A memory condition affecting one out of every three seniors, dementia is characterized by symptoms that can make everyday life dangerous for seniors. To ensure you can detect if or when your senior loved one may need more help, here are five of the most common symptoms of dementia.
1. Behavioral Changes
Seniors with dementia frequently exhibit changes in personality. A senior who is normally laid-back and outgoing may become cranky and withdrawn and, as the condition progresses, may become suspicious of family members, have physical or verbal outbursts, or experience delusions and hallucinations.
Many families have no experience in specialized home care for seniors, which can make life a bit more challenging when a loved one is diagnosed with dementia. Caring for senior loved ones can be challenging for families who don’t have expertise or professional training in home care, but this challenge doesn’t have to be faced alone. Family caregivers can turn to Home Care Assistance for the help they need. We provide high-quality live-in and respite care as well as comprehensive Alzheimer’s, dementia, stroke, and Parkinson’s care.
2. Difficulty Planning & Organizing
If your loved one has dementia, he or she may become uncharacteristically disorganized and begin having difficulty remembering to pay bills, preparing shopping lists, or locating items that are always kept in the same place. You may also notice your loved one starting to put things in unusual places, such as keeping his or her wallet under a mattress.
Not every senior has the same care needs, which means they don’t all need the same type of in-home care. Montgomery, AL, families can rely on Home Care Assistance to provide individualized care plans to meet their elderly loved ones’ unique care needs. Our holistic Balanced Care Method was designed to help seniors focus on healthy lifestyle habits such as eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and maintaining strong social ties, and our Cognitive Therapeutics Method offers mentally stimulating activities that can stave off cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia.
3. Discomfort with Change
Many people enjoy maintaining a stable routine, but seniors with dementia may become overly agitated or confused when faced with something different or unexpected. Seniors may have difficulty remembering new faces and names and following conversations, which may cause them to avoid unfamiliar people or activities.
4. Difficulty Following Stories
Seniors with dementia typically have difficulty finding the right words or remembering the meaning of the words they hear, making it challenging for them to follow conversations. A senior with dementia may also have difficulty recalling events of a story in a logical sequence and find it challenging to follow simple plots in TV shows or movies.
5. Poor Judgment
Anyone can make a mistake from time to time, but seniors with dementia often exhibit poor judgment. If your loved one experiences this type of lapsed judgment, he or she may make bad decisions quickly, such as suddenly giving a large amount of money to a telemarketer or leaving the house with food in the oven or on the stovetop.
Dementia can be challenging for seniors to manage, but they can maintain a higher quality of life with the help of professional dementia care. Montgomery seniors can benefit greatly from the Cognitive Therapeutics Method (CTM), an activities-based program designed to promote cognitive health and delay the onset of dementia. CTM is included at no additional charge with any of the in-home care plans provided by Home Care Assistance. To create a comprehensive in-home care plan for your loved one, call us at (334) 593-3988 today.