Keeping Dementia Patients Stimulated

By Options for Senior America

. https://optionscorp.com/

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Keeping Dementia Patients Stimulated

In caring for people with dementia caregivers often find that they must read the patient's signs and decipher their feelings based on body language and occasional agitation, a task which is not always easy, and one that frequently leaves a profound sense of inadequacy.

Sometimes the messages can be deciphered easily, such as when they rub their hand on a table, meaning they want to wipe the table, so the caregiver hands them over something to do it with. Other times caregivers are comforted by a patient continuing to hold their hand after a new activity has been started, and that is taken as a green light, at least for the time being.

Research has made it abundantly clear that a person with dementia benefits greatly from a lifestyle that includes good nutrition, plenty of exercise, socializing, and indoor/outdoor activities particularly those that encourage patient engagement.

There are tons of activities to engage patients with. They may not like some of them the rule of thumb is not to persist with any activity if they get frustrated with it. Discard that activity for the time being, but bring it back on another occasion. If the activity fails again that is a sure sign to put that activity away for a long time.

The “sorting” activity is a favorite, and it can be employed by using playing cards or any multi-colored and multi-shaped objects such as buttons or poker chips. However, the best activities to start with are the activities that the patient used to like before they got sick.

Caregivers have to stay alert to what the patient is feeling, for they may not be able to communicate if they're experiencing difficulties seeing or hearing, or if fatigue is setting in faster than at earlier times. These are signs and symptoms that must be picked up on and taken care of. Appropriate and gradual changes should be made to routines and activities, trying to feel out what the patient is still able to do. At some point, hopefully early on, a doctor should examine the patient.

As the disease progresses the patient may revert to liking some activities of the past, though now they start liking them from a sensory perspective.

To cite an example, patients who all their adult lives enjoyed going to church, may now like to go to church because the sounds and smells are familiar, and because of the pastor's distinctive way of speaking or the comforting feeling of being in a congregation.

Caring for a patient with dementia can be daunting, if not overwhelming. Many caregivers expend a lot of energies taking care of patients, so they mustn't fall in that trap. Instead, they must be disciplined and maintain a balance in their lives that allows them to take good care of themselves as well as the patient.