The Alzheimer's Digest: 2015

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Managing Alzheimer’s symptoms: Belligerence, anger, or aggressive behavior

While creating a calm environment can have a large impact on managing the stress that often results in aggressive behavior, there are also some things you can do during an angry outburst.

Don’t confront the person or try to discuss the angry behavior. The person with dementia cannot reflect on unacceptable behavior and cannot learn to control it.
Do not initiate physical contact during the angry outburst. Often, physical contact triggers physical violence.
Let the person play out the aggression. Give him or her space to be angry alone. Just be sure that both you and the patient are safe.
Distract the person to a more pleasurable topic or activity.
Look for patterns in the aggression. Consider factors such as privacy, independence, boredom, pain, or fatigue. Avoid activities or topics that anger the person. To help find any patterns, you might keep a log of when the aggressive episodes occur. If the person gets angry when tasks are too difficult, break down tasks into smaller pieces.
Get help from others during the activities that anger the patient.
Don’t take the aggressiveness personally. It, too, is just part of the dementia.

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Managing Alzheimer’s symptoms: Rummaging and hiding things

Caring for a patient who rummages around or hides things in the home is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.

Protecting your property

Lock certain rooms or cabinets to protect their contents, and lock up all valuables.
Have mail delivered out of reach of the Alzheimer's patient—perhaps to a post office box.
If items do disappear, learn the person’s preferred hiding places.
Restrict access to wastebaskets and trashcans, and check all wastebaskets before disposing of their contents in case objects have been hidden there.

Protecting Alzheimer’s patients from harming themselves

Remove or prevent access to unsafe substances, such as cleaning products, alcohol, firearms, power tools, sharp knives, and medications.
Prevent electrical accidents by blocking unused electrical outlets with childproofing devices. Hide stove knobs so the person can’t turn on the burners.
Lower the temperature on water heaters.
Designate a special drawer of items that the person can safely “play” with when keen to rummage.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Dealing with caregiver stress & burnout: Practice acceptance

When faced with the unfairness of a loved one’s illness or the burden of caregiving, there’s often a need to make sense of the situation and ask “Why?” But you can spend a tremendous amount of energy dwelling on things you can’t change and for which there are no clear answers. And at the end of the day, you won’t feel any better.

Try to avoid the emotional trap of feeling sorry for yourself or searching for someone to blame. Focus instead on accepting the situation and looking for ways it can help you grown as a person. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

Focus on the things you can control. You can’t wish your mother’s cancer away or force your brother to help out more. Rather than stressing out over things you can’t control, focus on the way you choose to react to problems.
Find the silver lining. Think about the ways caregiving has made you stronger or how it’s brought you closer to person you’re taking care of or to other family members. Think about how caregiving allows you to give back and show your love.
Share your feelings. Expressing what you’re going through can be very cathartic, even if there’s nothing you can do to alter the situation. Talk to a friend or therapist about what you’re going through as a family caregiver.
Avoid tunnel vision. Don’t let caregiving take over your whole life. It’s easier to accept a difficult situation when there are other areas of your life that are rewarding. Invest in things that give you meaning and purpose—whether it’s your family, church, a favorite hobby, or your career.