If you don’t know what to do if you think your parent has dementia. Then don’t be surprise for you are not alone, many people don’t know. But you are at the right place for here is a simple answer to help you;
Before you take your love one to go see a doctor, you should first talk with them about it in a caring way.
Ask them if they’ve noticed any confusion or forgetfulness. Tell them you are concerned and that you will be there for them no matter what. That you will take care of them and keep them safe.
Then make a doctor’s appointment, they'll get a thorough examination and rule out everything else that would possibly mimic dementia/Alzheimer.
Then if it is dementia then they can send you onto a neurologist and memory care. Only a Neurologist can give a diagnosis and medication for that after a thorough examination. A regular Practitioner cannot. They can only "think..." or "suggest."
Yes, see a Neurologist and get a diagnosis. If this is the case and it is your role, get estates planning documents in order, will, get a Power of Attorney for financial and medical matters, while your love one is still in a good state of mind.
Keep a diary of their activity to use as a baseline. Pay particular attention to actions and conversations.
How do I know if my parent has dementia?
Here is an observation checklist for early signs of dementia you should watch out for;- Forgetting very memorable recent events.
- Forgetting names of close friends and family members.
- Mood and personality change.
- Forgetting common words and other small things,,
- Having meltdowns and overreacting to small incidents, and unable to keep track of several items.
- Forgetting important dates like birthday dates.
- Lost all sense of time like unable to remember the date/day of the week.
- Repeating, pretty much the exact same conversations regularly and being generally confused.
- Putting weird foods together and having their taste buds regress to childhood.
- Forgetting what things were called. Slowly not being able to take care of things.
- No short term memory.
- Forgetting to pay bills, getting lost coming from the store around the corner.
- Stumbling around and frequent falls.
- Short term memory loss.
- Change in sleep patterns.
- Unable to manage financial responsibilities.
- Hallucinations - seeing things others don’t.
- Uptick in paranoid thinking.
- Personality changed completely.
- Awful temper.
- Saying strange things that are totally out of character.
- Forgetting where they are going and how to get there.
- Forgetting directions driving.
- Mixing up papers.
- Not being able to concentrate.
- Buying weird things.
- Forgetting very memorable recent events.
- Getting lost in the house.
- Writing notes on scraps of paper or anything handy to remember simple things.
- Lost the understanding of time including night and days even though able to manage life effectively.
- Being a little snappy and grumpy.
- Being more obsessive, demanding and impatient. All very out of character.
- Lost motivation to make choices.
What is the number one food that fights dementia?
There is no evidence that eating a balanced diet or specific food slows down dementia. Be skeptical about wonder cures and treatments. There are many people who ate a close to “vegetarian diet” and still got it.
It will take more than ONE food. It takes a whole diet change suited to ones metabolic needs, detoxification, eradicating possible brain infections, controlling brain inflammation, exercise and other lifestyle changes.
I would caution ANYONE suggesting otherwise or anyone believing there is one food that “fight” dementia, not buy into things like that.
Currently there is no known cure for dementia. Once brain cells die they cannot be revived. Again be very wary of any suggestions of anything that can fix this.
If you have it, you can’t “fight it”. It slowly kills off brain cells and parts of the brain shrinks causing issues with memory and motor skills.
If you think you may be prone to dementia either through genetics or family circumstances then you can try different diets of fresh fruits and vegetables. The whole key is limiting/eliminating sugar from your diet which is why alcohol should be eliminated and eating a high fiber, nutrient rich diet. Still need to eat good sources of protein.
Always remember, “there is no cure, yet” you can try to delay the effects until one day scientists find a way to stop it happening at all.
Is anger a sign of dementia?
Anger in itself is not really a sign it’s more like a symptom. The anger can come from frustration with not understanding why things are no longer the way they used to be, not being able to do the same things, they are losing the ability to communicate properly and in some cases they actually realize this which makes them even more irate.
It’s really frustrating to them because they know something is wrong but can’t voice it so it comes out as anger. The cognitive decline causes difficultly and frustration in activities and thought processes.
Does dementia run in families?
Dementia being inherited or pass on through generations in families has raised a lot of concerns. The fact is there may be a strong genetic factor in some type of dementia particularly Alzheimer’s dementia that gives it a high chance to pass down from generation to generation but this as of now is still being researched and hopefully one day as technology advances we will find out.
Dementia is an umbrella term for many different types of dementia's and Alzheimer's is a form.
Alzheimer’s can run in a family, dementia, not necessarily. Some forms of Alzheimer's are passed on to children with up to a 50% chance of inheriting Alzheimer's if one of your parents has that form. As of 2003 there were 110 identified genetic anomalies that cause Alzheimer's. By now there is most likely more.
The exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still to be determine by researchers who are of the opinion that this disease is caused by a series of factors not and just a specific factor.
Researchers say there is a rare gene carried in families that may cause Alzheimer’s disease. Adult young as years with this gene may slow symptoms of Alzheimer's disease but so far, this gene only results to 5% of Alzheimer cases diagnose.
For more info on the genetic of Alzheimer’s disease checkout. Alzheimer's disease causes
Alzheimer’s can be hereditary, vascular dementia is not.
Vascular dementia occurs due to vascular blockages and deterioration, as often the case in individuals with long term coronary issues, chronic high blood pressure etc. Not every person with these issues develops vascular dementia, but these are risk factors.
Other form of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s and fronto-temporal dementia (basically) occurs when protein plaques reproduce uncontrollably in the brain, thus disrupting connectivity between cells. This causes memory loss and personality changes.
Depending on the cause of dementia, there are diagnostic clinics now that have tests to detect the gene for Alzheimer’s and differentiate it from other causes of dementia.
How quickly does dementia progress?
Everyone’s Dementia progresses differently as there are many types of Dementia and at what stage it’s diagnosed, as well as on the individual, there isn’t a definitive timeline.
You also have to factor in any other health problems or issue such as physical changes in the brain.
When we "Rementia" Dementia with Hypnotherapy, we slow down the decline and bring back the personality of the individual. When we stop using Hypnotherapy, the decline becomes rapid.
