A Life of Care Giving – Becoming an Enlightened Caregiver

Now that you're back, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

As a caregiver, it is difficult to summon up the energy to do what is in the best interests of the senior that you are looking after at times. It can be extremely exhausting because you have undergone enough mental stimulation to last a lifetime in just a few weeks. However, if you can keep elderly people with mental illnesses occupied, then you are half way to ward winning the battle.

Mental stimulation of the mentally ill seniors in you care can work wonders fro your mental health as well as theirs. Playing with them, which is essentially what it is, will provide you with a welcome break from your usual caring routine. Setting aside a specific time frame every few days will also ensure that you are doing something fun with them. For the senior, it often proves to be the highlight of their week because they finally recognise something and respond to it. It breaks the monotony for them and can actively be used to calm them. They also see a light every now and then in the dark tunnel of the mind, and they can often remember it and look forward to it.

It is important to mentally stimulate elderly people in your care to keep their minds as sharp and active as possible. Seniors with Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and dementia, amongst other ailments, must exercise their minds as often as possible and finding the right ways to achieve this could take forever, unless you have a little bit of help and advice. Medical research has found that some forms of stimulation are better than others because of the way in which the mind responds to certain stimuli.

Bright colours have been found to work best by the various studies that have been carried out. Playing with rag dolls, and brightly coloured balls have worked wonders in keeping their mind active. In fact, if you ask them to do something whilst they are concentrating on the colours will more often than not result in them doing it. This exercise is, of course, purely for fun because it has no direct meaning attached to it. However, there are certain activities that do have meaning and can also be used to exercise them physically as well as mentally. Examples of games that are brightly coloured and serve a purpose are puzzles. You can find large piece jigsaw puzzles of clown and balloons. Not only do the colours draw their eye, but you can also encourage the individual senior to try and place the piece, with a little help of course!

Outdoor activities that involve animals are also perfect activities for mentally disabled seniors. For example, walking a dog will afford them responsibility and give some meaning to what they are doing, as well as enhancing their perception of themselves effectively. The responsibility of looking after another living creature can brighten up even their darkest days. Dogs are perfect for such activities because they are loving and affectionate and provide a warm and loving response to any fuss and attention they receive. Obviously, any such activities must be carried out under close supervision to ensure that the safety of all is maintained.

It is important that you, as a carer, do all you can to make sure that seniors in you care remain in the best of health as far as is under your control. Activities like the one above can be fun for bother the caregiver and receiver. They have integral benefits and tend to bring the best out in seniors with mental diseases and illnesses. Never underestimate the power of activities! Once you have tried one with a degree of success then be sure to inject a variety of activities into your routine so that the senior in question does not get bored too easily. Keeping it all fresh for them will help you do your job that little bit better!

Looking after the elderly can be a bit like looking after young and curious children – you need eyes in the back of your head and the ability to see through walls! Whether the elderly person that you are caring for is mentally or physically disabled, your primary concern is their safety. However, unfortunately for you, this is very rarely their primary concern. Individuals with dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease, for example, do not have a sense of their own mortality at all. They are mentally incapable of thinking through the dangers of any situation and are neither logical nor reasonable with their thoughts. As a result, you must be concerned about their safety enough for you and them at all times.

Within the home, you should make all of the necessary amenities available to the senior in your care without exposing them to any danger. It is much like baby proofing a room when you have a toddler walking around. The elderly person that you look after may also be into everything if they are mentally handicapped. People in the latter stages of dementia may wander continuously and refuse point blank to sit down. In the event of this occurring, you should remove all tripping hazards such as mats and small units that they could trip over. You should also avoid having any open heating devices such as electrical fires because these can cause more trouble and destruction than they are worth. However, a bathroom should be available to them at all times, as should an appropriate place to sit just in case they exhaust themselves.

If a person is physically disabled, then you should allow them to rest in the most appropriate spot in the room, granting them access to their source of entertainment as well as warmth. However, you should not cut them off from any source of communication because if they need you and are unable to reach you then they may attempt physical feats that are beyond their abilities. This could cause falls. You must also ensure that they are safe within their chair or bed, having the appropriate rests either side of them to prevent slipping and falls.

If you take your elderly charge out and about then you should have the same sort of measure in place because you have to fully concentrate in order to anticipate danger before it actually happens. Take every step slowly and do not hurry anyone with a disability. It may cause them to panic and fall, or cause a scene. Always make sure that they are warmly dressed if it is winter and have layers on if it is summer and always attempt to comply with their wishes. If a physically disabled senior does not think that he or she can handle the activity that you propose then you will more than likely be informed of that fact. However, you have to assess the abilities of a mentally impaired individual to be able to make an informed decision about whether your suggestion is appropriate or not.

Regardless of whether you are looking after an elderly person in the home or on an outing, you should always remember that there is one key to the process of assuring their safety. Communication is that key. If your senior cannot tell you whether they feel safe or not, you should be able to identify any signs of distress or fear effectively. If you can get to the point where you can achieve that, then you should feel confident in your role as guardian and protector of their safety. This is not an excuse to have a lax view of their personal safety because, regardless of how safe that you may think they are, you will usually be proved wrong as soon as you begin to let your guard down! Maintaining the safety of an elderly person in your care is a 24-hour job and you should always take it seriously.

It is a well-known fact that a high percentage of the elderly experience mental degradation at some stage during the later years of their lives. It is acknowledged as one of the disadvantages of getting old! However, the majority of people do not know the first thing about mental health illnesses and diseases that can take hold of the elderly mind, although some will have heard various names of afflictions being bandied about. Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the most widely recognised, but very little is actually known about it by individuals who have not come into contact with people suffering from it. This article will explain in layman’s terms exactly what Alzheimer’s is as well as what it can do.

Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia in the world. Dementia affects the brain and impedes a person’s ability to think logically from moment to moment. Sufferers often have short-term memory loss and get frustrated when they cannot remember what happened just minutes ago. It seriously impedes a person’s ability to speak and reason, and makes it nigh on impossible to learn something new. As the disease progresses, sufferers are rendered unable to look after themselves physically and often become unsafe in their own homes.

Alzheimer’s Disease causes degeneration of the connections between the brain and local nerve cells, which in turn affects other nerve cells around the body. As a result, the messages that the brain sends to the rest of the body do not get relayed properly and communication breaks down, hence the confusion of the individual and a loss of mental capacity.

Over 4 million people have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in the United States alone. Very few people under the age of 65 are affected, and only 5% of men aged between 65 and 74 are affected. However, it is estimated that almost half of all people aged 75 and above have some form of dementia, with the majority suffering from Alzheimer’s. It affects both men and women in equal measures. Although the cause of Alzheimer’s is not known, age is a confirmed factor. The older you are, the more likely it is that you will develop the disease. It is also believed to be genetic. If a mother or father has Alzheimer’s, the children are more likely to develop it in old age than individuals of a similar age that do not have a family history of it.

Alzheimer’s is often hard to detect during its early stages because its symptoms are no different than those experienced by seniors who do not develop the disease. Mild confusion and forgetfulness can be dismissed as one of the symptoms of old age but can also mark the onset of Alzheimer’s. The forgetfulness will gradually get worse, until it begins to alter daily routines and reminders have to be written down or verbally delivered by others. The next step is an acute inability to do anything without help or supervision and can ultimately render the sufferer helpless. Even if the body is willing and in good shape, the mind is not.

Aggression is a common symptom of advanced Alzheimer’s Disease because an individual is no longer his or herself. The confusion and anxiety that the disease leaves them with 24 hours a day may result in verbal or violent outbursts that the sufferer has no control over. Alzheimer’s sufferers often turn into a completely different person as the disease progresses into its later stages and thus it is often not a true reflection of who that person was earlier in his or her life. It can take between three and fifteen years for a person to get to this stage though, but it will ultimately result in the loss of life unless other factors intervene.

Unfortunately there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Various foundations and medical centers are conducting ongoing research in the hope of finding a cure but for now there are only drugs that can be used to offset the symptoms in the early to mid stages of the disease. Aricept and Exelon are just two of the drugs used, but they will only hold degeneration at bay for a limited time. When they stop working, the disease will progress, as it would have done if the drugs were not used in the first place. Ultimately, the end result is the same. It is a disease to cope with, not cure.

As we get older, we all become more susceptible to illnesses, diseases and ailments that may render us incapacitated in some way, shape or form. In some cases we may not even recover from them. It is a sad fact, but we will all eventually shake hands with the very thing that is going to kill us. However, that is not to say that all senior illnesses are incurable. In fact, there are very few that are untreatable. If you happen to be a caregiver and look after a senior on a daily basis, then there are various diseases that you may actually come into contact with and learn how to cope with via that individual. It can be difficult watching someone you care about succumb to illness at any age, but with seniors it is inevitable. A little bit of background knowledge can help to prepare you for the worst, so here is a quick guide to senior illnesses:

CANCER – Over two thirds of all seniors are affected by cancer at some point in their lives. Some forms of cancer are more common than others. Lung and breast cancer are the most common forms as found in seniors, but skin cancer also puts in an appearance in the top senior afflictions list. Cancer can be treated with great effect these days but the older the sufferer is, the more the odds of a full recovery are cut. After all, how many eighty years olds are strong enough to come through a course of chemotherapy? Any form of cancer must be caught early if a patient is to stand any chance of recovery so bodily abnormalities must be checked out by a medical professional as soon as they are discovered.

DEMENTIA – A high number of seniors also suffer from dementia. There are many forms of dementia, but they all stem from decreasing brain activity owing to degradation and resultant damage to the connections between the brain and nerve endings in the body. The cause of dementia is not known and there can be little done to effectively treat it, although some drugs do hols off the symptoms for a while. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease, which is generally more potent than other versions of the illness. It can be extremely frustrating for sufferers because they gradually become more confused, although they will initially know what is happening to them. It may take anywhere between a few months to many years for the full symptoms to actually emerge, but when they do it is extremely unlikely that the sufferer will know who you are.

PARKINSON’S DISEASE – Again, this is a disease that affects the nerve cells leading to the brain and like, dementia, nobody knows exactly what is behind it. Whereas dementia will affect an individual mentally, Parkinson’s primarily disables the body and then moves onto the mind. It may be apparent that a sufferer has the disease because of uncontrollable shaking, which is just as frustrating as the confusion associated with dementia. Again, there is no known cure and drugs only work for a limited time before symptoms can no longer be controlled.

DIABETES – More and more seniors are suffering with this disease as a result of their lifestyles and, primarily, their diets. As sugar and fat intake increases, the body rebels. However, diabetes is an age-old ailment that is caused by the body’s inability to produce enough insulin to keep their blood sugar levels under control. It is incurable but can be treated either by diet or medication in tablet or injection form. It will not cause the death of an individual is treated correctly. However, particular attention has to be paid to wounds that diabetics have because they have a tendency to degenerate more quickly than those in non-diabetics. Amputation of limbs is also quite common as a result of the illness. It is therefore imperative that a diagnosis is swift and observations thereafter occur daily.

There may come a time in every caregiver’s life that you have to make this decision. If you are caring for a relative then you may well have to decide whether to register him or her with a retirement home with a view to procuring a room. If you have been caring for that relative at home for some time then it will be even more of a gut-wrench to make that decision. You may well be unable to cope with the stresses and strains of it now, or the condition that your elderly relative may have worsened to the point that it is now impossible for the them to stay at home. Either way, it is a difficult decision to make and you should do all of the necessary research to aid you in making the right decision. This article will provide you with a brief overview to help you make that decision.

There are various types of retirement home that are designed to cater for seniors in a variety of ways. General retirement homes can be split into two categories – residential and nursing. Nursing homes are designed for individuals that require better medical care. These are often the best choice for those suffering from strokes or cancer, and they cater for those with advanced
forms of dementia. Residential homes are better for those who have milder forms of dementia and slight physical disabilities because they do not provide nursing care but do attempt to provide residents with a greater freedom. There are also specialist retirement homes that oriented towards specific illnesses if you are indeed looking for specialist care.

Choosing a home for your loved one can be a difficult decision if for no other reason than the number of facilities available. Most are privately funded and have state of the art accommodations so they are well equipped to take care of the physical or medical needs that occur daily.  But because of the sheer number of options available to you, it may be hard to distinguish between them on paper. It is vital that you visit your short-list of homes and it is a great idea to take your senior relative with you if possible. Your choice will be eased by sampling the atmosphere and facilities yourself and, of course, the reaction of your loved one can play a big part in this critical decision. It is likely that they will show a preference to one place over  another.

Before finalizing your decision, even if you do have one place in mind, you should always do your homework. You should look into the background of the home, how it is run and its health and safety credentials as well as asking around for feedback.  A google search for best nursing homes can revealing  valuable information.  Some info can be free (http://health.usnews.com/sections/health/best-nursing-homes/index.html) while others may charge a nominal fee (http://www.nursinghomerank.com/).  At the least, going into this situation blind is taking a huge risk, when you really want your loved one to stay at a place that displays healthy and safe
conditions. Just as in buying a house, visit more than once and do it a different times of the day, meal times, occupational therapy sessions, evenings. Know when you can visit.

Whatever your decision, in the end, retirement homes can provide a safe and secure environment that will allow your loved one to live out his or her last days in peace with the best help possible. It will also provide you with peace of mind. It may be hard for you to make this decision at first but you have to ultimately do what is best for your loved one. If you can no longer cope as the primary caregiver then you must think of your health as well as considering what may be best for both of you in the long run.