Dementia is a disease that plagues the elderly where they lose certain functions of the brain such as cognition, memory loss, inability to reason out and judge, sudden behavioral and personality swings. This also leads to the physical and mental decline of their health. However, dementia varies from patient to patient, and you can do something to minimize its effects.
But what if it’s your parent who gets the disease? Imagine someone whom you’ve been with for so long, who conceived you in this world to have the possibility of forgetting all their memories with you and your loved ones. This is the reality, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything to minimize its effects.
Here are some of the things you can do to deal with the situation and care for them in the best way possible.
Know what to do
The first best thing you can do is to know the illness. What are its effects, how can it change their lifestyle and yours as well, and understand how to slow down its symptoms. It’s through these where you’re able to improve your parent’s living conditions and making them feel that they’re normal.
Dementia makes them forgetful, so you might want to get used to remind them about certain things over and over again. Also, expect mood swings to happen every now and then. Patience is very necessary for you to deal effectively with their condition.
Spend time with them
This might sound simple, but this is a big help to your parent’s journey with dementia. A study showed that spending at least ten minutes a day with dementia patients improves their quality of life.
Though nursing homes provide the needed care for the elderly, they still lack the type of social interaction that only a patient’s family member can give to them. Daily visits and regular calls reduce their anxiety and make them feel loved.
Welcome them into your house
There’s no doubt that accepting an aging parent into your home is a huge challenge especially if they are suffering from health conditions like dementia. Loads of patience and compassion are needed from you for them to cope with the illness. In line with this, another study showed that chronic loneliness could increase the likelihood of having an early death by 20%. This could, however, be avoided if you accept your aging parent into your home.
Put financial aspects into perspective
You also need to take the costs into consideration. Specifically speaking, plan your financial budget ahead of time. Prepare home and healthcare insurances, assisted living, and other unforeseen miscellaneous costs. Your budget should be tailored to survive in the long run.
Final thoughts
As long as you follow all the things mentioned in this article, there’s no doubt that you and your parent will have a better quality of life even if dementia might make the journey a bit more challenging. However, you should also see to it that you do your best to make them feel important.
Give them a reason to live, because after all, you’ll never know when they’ll leave you. It’s all about giving back the favor. They brought you to this world, and it’s now your turn to make them feel loved in this world, even if dementia comes in the way.
