Living Alone With Alzheimer's Disease

If you live by yourself and have Alzheimer's Disease, here are a few tips to help you remember people, places and things in your daily life:

• Keep a notebook with you to jot down important information, phone numbers, names, ideas you have, appointments, your address, and directions to your home.
• Place reminder notes around your house when you need to remember things.
• Label your kitchen cupboards and drawers with words or pictures that describe their contents.
• Place important phone numbers in large print next to the phone.
• Ask a friend or family member to call and remind you of important things that you need to do in the day, like meal times, medication times, and appointments.
• Use a calendar to keep track of time and to remember important dates.
• To remember people you see often, use photos of them labeled with their names.
• Use an answering machine to keep track of phone messages.
• Use a dry erase board to write down To Do Lists for the day.

 

Silverware Drawer Label

Dealing With Challenging Behaviors The Write Way

One of the most useful tools for dealing with challenging behaviors among people with Alzheimer's Disease is to keep a Behavior Trigger Journal. While this may seem daunting along with all of your other responsibilities, it may help clearly identify underlying causes and alleviate future incidents. For instance, you might discover that your loved one is actually experiencing hallucinations from medications as opposed to misperceptions common among people with Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia.

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Behavior Trigger Journal

Behavior Trigger Journal

The Bad Days: Agressive or Angry Behavior

Here are some tips you can use to deal with your loved one's anger and frustration. Remember to look for triggers of the behavior and write it down so you can remember why it seemed to occur and then try to avoid the trigger in tghe future.

1. Try to anticipate situations in which your loved one may be uncomfortable, overstimulated, or confused.
2. Avoid asking too many questions at once, giving overly complicated instructions, and speaking negatively. That way, you are less likely to confuse and agitate him or her.
3. Limit the amount of loud noises, frenetic movement, and clutter.
4. Don’t contradict. People  with Alzheimer’s disease see a different reality than you do. Rather than challenge that reality, sit and listen. Ask questions about it.
5. Focus on the past. Alzheimer’s affects short-term memory. It’s often easier and less stressful for someone with Alzheimer’s disease to recall and talk about distant memories than it is for them to remember what they watched on TV the night before.
6. Use memory cues. As the disease progresses, your loved one's ability to remembering to do and how to do everyday tasks like brushing your teeth or getting dressed becomes more difficult. Reminder notes and room signs placed in key locations can help prevent frustration.

The 5 O'Clock Wanderer

If your loved one wanders at the same time every day, it might be linked to a lifelong routine. For example, if your dad tries to leave the house every day at 5 p.m. he may believe he's going home from work. 

Here are a few tips that can prevent your loved one from wandering:

• Try offering your loved one a snack, a glass of water or use of the bathroom. Encourage physical activity to curb his or her restlessness and promote better sleep.
• Try providing  visual cues. People who have Alzheimer's often forget where they are, even inside their own homes. It might help to post signs on the doors to various rooms, such as the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. Encourage your loved one to explore his or her immediate environment as often as necessary. You may also want to post a Stop sign on doors that are off limits, such as the Basement or a back door that leads outside.
• Try using enjoyable activities and other distractions. If your loved one tends to wander at the same time every day, a planned activity at that hour could stem the wandering. It might be as simple as asking your loved one to fold a basket of towels or put place mats on the table for dinner. If wandering outdoors is an issue, you might want to store coats, boots and keys out of sight.
• If your loved one's wandering isn't related to being upset or having a physical need, you might want to focus simply on providing a safe place for walking or exploration — such as a path through the rooms of your house or a circular trail through a fenced backyard.
• Various devices can alert you that your loved one is on the move. You might place pressure-sensitive alarm mats at the door or at your loved one's bedside, put warning bells on doors and use childproof covers on doorknobs. If your loved one tends to unlock doors, you might install sliding bolt locks out of your loved one's line of sight.
• To short-circuit your loved one's compulsion to wander into off-limits rooms, you might place curtains over doors or camouflage doors with paint or wallpaper that matches the surrounding walls. A mirror or a stop sign on the door might help, too.
• Consider having your loved one wear a GPS or other tracking device that can send electronic alerts about his or her location. If your loved one wanders, the GPS device can help you find him or her quickly.

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Toileting Difficulties

As Alzheimer's progresses, your loved one may have problems with incontinence. To help your loved one maintain a sense of dignity despite the loss of control, try these tips:

• Make the bathroom easy to find. Post a sign on the bathroom door that says "Toilet," or "Bathroom" or post a picture of a toilet. At night, use night lights to help your loved one find the way to the bathroom.
• Look for signs. Restlessness or tugging on clothing might signal the need to use the toilet.
•  Schedule bathroom breaks every few hours, before and after meals, and before bedtime. Don't wait for your loved one to ask.
• Choose  clothing that is easy to open or remove. Replace zippers and buttons with fabric fasteners. Choose pants with elastic waists.
• Accidents Happen. Praise toileting success — and offer reassurance when accidents happen.



Bathroom Door Sign

Bathroom Door Sign
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Dealing With Mealtime Challenges

A person who has Alzheimer's might not remember when he or she last ate or why it's important to eat. To ease the challenges that mealtimes can bring, try these tips:

• Don't rely on your loved one to ask for food. He or she might not respond to hunger or thirst.
• Use solid colored or white dishes. Solid colored or plain white dishes can make it easier for your loved one to distinguish the food from the plate. Similarly, use placemats of a contrasting color to help your loved one distinguish the plate from the table. Stick with solid colors, though. Patterned plates, bowls and linens might be confusing.
• If your loved one is overwhelmed by an entire plateful of food, place just one type of food at a time on the plate. You could also offer several small meals throughout the day, rather than three larger ones.
• Finger foods are even easier — but avoid foods that can be tough to chew and swallow, such as nuts, popcorn and raw carrots.
• Turn off the television, radio and telephone ringer. Put your cellphone or pager on vibrate. You might also clear the table of any unnecessary items.
•  Make meals an enjoyable social event so that your loved one looks forward to the experience.

Red Placemat

 

White Plate

The Daily Dressing Dilema

If getting dressed is becomming a hardship or isn't occuring at all, try these tips:

• Use signs and labels to help your loved one find his or her bedroom and closet. Label the contents of dresser drawers to help your loved one find items independently.
• Help your loved one get dressed at the same time each day.
• Offer no more than two clothing options each morning. Empty closets and drawers of inappropriate or rarely worn clothes that could complicate the decision.
• Lay out pieces of clothing in the order they should be put on — or hand out clothing one piece at a time as you provide short, simple dressing instructions.
• Rushing the dressing process could cause anxiety.
• Don't argue if your loved one doesn't want to wear a particular garment or chooses the same outfit repeatedly.

Bedroom Signs and Labels



Bedroom Door Sign




Closet Door Sign

Sock Drawer Sign