Alzheimer’s: Tips on Understanding the Disease and its Limitations.

“Caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease (AD) at home is a difficult task and can become overwhelming at times. Each day brings new challenges as the caregiver copes with changing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior. Research has shown that caregivers themselves often are at increased risk for depression and illness, especially if they do not receive adequate support from family, friends, and the community.” This statement can be found on the Alzheimer’s Association website.

The above paragraph is quoted with hope that family members everywhere, who have a loved one with AD, will take time to understand what is involved in caring for an Alzheimer’s patient.

One of the most challenging things caregivers are confronted with is dealing with fluctuating moods and difficult behaviors of the person they are caring for. The simple activities of daily life become burdensome to the person with AD. Dressing, bathing, eating, visiting, walking, and even talking can be tiresome and agitating, and often need to be addressed differently from one day to the next. Mood swings, from happiness to sadness to anger, can result for no apparent reason.

A single word, tone of voice, or suggestion can send the person with AD into a mood that results in difficult and aggressive behavior.

Anyone who has been a caregiver for a person with AD, and those informed and helpful advisors from the Alzheimer’s Association, will tell you that it is extremely important to keep the person with AD on a regular schedule. It is advised that you plan that schedule to what is comfortable for both the person with AD and the caregiver. Devising that plan is important for getting through each day and it helps both the person with AD and the caregiver cope with difficult behaviors and stressful situations.

If you do not help with the care of the person with Alzheimer’s, don’t criticize the plan that works for the patient and the caregiver.

Caregivers need help, encouragement, and support to deal with, and make, each day easier to handle the tasks they have taken the responsibility to do. They do not need to hear criticism from a sibling or family member who only “checks in” with the loved one once every four to six weeks. If you think your loved one should be more active, you should take an active part in the care, rather than offer unreasonable suggestions to the person who is responsible and is actively doing what should be done.

Article Author: Joanne D. Kiggins

Joanne Kiggins has published more than 2,500 articles. Her most recent articles were published in ByLine Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Absolute Write, Moondance, and The Compulsive Reader. She is currently writing a mystery suspense novel which placed fifth in a recent contest. …

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