Ten tips for Alzheimer caregivers

Helping To Avoid Stress For The Caregiver:

Learn all you can about Alzheimer’s Disease and accept it as you would any other disease. Being knowlegable about it will not stop its progress, but will help as you deal with the problems.

Let friends and acquaintances know about the problem you are facing early on in the disease. That way they won’t be surprised when the patient exhibits behavior that might otherwise seem strange or embarrassing. (Friends who understand what is happening will be more likely to offer help down the road when you will need respite from the constant care of your patient.)

Learn to expect the unexpected and help others around you to do the same. AD patients often behave in bizarre, socially unacceptable, and sometimes, destructive ways. If you expect such things, they will be easier to accept and cope with when they do occur.

Realize that you will not always be able to control the behavior of your patient, but you can control your reactions to that behavior. Reacting with anger will not change the behavior one little bit, but will increase the stress you are already dealing with. The same applies to reacting with shame, resentment, or allowing yourself to become depressed.

A Few Additional Tips For Dealing With Common Problems Of Caring For AD Patients:

Swallowing becomes progressively more difficult for the AD patient. Buy a food preparation appliance that chops food into much smaller pieces than an ordinary person might need. Food easier to swallow may make your patient more eager to eat. You will also need a blender. A lot of nourishing food can make its way into the body through a straw.

Include a lot of finger foods so the patient feels he is in control as long as possible.

If the patient refuses to open his mouth to accept food, wiping a little honey or something sweet on the lips may solve the problem.

Doorknob covers made to keep toddlers from opening doors, also work well to keep AD patients indoors. Child-proof catches for drawers and cupboards are also a wise investment.

Refuse to argue with your patient. If he tells you someone has stolen his sweater, offer to help him look for it. If he says someone is hiding under his bed, help him make noises to scare off the intruder.

Become an expert at changing the subject. If the patient demands to drive his car, say, “We have to eat lunch now. Maybe we’ll go for a drive later,” (The word “Later” will prove a very useful tool.)

Try, especially in the early stages of the disease, as often as possible, to let the patient feel he is still in control of what is happening in his life.

Take time for yourself, even if only an hour or two each week. It is never too early to prepare the patient for the fact that you will sometimes be away to do “errands.” Be on the lookout for several people who would fill in for you for an hour or two at a time. The more people, the better, because you won’t have to call on each one so often. These can be friends, relatives, people from your church, or, if finances allow, paid help. Maybe a close friend would do the organizing for you. She could make out a calendar marked with the days you would like to get away and take it around to different friends to see if they would be willing to help you out.) This is no time to be proud. You are going to need help, whether you like it or not. Most people actually like to be needed, so give them a chance. Even if you don’t really need them, yet, getting the patient and the substitute caregivers to know each other ahead of time is very helpful.

Avoid lecturing your patient for what you consider misbehavior. It will do no good at all, because he probably will have forgotten the behavior by that time, anyway, and facing your obvious anger will only serve to agitate him.

Remind yourself (over and over again, as many times as necessary), that your patient is behaving the only way he knows how to behave at any given moment. You do not have to like the way he is behaving, but knowing that you could not have prevented it should help you to calmly clean up the mess and go on.

Finally, if you are having a really rough day, offer ice cream. It may not help the patient (although it has been known to do that), but it is a sure-fire spirit lifter for the weary and discouraged caregiver.