Tips to caring for someone with dementia including positive activities

Safe Showering for those with Alzheimer’s dementia

Safe Showering for Seniors

The person with middle to late stage Alzheimer’s may become unsteady on their feet and suffer depth perception which makes it difficult to keep their balance. Safe Showering is a necessity for everyone, especially the elderly, handicapped or those with Alzheimer’s dementia.

Many of us grow unsteady on our feet as we age or suffer illness. It’s not uncommon to have moments of losing our balance due to hearing imbalances, dizziness, fast movement, or weak muscle mass.

The person with Alzheimer’s or dementia may walk slowly and/or shuffle their feet to keep a steady and safe gait due to depth perceptions. As I have COPD and have lost muscle mass due to less activity, I’ve noticed myself moving slightly slower with less confidence. I think we all fear a fall after 60 and some prefer the steadiness of a walker if there is severe balance issues. A fall in the shower would certainly be disastrous. Showering is the #1 hazard under these circumstances. A slippery shower or tub can mean disaster.

Support should always be provided during any bathroom duties as most folks are alone and there may be no one nearby if help is needed. Showering and bathing can be a dangerous proposition if there aren’t adequate supports available. A handle on a shower wall, or sitting bench across the tub offers a degree of confidence when it comes to entering that slippery shower. Don’t forget a nice rubber grip bath mat in the tub or shower as well.

Besides Balance Issues, eventually, the person with Alzheimer’s dementia simply becomes more and more fearful of showers and bathing. Sometimes their inability to adjust the water temperature may be the cause but many times we simply don’t know what fear they feel. It can become a hard battle to keep them bathing daily, and many a caregiver is resolved to accept a bath or shower schedule of twice a week rather than daily. The battle is simply too difficult for the person with dementia.

My Mother preferred the bath chair in the tub and a simple hose with a shower-head attached. I would pre-set the water which removed some of the fear for her.

A few have learned the hard lesson of adjusting their own water through scalding themselves. This serves to increase their fear. In very late stage Alzheimers, when the patient becomes bedridden, Sponge Bathing is the only option.

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Can mental Exercise help Dementia

06/017 Comments

Can mental exercise help dementia?

If you are in your 50’s or 60’s, this message is mostly about prevention. But it’s also about having some fun with Brain exercises whether you are someone with Alzheimer’s dementia or their caregiver.

My husband and I, both in our 60’s, are more cognizant of the games we play since my Mom’s battle with Alzheimer’s. Stimulating our brain is a must, whether it’s with the Brain Quest DVD Games, the latest bestselling novel, a crossword puzzle, the Sunday newspaper or a good game of Trivial Pursuit. Research shows we need to–Do something to keep our mind active everyday!

Even in late stage Alzheimer’s my mom would sit and watch my husband and son play cards for hours. She would smile and giggle and laugh out loud at their antics. Of course, they knew they had an audience as well. We were never sure if she realized what they were doing or just enjoyed being in their company. Playing cards is a good way to keep your brain active.

When Mom first noted memory loss, she used to say she had “Used her brain up. She didn’t need to stress it further.” But the truth is quite the opposite. The more you stay active with physical activity as well as mental, the better you will do.

In early stages of this disease, it is fairly easy to find ways to occupy your patient. They want something to do, but need someone to show them how to do it sometimes. Mom’s first love was crochet. She would crochet for hours in her youth but had forgotten all but the simplest chain stitch by middle stage Alzheimer’s.

Even then she could crochet a single stitch and create a chain. With this simple pattern Mom crocheted hundreds of doilies for friends and family in very late stage Alzheimer’s. When she’d forgotten how to crochet entirely, she turned to Seek ‘n Find puzzle books. Mom loved to color.

One of her happier moments was when I brought a jumbo box Crayola Crayons with a built-in sharpener on the bottom of the box. If she’d ever had a box that big or a sharpener built-in, she had no memory of it and was astounded that such a thing existed. That giant box of crayons was on permanent display in our living room and was the first thing shown to every visitor who arrived.

Later on, Mom would share with everyone who visited that she had actually done all the art work on our walls. (Of course she had not, but I don’t think the Native American Artist who had actually done the work would have been offended at all.)

I know, sometimes there is aggravation and frustration with the impetuous and foolish behavior of the person with Dementia on occasion, but if we stop and learn to see the world through their eyes, it can be quite enlightening.

We have only to remind ourselves about their condition, their mind is traveling backwards in time. Brain exercise has no affect on their mind now. It is too late for them to learn or rejuvenate their brain from the damage done by Alzheimer’s. Though their body is 70-80 years old, they have the mind and appreciation of the world similar to that of a child.

Mom was so proud of her jumbo crayons and coloring book that her only wish before she died was to have every single page colored so that she could pass it on to her grandchildren as an heirloom.

Yes, I still have it…6 years later (now 10 years later.) It means so much to me that I’ve kept it for myself ….at least for now.

A few Ways to Exercise Your Brain:

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Springbok PuzzlesCheck Price Crayola crayons, 64 Count (52-0064)Check Price Springbok Alzheimers PuzzleCheck Price Melissa & Doug Primary Lacing BeadsCheck Price Special Needs Sensory Activity Apron (Children & Adult Sizes)Check Price The Everything Giant Book of Word Searches: Over 300 puzzles for big word search fans!Check Price I Love Lucy: The Complete SeriesCheck Price

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Depth Perception and dementia

05/311 Comment

Depth Perception and dementia

Many people with Alzheimer’s dementia are unsteady on their feet. Issues with Depth Perception is a common problem. Traveling by Walker or Rollator while they walk gives them a sense of security when they’re otherwise unsteady on their feet.

The stress of walking through a park or shopping center for only a short while, often leaves someone with Alzheimer’s fatigued because their thoughts are compounded with other issues. Often, Alzheimer’s is also accompanied by Parkinson disease which leaves the patient unsteady on their feet.

Those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia can suffer from depth perception as well, which leaves them fearful of walking. They become unsteady on their feet and walk with a shuffling gate, pushing their feet forward rather than picking them up. Because Mom had issues with depth perception, she would hold my arm in a vise-like grip whenever we went for walks. She needed the comfort and security of a walker even though she had no disability and was perfectly capable of walking.

My Mom also suffered debilitating bouts of vertigo. This made it even more important that she have something to help balance herself, especially in case of a fall. At first, Mom absolutely refused to use a walker. She thought it tagged her as disabled and she would never admit to any sort of disability.

Even when we could coax Mom to use the walker, she would forget she had dizzy spells unless she was in the grip of one. Later in her illness when she lived at the Group Home, most of her friends used walkers or rollators. They preferred the steady reassurance and Mom finally consented to a rolling walker of her own. It was a relief to me because the alternative seemed a serious fall and possible broken bones.

Most of the ladies preferred the Rollator or Rolling Walker with a seat and basket. The ladies carried purses, toys and assorted toiletries in the basket while the staff created brightly colored name tags for each one.

It was common to find these ladies in the Group Home, assisted by the sweet nursing staff, decorating their walkers with ribbons and bows and flowers to coordinate with the current holiday. Despite their memory issues, there was never confusion about which walker belonged to whom, nor the season of the year as their rolling walkers shouted a brightly painted name tag and Bow for every holiday.

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A few Mobility Aids

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Dementia makes tying shoes an impossible task

05/263 Comments

Dementia makes Tying Shoes an Impossible Task

When we think of failing memory, we think of lost car keys or forgotten doctor’s appointments, but loss of memory from Alzheimer’s can be so much more than that.

Stored in our memory are hundreds of little things we do every day without realizing that memory is involved at all. Many things we assume will never be forgotten because they come so naturally after years of repetition, can be erased from memory in the blink of an eye. Simple everyday chores are stored neurons of memory. Things as simple as; tying our shoes, or reading the hands on a clock, or pushing buttons on a remote control for the nightly television series or cooking a dinner in the microwave. All those functions are stored in our memories, no matter how slight.

Just a few lost memories can take away a large chunk of life:

Can’t Tie Shoes
Can’t push buttons on a Cell phone, Remote Control for Television, Microwave, Computer, and many other things
Can’t read the hands on a clock
Can’t decipher the numbers on a calendar
Lose sense of time
Can’t adjust bath water
Can’t decide what to wear; winter, summer, spring, fall
Can’t use buttons, zippers, etc.

And, when the part of our brain that stores a particular function is damaged by Alzheimer’s, that ability or function is lost forever.

Once Alzheimers begins, the brain is unable to learn new things or retain new information. Hence, any activity removed from our memory through brain damage from Alzheimer’s is lost to us. When we forget how to read a clock, or tie our shoes, or drive a car, or take a shower, we can never re-learn those activities again. Previously learned tasks become impossible without a stored memory of that action in our brain.

As caregivers, we can make life easier for the person with Alzheimer’s by compensating for those lost memories as we are able. We can tie their shoes for them and assist with showering, eating and their other daily activities.

Some things we can buy to help the Alzheimer’s Patient. For a time, they are able to read Digital Clocks and Watches and Calendars. For several years my Mom was able to tell-time with her digital watch. Eventually, they will be unable to read a digital watch either but that may take several years.

Likewise, a simple change of footwear may be in order. A nice slip-on or fasteners secured with Velcro rather than shoe strings might be a good choice. Since the Alzheimer’s Patient is no longer able to tie their shoe strings, the fear of tripping over dangling laces is greater. Keep life easy, comfortable and hassle free for yourself, and your patient. Don’t sweat the small stuff, there are enough crisis in caregiving without worrying about tying shoes.

Many folks are housebound or spend long hours in bed in later stages of Alzheimer’s

All they need is comfy booties to keep their feet warm

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Dementia Unable to Read Hands on a Clock

05/258 Comments

Those with dementia may be unable to read hands on a clock

For as long as I can remember, my Mom always wore a wrist watch. They would be small, white-gold, and suited her personality.

Shortly after her diagnosis with Alzheimers, she began to complain that her watch could not tell time. It appeared to be working fine. Still, she complained. For weeks, we had a running battle over watches.

A quick stop to purchase a new watch-battery was included in every shopping trip. Mom saved everything and to my dismay, she resurrected an old cigar box that guarded the bodies of a dozen old watches.

Her time-pieces from a lifetime, I imagine. Eventually, they had all been dressed with new batteries, cleaned where necessary and wound till their innards ticked heartily. Still–Mom swore they were broken and she could not read the hands on a clock.

Not a single watch in that box could tell time, she told me. Truthfully, I was baffled. Why would all of her watches stop working at the exact same time?

After checking them all, I struggled to convince her that none of the bundle were broken but all were working/and ticking the minutes away. She would still argue that they did Not!

Working on Mom’s watches, changing batteries, setting and re-setting, snuggling near her ear to test for ticking became every afternoon’s activity.

Finally, in desperation I think, my daughter bought Mom a gorgeous new watch for Christmas and I was thrilled. Surely, now, the watch battle would end.

–>Wrong! <–

Only days after receiving her brand new watch, Mom was complaining again–“This watch can’t tell time, either.” Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, I sat down with Mom and her brand new Christmas watch.

Though we tried wind-up watches, battery watches and self-winding watches, Mom’s complaint remained the same. None of them could tell time. I showed Mom the hands on the watch, emphasized how the second-hand jumped with each tick. Mom’s only reply was, “Well, how am I suppose to know what jumping hands mean? Jumping around from number to number, that doesn’t help me know the time! I want a watch like yours. Your watch can tell time.”

I looked down at my own wrist, my digital watch with the time displayed in bold neon-green numbers! assuring Mom that her watch displayed the same time as mine.

“See,” Mom exclaimed, pointing to my wrist, “Your watch can really tell time. My watch has those numbers in a circle, what good does that do? It doesn’t tell time. It doesn’t tell me anything. I want a watch that tells time like yours!”

–>> I could hardly stop laughing long enough to trade watches<<–

It had never entered my mind that Mom might have lost the concept of reading the hands on the face of a clock, but she had. And I’m sure it was totally confusing and frustrating for her. She didn’t know what she’d forgotten, she only knew her watch no longer told time. But she certainly couldn’t explain the problem because she didn’t understand it herself. Sometimes, it requires time and thought and patience to decipher what is happening through their eyes.

I have since learned that the “clock test“ is often given by physicians fairly early into symptoms of dementia. They draw a circle on a piece of paper, and ask their patient to add the numbers as the face of a clock, and then set the hands to a particular time. Generally, an Alzheimer’s patient or someone suffering with dementia is unable to do this test. The part of their brain that reasons in that manner is damaged. They can no longer reach the face of a clock or understand the positioning of the hand to create a time.

I did try the test with Mom afterward, and she had no clue where to put the numbers on the round circle that I drew to form the face of a clock.

The Clock Test – Can the Alzheimer’s patient tell time?

Watches, Clocks and Calendars too!

Give your loved one a watch or Clock that can really tell time!

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