Could My Loved One Have Dementia

There are enough (bad) jokes about older people for most of us to know that aging brings about a range of health issues. If we look at the population in the United States, record numbers are overweight or obese, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and are prediabetic or diabetic. All of these conditions cause significant wear and tear on the body. 

Body Health and Brain Health

Researchers are now just beginning to understand how these conditions can affect brain health as well. More and more studies have shown that dementia can be prevented if we take certain risk factors into account and try to help our loved one make some healthy changes in their lives.

For example, many people call sugar "white death." Excessive consumption of carbohydrates has been associated with dementia and diabetes. 

High blood pressure can cause mini-strokes, transient ischemic attacks or TIAs, causing damage to the brain that might lead to dementia. High blood pressure can also lead to a full stroke and paralysis, memory loss and an inability to function independently.

High cholesterol clogs the arteries, causing the blood pressure to go even higher as the heart tries to force blood through the narrowed blood vessels. Too much pressure can cause chunks of these deposits called plaques to break off and travel to the heart, leading to a heart attack (a myocardial infarction, or MI) or a stroke.

You might be familiar with plaque from TV ads about toothpaste. Interestingly, those with dental plaque can often have heart health issues. Even more interesting is that the most severe form of dementia, Alzheimer’s, is caused by amyloid plaque in the brain.  

Unfortunately, many of the most common medications used to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol can actually trigger dementia-like symptoms. In addition, common over-the-counter remedies like allergy medications, antacids and sleeping pills can contribute to memory issues.

Smoking, drinking alcohol and eating a poor diet lacking in essential nutrients can also result in memory issues. Therefore, if you suspect your loved one has dementia, your first step might be to talk to your doctor about other medicines they could take that do not have the same side effects. Also set goals for healthier living, such as stopping smoking and eating a better diet rich in antioxidants (e.g. from blueberries) and fatty acids found in walnuts and fish. 

If changing medications and lifestyle measures do not seem to help, then it might be dementia.

How Dementia Is Diagnosed

Dementia is diagnosed according to a scale that determines how well someone performs certain task related to:

 *  Memory

 *  Judgment

 *  Home and hobbies

 *  Personal care

 *  Orientation/awareness

 *  Community

The five stages of dementia are: 

1. CDR (clinical dementia rating) 0 – no impairment

2. CDR 0.5 – questionable impairment

3. CDR 1 – mild impairment

4: CDR 2 – moderate impairment

5: CDR 3 – severe impairment

The most common strange changes that people notice in reference to a loved one with dementia include:

*  Memory loss that disrupts daily life

*  Difficulty completing familiar tasks 

*  Confusion with time or place

*  Obvious problems understanding and communication

*  Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace their steps

 

Withdrawal from work or social activities

 *  Changes in mood and personality

Of course there could be other reasons for any one of these symptoms, but taken together they could point to dementia.

There is a great deal we can do to keep ourselves and our loved ones mentally alert well into their senior years. Learn more about dementia so you can help your loved one retain their faculties and remain independent for as long as possible.

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Could My Loved One Have Dementia

Dementia Safety fundamentals

Looking after an older relative with dementia can be a bit like caring for young children, only ones who are a lot more mobile and able to get into more trouble if you don’t pay attention to a number of important safety issues.

As with children, you might find yourself wishing for certain superpowers, such as having eyes in the back of your head and the ability to see through doors and walls. Coping with adults who have dementia may have you taking on roles you never imagined you would have to. Our parents have always been the strong ones that we looked to for help and advice. It can be a very difficult transition to move from the dependent child to the mature adult as your parent becomes more like a dependent child.

Care Issues

Because they are adults, they have a range of responsibility and care issues that go beyond what you usually have to do for a child, such a bathe, dress, feed them, and deal with toileting issues. These will be needed eventually once their dementia progresses. They are hard enough to do with children, and even more challenging when dealing with a large adult.

Home Safety

But you might also need to take care of bills, home maintenance and upkeep, and safety within the home. For example, if your loved one with dementia has mobility issues like needing a walker or cane, make sure the house is neat and tidy and that they have adaptive aids to assist them. These light include ramps, stair climbers, handles in the bathroom near the toilet and shower/tub, and so on.

Medications

Another issue is dealing with medications. You should maintain an up-to-date list of everything they are taking, and why. Bring it to each doctor’s appointment. Include all vitamins, over-the-counter products, and herbal supplements they might use regularly, because some can cause serious interactions with each other.

A pill carrier can help them stay safe and not miss doses or accidentally overdose in relation to the medications that are essential and need to be taken regularly. It is far easier to set the pills out for a week from each of the bottles than to try to remember what you took from which bottle. Set an alarm or electronic notification on a computer or text messaging service so the medicine can be taken on time. If you are not sure whether they have taken it, just check the compartment for that dose.  

Benefits and Health Insurance

Once you take care of drug safety, it is time to familiarize yourself with their social security benefits, health insurance, Medicare and/or Medicaid so you can understand what their income is and how much their medicines cost. Some people decide to take out a supplementary benefit policy for their medications, for instance, to help cover the cost of high-priced drugs.  Others might have long-term care policies in place. In this way you will know all your options in relation to being cared for at home versus going to an residential assisted living home, nursing home, or eventually a hospice. 

As the dementia progresses, they might lose their keys, crash the car, wander out of the house, leave the gas on, or leave the tub running and flood the house. All of these incidents and more mean closer and closer supervision. If you are not living with the loved one, you will have to check on them regularly plus organize round-the-clock care. 

Putting safety first is not easy, but it can help your loved one maintain their independence a lot longer.

 

Dementia Safety fundamentals

Senior Home Care, Assisted Living in Huntersville, NC - Special Touch Li...

Independent Living Facilities

Independent living communities enable individuals to maintain their lifestyles without custodial or medical assistance. If custodial or medical care becomes necessary, residents are permitted to bring in outside services of their choice.

Meals and activities are included as part of a monthly resident fee, but assistance with activities of daily living and health services (e.g. medications and nursing care) are not provided. Any housing arrangements designed exclusively for seniors may be classified as an independent living community and follow the US Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations, which allow for age discrimination.

If the age restriction is 55 years and over, at least one person in the apartment must be at least 55 and the apartment community must have no more than 20.0% of all residents under the age of 55. If the restriction is 62 and over, then all residents must be at least 62.

Because independent living facility residents voluntarily choose these housing arrangements, occupancy rates are more closely tied to the state of the economy and the housing market, which determines the ease with which individuals are able to sell their homes to finance moves to industry facilities. As a result, the poor housing market has caused occupancy rates in this segment to dip over the five years to 2015.

 

Independent Living Facilities

Residential Asssited Living Homes

Assisted living homes are state regulated rental properties that cater to seniors who need ongoing help with personal care and daily activities, yet who wish to retain their independence to the fullest extent that they can. Because these individuals do not need daily medical care at this point, assisted living can be an appropriate housing option.

Assisted living facilities aim to provide as much autonomy as the resident is capable of. Most facilities offer 24-hour supervision and a variety of support services, with more privacy and space than many nursing homes, and usually at a lower cost.

Assisted living services include assistance with simple domestic tasks, ranging from housekeeping, laundry, and meal preparation, to assistance with bathing and dressing. High-service assisted living facilities are more likely to provide services as transportation, assistance with medications, exercise and wellness programs, basic health status monitoring, help with locomotion, assistance with toilet use, and nursing supervision or monitoring.

Other services include temporary nursing care and minor foot care and, less commonly, they sometimes offer hospice care and overnight sitter or companion services. Over the past five years, the number of assisted living homes has been on the rise as the proportion of total facilities due to the aging population who is becoming frailer and needs assistance with activities of daily living. Occupancy rates for assisted living homes have not been significantly stifled by the recession because these facilities provide less discretionary services, thus creating heightened opportunity in dementia care that tends to be more needs-based than independent living facilities. 

In fact, a number of top industry operators have converted independent living unites to assisted living communities or boosted services at assisted living facilities to include memory care fee. Occupancy rates can suffer as the housing market slumps because it takes longer for people to sell their homes. As a result, this segment has declined as a share of industry revenue over the past five years.

Residential Asssited Living Homes