Dementia of all types can be a devastating disease to cope with. This unfortunately is more true for family than it is for the person.
The type is irrelevant
Regardless if it is vascular dementia, lewie body dementia, Parkinson’s dementia, Alzheimer’s dementia, or any other type, the results and effects are rather the same.
Short term memory becomes a huge challenge that directly effects the quality of life of all those involved. As it progresses the long term memory starts to fade as well until you have completely lost the person you knew.
Unnoticed changes and coping
Often time families realize that their loved ones have started to “slip”. Unfortunately this is already where things can get dangerous. Those that have the beginnings of dementia learn right away to start developing coping mechanisms in their environment.
You might not realize right away but the person starts to establish basic routines. They always eat at the same place. They always shop at the same store. They always take the same route to get to certain places. They may even start to eat the same foods everyday.
Without direct oversight these coping skills can go unnoticed for a long time. These skills get more and more embedded in their everyday routine.
The straw that broke the camel’s back
A fall, an infection, a wrong turn, or even a fire. Any incident can easily pull the curtain back from what was hiding.
When they are taken out of the usual routine at home, suddenly the true lack of memory and safety awareness starts to rear its ugly head. Suddenly there are behaviors that are new. They start to act paranoid, call 911, refuse services.
Surgery can significantly effect outcomes
More times than not, when someone has dementia and general anesthesia, there will be a degradation of cognitive ability. Chances are very high that it will be permanent also.
Frequently this is a significant difficulty for families to understand. They are really surprised when the dementia was very well hidden beforehand. This can be very hard for families to accept that this is truely the cognitive ability of their loved one.
The new kid on the block
One of the newest complicating factors is COVID. There have been many instances of a long term effect of COVID fog or COVID brain. This can be very detrimental to someone who has dementia already.
Frequently over the past few years we have seen this firsthand in SNF. After recovery from COVID we have seen significant cognitive changes that never clear up afterwards.
Families need to prepare themselves
Luckily there have been more understanding and attention paid to this detrimental disease. There have been more and more support groups established through the Alzheimer’s Association as well as through local churches.
The most effective remedy is for families to attend these events to help them to understand more of what is going on. It also helps to realize that they are not alone in this and there are some programs to help. There are volunteers that do respite care to allow primary caregivers to get an hour or two to get things done or just unwind.
The biggest thing is to accept the reality of the changes and create a support network. It’s actually the best thing you can do for them.
