How to Help a Loved One Deal with Dementia and Maintain Independence

Most people don't know automatically how to help a loved one deal with dementia and maintain independence. They may learn by trial and error. Following a few basic steps may go a long way toward avoiding injuries and helping your loved one to enjoy his or her life as much as is possible.

To help your loved one deal with dementia, you first need to understand a bit about it. Normally, dementia is a sign of the presence of specific medical issues, such as Alzheimer's or a brain injury. There isn't a pattern per say and that's one of the hardest parts to deal with. Your loved one may be fine one minute and disoriented the next. Some of the steps below should help you to deal with this in a manner that helps to maintain a good quality of life for your loved one.

Accept the dementia. You may be tempted to try to remind our loved one of things or people. This is only going to be frustrating for you and your loved one. Often, we are tempted to treat our loved ones with dementia as if they are a child. When it comes to safety, that's a good idea. However, you must remember that your loved one who has dementia is not a child that you can teach things to. In fact, they may forget more and more skills as time goes on. This is something you need to accept so that you can avoid becoming frustrated and making the situation worse.

Use timers. Set timers with notes in front of them that have explicit instructions. Make sure that the card also reminds them to flip the card over so that they can use the next one when the timer goes off again. This is a good way to make sure that they don't double up on medication and do remember to take it. It's also great for reminders about doctor appointments and meals.

Simplify things. As you try to help your loved one deal with dementia, you may find that it gets harder and harder for them to do simple tasks, like tie their shoes. If this is the case, keep things as comfortable and familiar to them as you can. For instance, in the case of the shoes, try to find them some slip on ones that are very similar to the ones they already have.

Modify the house. Forgetfulness and complete confusion are parts of dementia. Sometimes your loved one is going to lose contact with reality. While you want to help your loved one deal with dementia, but maintain a life that is as familiar to them as possible, you also want to make sure he or she is safe. You may need to make some changes around the house. for instance, if your loved one is not safe cooking, you may need to disconnect the stove. You don't want to remove it because that would infringe on their level of having familiar things around them.

Delegate tasks. As you help your loved one deal with dementia, you will find that your schedule may be more than you can handle. Ask friends and family to help you with simple tasks and even relieve you of your care taking responsibilities on a regular basis. There is no need to bear the burden of everything if you don't have to.

References: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dementia.html