Dealing with Alzheimer behavior in the early stages

by Rose Broyles

Josie and I were talking the other day about our experience with Mom and Alzheimer’s. Josie’s mother-in-law  is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, well, dementia. We both agreed that this is probably the worst part of the disease besides the final stage, which we are dreading. However, her mother-in-law hasn’t been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s specifically. As those of us with experience know, the symptoms are the same for the  most part. Unfortunately for Josie, she is dealing with this all over again.

Same Person Different Person

One of the most difficult aspects of early stage Alzheimer’s is that the person affected is still the “same person”  on most days. However, when the confusion sets in as well as agitation and other effects from the disease, it can be extremely difficult to deal with the behavior. Josie is one of the most patient people I know, yet there are times when she wants to scream and hide.  When Mom was in this stage of the disease, we had many crying spells.

See our previous article on dealing with the effects of Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Trying to convince a person at this stage that they need some additional assistance is like pulling teeth. It’s easy to get an angry response. It’s understandable, especially if that person feels completely normal most of the time. It’s when they enter the “sundowning” period, or other moments of confusion or agitation that they don’t realize what’s happening. However, you, as the caregiver do.  So, what do you do? How do you present any kind of argument or  advice on anything? From our experience, you present your case when they are feeling normal. You may want to write things down to show them later if they don’t remember or you can video tape them so that they can see the conversation for themselves. Whatever tactic you think will work, try it. However, be sensitive to their emotions. It might be traumatizing for them to see a video and then question themselves and ask, “What’s wrong with me?” Nobody likes to feel helpless.

Thinking Ahead

While breakthrough medicines such as Namenda and Aricept help slow the progress, we still have not found a drug that eradicates the disease. Until that happens,  it’s a fact that eventually things will get worse. Mom used to walk everywhere. In fact, it is one of the reasons why we were so worried all the time. She wandered off and sometimes would get lost. Now, she is completely wheelchair-bound. After falling many times at the assisted living facility and nursing center a couple of years ago, she stopped walking. We believed she was so  traumatized by the falls that she eventually became too scared to walk. While this may not necessarily happen to your loved one, you have to run scenarios like this in your mind because anything can happen and set your loved one back several steps. As a doctor pointed out to us, with each accident or fall, the demented patient essentially “falls 2 steps behind” mentally and physically.

Therefore, thinking and planning ahead for their long term care is essential in this point of the game.

See our articles on holding a family meeting and Where Do I begin?

What to do in the meantime

At this point, the most important part is keeping them safe and planning for their long-term care. If they are in independent living or they are living at home, start thinking about: security, caregivers, legal and financial planning, etc. They are still independent, but may need assistance from time to time. So, consider hiring a part-time caregiver if you cannot keep a close eye on them. Check in on them more frequently, but don’t let their long-term care slide. Before you know it, you will find yourself like us a couple of years ago –with a crisis in hand.  The earlier planning that you do, the easier it will be for you and your family and perhaps, it can prevent your loved one from getting worse. We really wish we could go back and change things. Maybe, had we’d been better informed, Mom would still be able to walk and talk like she always had.

Early stage of Dementia/Alzheimer’s is no fun. But with proper planning and guidance, the journey for you may not be as rough.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 8th, 2009 at 1:43 am and is filed under Brain Disease, Caregiving, Coping, Disease info, Planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.