Being diagnosed with dementia is and overwhelming for you and your loved ones. You start to ask all the main questions like: How will this affect my daily life? How fast will the disease process? Is there anything I can do to slow down the progression? How long can I stay in my own home? We understand all the frustrations that come with these questions. There is a huge loss of control and wanting to be able to have some sense of stability. We asked experts to help us to provide steps to help you and your family to plan a future with dementia.
Create A Dementia Care Plan
Everyone’s needs are very different when it comes to caring for dementia patients. A lot of times people are in the early stages of the disease and can still maintain a healthy lifestyle in their own home. As the disease progresses there may be a point where they may no longer be able to stay in their own home. Planning with your loved one and understanding their wishes is very beneficial. There are now more supportive services options like home care for dementia patients, that will allow your loved one to remain in this home for as long as possible.
Dementia Support Groups
We all understand that old habits are hard to break, but by adding some additional lifestyle changes into could help to slow down the dementia decline. If you or your loved one haven’t always had a healthy active diet and lifestyle it is a great time to start. A simple change that can be made to your diet is limiting the amount of high saturated fats and cholesterol. You can also introduce more physical activity into your life. This doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym every day, but you should add in simpler activities like taking walks and climbing stairs.
Lifestyle Changes
We all understand that old habits are hard to break, but by adding some additional lifestyle changes into could help to slow down the dementia decline. If you or your loved one haven’t always had a healthy active diet and lifestyle it is a great time to start. A simple change that can be made to your diet is limiting the amount of high saturated fats and cholesterol. You can also introduce more physical activity into your life. This doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym every day, but you should add in simpler activities like taking walks and climbing stairs.
Additional Help
A lot of times families decide that they can be their loved one’s caretaker. While this is possible there are many support services that can help with care for dementia patients. Now more than ever home care companies have staff who are specially trained to help care for dementia patients. Home Care for Dementia will create a customized care plan that considers your loved one’s environment and special needs and helps to make daily life less difficult and stressful. Home care staff can come in a couple hours a day or just a few times a week. As the disease progresses you will be able to work with your customized care team to make decisions on what will work best for you or your loved one.
Understanding that each day for a person living with dementia can bring a sense of confusion, feeling unsafe and disorientation. Having a better sense of their wishes at the start of the diagnosis will help to provide better care for them. Whether that being placed in an assisted living or having them remain in this own home. Just remember that dementia does not just affect the person living with the condition, but also the entire family.
