People with early-stage dementia can typically live independently after a few adaptations or assistance. However, as the condition progresses, there may be concerns about one’s safety or capacity to look after oneself.
Providing for a loved one who has dementia is stressful, and it becomes increasingly more difficult as the symptoms progress. If you’re having trouble coping and providing the necessary assistance, you may have considered other possibilities, such as placing them in a care facility.
Dementia is a degenerative condition that impairs rational thinking and impairs everyday functions such as self-care, medication, and more. You may be concerned that your loved one will require 24-hour supervision in a care facility, but that isn’t the only choice. You can also hire a professional caregiver to support your loved one.
As a member of a family of a person living with dementia, deciding on 24-hour care for your loved one can be tough. Those living with dementia require ongoing attention, care, and support. It’s also not easy to provide them with safe care. You may experience burnout at some point and require assistance. You may always employ a professional caregiver to relieve you of the stress and guilt if you are not providing the care your loved ones need.
When to Recruit a Caregiver For Those Living with Dementia?
If your loved one has dementia, this article will help you identify the signs that they may require additional hours of assistance and supervision. Here are some signs and symptoms that can help you decide whether it’s time to recruit a caregiver.
1. Caregiver Stress/Burnout Syndrome
As previously said, caring for people living with dementia is difficult. Professionals are experts due to their past experiences and work efficacy. When a layman provides care to a loved one, he or she may suffer caregiver distress at some time. Mental, bodily, and emotional fatigue are all symptoms of this illness. This condition frequently arises as a result of caregivers’ continual neglect of themselves.
The individual forgets to set limits, develops unreasonable and unnecessary expectations, and burns out as a result. The caregiver becomes dissatisfied and agitated as a result of the loved one’s excessive requirements.
Chronic stress can result in serious health issues such as diabetes and hypertension. The following are some of the early signs of caregiver stress:
- Frustration
- Distress
- Withdrawal from social situations
- Tiredness
- Despair
- Melancholy
If you’re a caregiver for a loved one and find yourself with little to no assistance, consider hiring a professional caregiver.
2. Wandering
Wandering is a common manifestation in the moderate stages of dementia and can be hazardous due to the risk of becoming lost or injured.
Individuals may, for example, leave the house unprepared for the surroundings and outside weather. There have been several reports of individuals with cognitive disabilities who go outside in the cold without jackets or warm clothes, and become lost and unable to find their way home.
Furthermore, looking for a missing family member may be extremely stressful for caregivers, and police intervention can cause mental pain.
Memory problems are another symptom of mental deterioration. For example, poor orientation to information that should be widely known, including one’s birth date, residential address, and current date, might indicate that one’s thinking is impaired.
This perplexity and lack of clarity can make it difficult not only to communicate with people but also to do other crucial duties such as banking, financial management, and so on.
If you find yourself unable to provide the supervision and assistance your loved one needs due to increased episodes of wandering, it may be beneficial to look into additional care & support for your loved one.
3. Poor Compliance With Medication
Challenges with medication adherence are another symptom of concern for people living with dementia. Failure to take medicine as directed can have a cascade effect, contributing to a further deterioration in logical reasoning as a result of poor illness control.
For example, memory lapses might develop or become more common, causing forgetfulness in taking medicine or treatment resistance. As a result, one’s mental state and reasonable thinking may deteriorate, leading to even more bad choices and decisions in everyday life and functioning.
If it continues to get more difficult for you to get your loved one to comply with taking their medications, consider hiring additional assistance to address.
4. Decline in Overall Health
Memory loss affects one’s ability to drive a car, prepare grocery lists, cook, recall daily meds, and even remember to eat.
Having lost track of days and hours disrupts the circadian rhythm, which can lead to Sundowner’s syndrome, insomnia, and other sleep problems that have a negative impact on one’s health and well-being. People who are unable to recall how to get back to the house or where they are going are in danger of becoming injured, lost, or being victims of fraud and possibly violent acts.
People living with dementia are also more likely to have a harder time remembering how to contact help, such as failing to hit a “life emergency” button or dial 911.
If you’re worried about a loved one’s well-being on a frequent basis, hiring a caregiver may provide a sense of security while also ensuring that they are nurtured and cared for daily.
5. Sundowning
It is characterized as a group of symptoms that appear late in the afternoon or early in the evening. Aggressiveness, anger, anxiousness, restlessness, defiance, wandering, screaming, and visual and auditory delusion are some signs of sundowning. Sundowning generally happens during the sunset or when darkness begins to fall. The emergence of this unreasonable behavior during work hours greatly increases caregiver stress.
Sundowning has a significant impact on the entire family’s routine and produces a distressing atmosphere, which exacerbates dementia symptoms.
6. Limited Mobility
The older we become, the less mobile we may get. Those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, on the other hand, will find that their movement is severely reduced. Patients with limited mobility will require assistance with nearly every aspect of their daily activity. This covers basic actions such as dressing, washing, and going to the bathroom. If the caregiver does not feel comfortable supporting these activities, it can lead to accidents and injuries for both the patient and the caregiver.
7. Not Showering Regularly
Bathing and getting dressed are two areas where people living with dementia frequently struggle. Individuals with cognitive impairments may be reluctant to perform personal care duties or forgetful.
Those with dementia, for example, may get disoriented, causing them to put their shirts or pants on backward or inside out.
They frequently dress inadequately for the climate and weather, such as wearing simply a shirt and trousers during a harsh winter.
When it comes to bathing, some people are resistant to maintaining personal cleanliness and may have body odor. It’s not unusual for them to turn down a family member’s offer of a bath or shower.
If your loved one is exhibiting these signs, it may be time to hire a professional caregiver.
Who Gets to Make The Call?
It can be really difficult to make the decision of long term care placement or increasing the hours of in home caregiving assistance.
The health of the individual with dementia, the ability of their caregivers/family members and a few other criteria all play a role in this decision. It’s crucial to remember that everyone’s circumstances will be different, like with most of what we’ve spoken about thus far.
One possibility would be that the individual with dementia has the ability to choose whether or not to attend a care facility on their own. Most individuals prefer this option since it alleviates the burden of having to decide for them. This isn’t normally the case, though, especially as dementia progresses and family members make the decision to take on more legal responsibilities.
When a person with dementia requires the type of support that only a care home can give, they are unlikely to have the capability to make this decision for themselves. Things get more complicated at this point. If your loved one is unable to make this decision for themselves, their attorney or somebody with authorization is usually appointed to do so.
The person with dementia can provide power of attorney to a relative, friend, or caregiver so that they can make choices for them if they are unable to do so themselves. It’s vital to keep in mind that Durable Power of Attorney may only be granted while the individual with dementia is still cognizant.
Final Words
As a person’s dementia worsens, they may require more care and assistance, and they may require 24 hour assistance through private caregivers in the home or in a long term care facility. As the family member who is in charge, you may get to a point where you feel a long term care facility would be the best option to address your love one’s needs, and this is okay!
It might also be because something changes, making it harder for the person to remain at home.
It’s difficult to tell when it’s appropriate for a person to move into a care center or hire round-the-clock assistance.
As new settings and environments cause confusion and stress, as well as aggravate dementia, the caregiver lives with the individual. This enables care at home while retaining the patient’s privacy and freedom.
Though there are no definitive guidelines for determining when someone with dementia should be admitted to a care facility, but we do have a few pointers above that may assist you in making this difficult decision.
Make a note of your loved ones’ requirements and see if you can help. In an ideal world, we would always be with our elders, but the realities of life can interfere with this. The decision should be made on the basis of what’s truly best for them, their health, and their safety, and what works best for you and your wellbeing.
Also, keep in mind, guilt is a normal feeling when making these difficult decisions. It’s a part of the process and completely normal to feel this way! Keep in mind you have to make the best decision for your person, your situation, and for everyone’s safety and wellbeing.
References
