is to understand non-verbal communication (body language). We continuously send and receive body signals, both consciously and subconsciously, whether accompanied by words or not. Our gestures and body positioning communicate a great deal of information. Our gestures can substitute or accentuate what we are attempting

On several of the dementia sites, you usually find someone posting frustration and aggravation over their loved one’s constant repeating. Today someone asked, “At what stage are they in when they repeat all the time?” I responded with, “Early, get ready for lots of adjusting; they can’t.” It was obvious that this caregiver had just taken their seat on this roller coaster and their ride was just

Even when a person with dementia can no longer do much, they can benefit from simply watching you do something as long as you include them. “Mom, I’m going to put together a puzzle. I’d love for you to keep me company.” Invite them to watch and talk about what you are doing with them. In this way, they are interacting and an interesting brain process happens;

Many dementia symptoms are specific to the individual but some are common in most. One is shuffling when walking. I was told shuffling was commonly caused by loss of balance during dementia, but I felt there was more. Some of the shufflings can be caused by vision changes. It’s commonly understood as peripheral sight diminishes; they get tunnel vision. But most people don’t know they also lose