Shifts in behavior can be challenging to manage. Experts have five strategies that can help.
Susan Hirsch was visiting her father in the hospital where he was recuperating after a fall and was shocked to find him — long devoted to her mother — flirting with a nurse as if he were “17 and in the Navy again,” she said.
To get on top of — and feel less toppled by — mood changes, it’s helpful for caregivers to remember that those shifts are caused by changes in the brain, said Dr. Nathaniel Chin, a geriatrician and associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Additionally, people with dementia have less brain energy to process and adjust to sensations and environmental stimuli, Chin said. Many experts also agree that people with dementia havethan they once had and might tip into feeling overwhelmed more quickly. This is the point when someone with dementia might suddenly become agitated or combative or begin “screaming and yelling out,” he said.
DICE can also help caregivers in other ways. By learning to note who’s in the room or what’s playing on TV when symptoms occur, caregivers can become adept at detecting patterns, seeing issues from their care partners’ perspective and creating plans to reduce or eliminate symptoms. This might include turning on a mellow YouTube cooking video instead of the 5 o’clock news or bathing less frequently if doing so daily is a flashpoint, Kales said.
Instead, if your loved one asks about someone who’s no longer alive, just say you think that person is fine and change the subject, he suggested. “It’s not an enduring lie,” he said. “And to me, it’s more moral than confronting them with an awful truth that will just cause them grief and pain.”a book about his experience caring for his wife who lived with Alzheimer’s for over 15 years.
Experts say people with dementia would benefit from regular exposure to natural and other forms of bright light, which can improve their sleep and mood. Taking them on a walk outside is one way to do that. Making sure that people with dementia get regular exposure to natural and other forms of bright light can improve their sleep and mood, Kales has found in, the meltdowns that can occur with dementia late in the day, or any time of day, if there’s enough stress and fatigue brewing.
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