From the desk of Rosemary Laird, MD
Founder of Navigating Aging Needs (NAN), LLC
Coping with Changing Behavior
For caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer's disease, coping with change can be a major challenge. As the disease progresses and ravages the mind, your loved one can experience a range of behavioral and psychological changes including bouts of agitation, aggression, anxiety, depression, and hallucinations. Review this list of strategies today and you will be better prepared to face your loved one’s challenging mood or behavior in the future.
Managing Difficult Behaviors
Some of caregivers’ greatest challenges come from the mood, personality, and behavior changes that occur as Alzheimer’s progresses. We recommend handling these situations with a clear understanding that this behavior is not directed at you, but rather is caused by the biological impact of your loved one’s Alzheimer’s disease on their brain.
The Challenge of Intimacy
It is a bittersweet irony of Alzheimer’s that the more the disease takes away from our loved ones, the more intimacy is required to care for them. As the disease progresses, our loved ones lose more of their independence for even the most basic needs, and require us to step in to help them, often in ways we never had previously.
Managing “Bad” Behaviors
Among the biggest challenges of caregiving for someone with Alzheimer’s are the behavioral changes that result from the disease. Your loved one can sometimes appear to be a different person from the one you’ve known for so long, including having bouts of feeling fatigued, depressed, paranoid or anxious. Oftentimes these “bad” behaviors are in fact attempts by your loved one to communicate some sort of unmet need, confusion about what is going on, or a physical issue such as pain.