Determining the right time for memory care is tricky, especially since it really depends from person to person. The first step to making sure that you have the right information around a loved one’s condition is to have regular conversations around it. Knowing how to provide support for memory problems can be difficult, especially at home.
Signs That It’s Time for Memory Care
Difficulty In Daily Life
Memory problems are progressive diseases that can make daily life activities challenging. Alzheimer’s can result in continence, and dementia can cause your abilities to decline. As such, daily life activities like moving around, going to the toilet and other such things can become complicated and difficult. The equipment and supplies used to prevent the problems that stem from such things are not easily available and can make memory care difficult at home.
Behavioral Changes
Progression in dementia and other memory related diseases will usually result in changes in behavior as well. This could include aggression, irritability and easily getting agitated. For family caregivers, this can become difficult, especially as these behaviors become more intense as time passes. Memory care professionals are not just able to handle these behaviors, but also provide techniques to redirect them with skill and tact.
Delusions
As loved ones’ memory starts failing, they may experience hallucinations and delusions which can become stressful for caregivers. Watching your loved ones experience things that aren’t real can become emotionally taxing, and in some cases may even end up putting you in danger.
Aimless Wandering & Falling
As loved ones become more confused with their failing memory, they may start wandering around aimlessly and forgetting what they were looking for. Over time, this can become dangerous, since they may start getting lost or leaving the house when you’re not looking. They may be at risk of injuries and falls from entering terrains they are unable to handle.
Wandering is a clear sign that memory care has become necessary. Assisted living facilities which have professionals trained in memory care can manage these problems and will also usually have built-in features to make sure that your loved one doesn’t get lost or leaves the facility.
Refusing Care
In many cases, patients of dementia may just forget their caregivers and end up refusing to let themselves be cared for. This can become not just emotionally difficult for caregivers, but also dangerous for patients who need care to get by.
With appropriate memory care, professionals use specific techniques that will not just coax dementia patients into becoming more agreeable, but do so in a way that lets patients feel cared for, rather than forced into doing things they don’t want to do.
Memory care can be difficult to manage at home, since it requires a lot of time, patience and emotional stability. Most caregivers at home are not able to manage this with their personal lives, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Assisted living facilities like Inspirit Senior Living have trained professionals who can manage your loved ones’ memory care and make sure they are safe and healthy.
