HealthCare

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With increasing age a certain amount of memory impairment and confusion can be expected. But Alzheimer’s disease is a more serious loss of mental sharpness and the afflicted seniors have to taken care of in special manner. This ailment causes progressive brain degeneration. The symptoms are typically seen in a person’s late forties or early fifties. Those above 65 have more than 40% chance of having this disease.  The disease first impacts memory, there is difficulty in speech and cognition, the person is eventually lost and looses all the sense of being. Ultimately even normal activities like swallowing and eating becomes a difficulty.  The disease is really unfortunate to other family members and friends. The mental ability of a parent, brother, sister or friend degenerates to such a level where they don’t recognize anyone. Our former president Ronald Reagan was a victim of this disease.

Caring for the patient is really taxing on the family. There are however many facilities that can take care of AD patients and ease the burden on the family. There are many boarding facilities which are capable of taking care of a person suffering from Alzheimer’s. These care giving institutes are very much like nursing homes, but they do not have the atmosphere of a hospital. But if the patient becomes highly disoriented he may have to be shifted to hospital care.

In case you decide to care for your loved one in home atmosphere itself there are many useful points to be considered. In early stages of the Alzheimer’s disease he/she may be able to perform the common activities though with lot of difficulty. He will very much be aware of the trouble he is facing and respond with frustration, agitation and violent outburst. In such cases you may help him to start the activity like you can help him put the shirt and the first button on or you can help him start the electric shaving equipment.

There will be certain time of the day or night when the Alzheimer’s patient would be calmer and have slightly better cognition. It is best to allocate important chores like consultation with his doctor, bathing or giving food. The awareness, perception and thinking of your loved one with AD may slowly deteriorate. He may suddenly become averse to his favorite food. He may even become suspicious of you and become violent. Do not be discouraged by such behavior.

It is also very important that there is a special safe environment at home. Any extension chord wire or a simple rug may not be a cause of alarm to normal person but a AD patient is more likely to trip and fall on it. Keep away all items that have the potential to harm him and others like sharp items, knives, guns, alcohol, medicines, toxic cleaning substances etc. Keep them away safely locked and keep the key with you. Ensure that in the bathrooms there are no open electric plugs as there is a risk of electric shocks. Please control the water temperature in bath water heater yourself and lock it to a bearable temperature. Many patients have been severely burnt as they are not able to control the temperature.

Each person with the Alzheimer’s disease experiences different levels and stages of deterioration in cognition and functioning. So the care giver should customize the care giving techniques based on above tips.

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