Dementia takes a toll on those affected, from families to patients to caregivers, but proper care can help everyone involved.
Dementia, which is an umbrella term for cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease and variously named dementias, are disorders that affect memory, cognitive function and motor skills. And while these disorders have no cure, following certain steps can help alleviate the struggle that patients with dementia face.
But first, what is dementia?
“To put it bluntly, it’s brain damage,” said Ward Mulford, nurse manager for geriatric psychiatry at Baystate Wing Memorial Hospital.
The brain may become damaged in a variety of ways. Mulford outlined certain causes, such as restriction of blood flow to the brain that results in a lack of oxygen to certain parts, which causes vascular dementia.
There is also Lewy body dementia, is caused by small abnormal protein growths in the nerve cells of the brain.
Frontotemporal dementia strikes by “atrophying,” or shrinking the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, and often arises earlier than other dementias, beginning between the ages of 40 to 75, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Then, there is the most common form of dementia — Alzheimer’s. While many studies have gone into finding a cause and cure for Alzheimer’s, there is no known root cause. What has been found in studies though, are that two structures called amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles may have a strong connection to the disease.
The damage from these cause a variety of symptoms, including memory loss, forgetfulness, mood swings, loss of motor function and trouble learning new activities. Each kind of dementia may be marked with specific symptoms, but all symptoms are grouped into three categories: early, mid- and late stage dementia.
“In early dementia there are some warning signs that patients may not recognize but others could,” said Claire Gravel, certified occupational therapy assistant.
“The person may become rigid and inflexible; they may be good with social chitchat, but they have problems problem solving and learning new things; they may become extremely focused and worried about finances,” she said.
Occupational therapist Jodie Genovese said that at this stage, treatment options for family and caregivers include helping the patient feel comfortable and “validated.”
“We never argue or reorient the patient because that will make them frustrated,” Genovese said. “So if they say there’s a monkey in the room then we agree with them. Always agree with them — validate them.”
Additionally, those who care for family members in the early stages should give those family members time to make decisions and keep them as routine as possible.
In the mid-stage of dementia, Gravel said patients become more forgetful, not remembering how to use common items or how to eat or drink. “They will essentially go back in time with their memory,” Gravel said.
For those caring for individuals in this stage, Gravel suggested using touch and physical sensation as a way of helping the patients, such as shaking their hands. Also, finding someone’s favorite sensation can be helpful. For example, if they enjoy soft sensations then providing them with a soft blanket may help by “grounding patients,” Gravel said.
Also, Gravel said patients should be encouraged to reminisce and should be included in activities.
Eventually though, the patient’s condition may deteriorate to the late stage of dementia. In this stage, Gravel said those afflicted “don’t have depth perception, have a severe fear of falling, loss of fine motor skills, and are unable to eat or swallow.”
For those in the late stage, Gravel, Genovese and Mulford suggest safety measures for these patients, and possible around-the-clock nursing care.
“The goal is to keep cognitively stimulating the patient,” Gravel said. “Let them make decisions, let them feel important and like their opinions matter. It keeps them happy and gives a good quality of life.”
For more information you can go to: www.alz.org or contact your or your close one’s doctor and discuss options.
Dan Desrochers is a journalism student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.