Walking into the room hearing the conversation could not be helped. Two elderly patients were conversing, one was talking about experiences in World War II and the other was listening intently. When questioned as to what they were discussing and why, the answer received was one that surprised and saddened. The patient telling the story explained “Sometimes my friend forgets all about the past, so I sit here and tell my stories and then it helps my friend remember.” The other patient replied “that is right, there are days I just can’t remember anything and my friend here….remembers everything and tells me all about it”. The second patient suffers from Alzheimer’s disease a form of dementia and apparently today is not a ‘good’ days. Dementia is defined as
“an irreversible, progressive impairment in cognitive function
affecting memory, orientation, judgment, reasoning, attention,
language and problem solving. It is caused by damage or injury
to the brain. An estimated 4.5 million older adults suffer some
form of dementia.” (Eliopoulos, 2010, p. 413)
Continuing to listen to their conversation, while assisting the one patient with getting ready to go to have a shower, the writer casually asked about the patient’s life, and was astonished when the patient said “well I don’t know my brain isn’t working right today” the writer asked the patient how many children the patient had and was proudly told about one son who is forty-one, and about a grandson, although the patient could not remember the grandson’s age. The writer was told that the patient was widowed but the patient could not remember for how long, nor could the patient remember how long the marriage had been. The patient remembers working for a company that so...
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John Hopkins Medicine. (nd). Nervous System Disorders - Alzheimer's Disease | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library . Johns Hopkins Medicine, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/adult/nervous_system_disorders/alzheimers_disease_85,P00772/
Preventing Dementia. (2008). Memory (medletter),7-24. Retrieved July 4, 2011 from EBSCOhost. http://dproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.sapx?direct+true&db=hxh&AN=32600475&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. (2004). Caregiving strategies for older aduts with delirium, dementia, and depression. Nursing Best Practice Guidelines Shaping the future of Nursing, Retrieved July 14, 2011 from http://www.rnao.org/Storage/69/6404_FINAL_-_Caregiving_-_BPG_+_Supplement.pdf
Dementia is a disease which causes mental debility and affects one’s way of intelligent, attentiveness, recollection and problem-solving (NHS, 2013). As a result of dysfunction of brain cells in some parts of the brain it affects the thinking process then dementia occurs and it usually comes with age (Ibid). It is estimated that 560 000 people suffer from dementia in England and as a result the NHS and Social Care spend about 3.3billion (National Audit Offices)
(Davidson, F. G.) Due to the nature of dementia being a neuropsychological disorder, those affected by the disease tend to look like they will not require much care, which, in reality, they often require more care than the caregiver originally expected, leading to stress and burnout. Another effect caused by this can be the caregiver blaming themselves by feeling like they are failing to give proper care, which, in reality, can often be very far from the truth. If the caregiver does not receive help from anyone else, the task of watching over the victim becomes a daunting twenty for hour task. Sometimes, the caregiver won’t be allowed quality sleep. Over 66 percent of home caregivers suffer from some form of psychological or physical illness. The most common illness that is resulted from giving care to Alzheimer’s disease is depression. The caregiver needs to monitor their emotional well-being as well as the well-being as the person that they are giving care to. Usually, giving care to those with dementia is actually more stressful than giving care to those with cancer. When the caregiver is a family member and not a professional, the emotional toll is often even greater. It is important for caregivers to remember that they need to take care of themselves first and
Jeon Y.H. et al.(2012) told that There is an increase demand for care and help
The story Miss Julianne is an excellent example of patients suffering from dementia. Although one of my family members, my Nana was also a dementia patient, but after reading this textI can relate more to his situation. Miss Julianne is also a dementia patient as she keep-forgetting things and blames others, her aggressive behavior. This story relates to my personal experience, the challenges and the change in my views and opinions and resulted in my emotional response to it.
Dementia is the loss of a person’s mental skills from their daily routines. The symptoms of dementia could easily be over looked, they include forgetting things, daily routines are hard to complete, misplacing things, depression, aggravation and aggression, emotion are high, even feeling like someone is a threat to their life (Web MD,2012). Caring for someone with dementia can be difficult if with resources like healthcare, living facilities, nursing homes and medicine is involved, but sometimes healthcare and facilities do not provide the proper care. This disease is very common in the elderly community past the age of sixty-five. Finding out that a loved
“Dementia is the progressive deterioration in cognitive function - the ability to process thought” (Nordqvist, 2009, para. 1) and can be separated into two main categories: cortical and subcortical, physically speaking; for example, Alzheimer’s disease is a type of cordical dimentia, while Parkinson’s disease is classified as subcortical in nature. Many of the people suffering from these afflictions, which are usually middle-aged and older, appear to lose the ability to recall particular events, time of day, or in more advanced stages, the identity of their friends and family. Other symptoms of this condition have been reported as difficulty with speech, depression, balance issues and general disorientation.
People with dementia may have problems with short-term memory, keeping track of their belongings, keeping up with plans, remembering appointments or travel dates. Many dementias are progressive. This means that symptoms start out slowly and gradually get worse with time. Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia are diagnosed based on careful medical history, a physical examination, laboratory tests, and the characteristic changes in thinking, day-to-day function and behavior related to each
Butler, R. (2008). The Carers of People with Dementia. BMJ: British Medical Journal , 336, 1260-1261.
Cummings, Jeffrey L., Cole, Greg. “Alzheimer Disease.” Journal of the American Medical Association. May 2002: 287-18. Health Source. EBSCOhost. Utica College Lib. 15 Apr 2005. .
The human brain is extraordinary organ. It stores our memories, vision, hearing, speech, and capable of executing executive higher reasoning and functions setting us apart from animals. Today we know more about the human brain because of medical advances and the development of technology. These brain disorders have been studied for years and many others would classify dementia as a mental illness because it causes cognitive impairments. The following paragraphs will discuss what dementia is, what the types of dementia are, perspectives of patients with dementia as well as the perspective of a caregiver to a dementia patient.
Delirium, Depression, and Dementia are some of the most common psychological diagnoses in the elderly today. The three D’s are difficult to differentiate between in older adults because they overlap with each other and can all exist in the same patient at once. Delirium, Dementia, and Depression all affect the elderly’s quality of life and often increase the risks for one another (Downing, Caprio & Lyness, 2013). For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing primarily on the diagnosis of Dementia, the prevention, and nursing measures associated with it, but first I would like to differentiate between Delirium and Depression because Dementia is often associated with the two in the older adult population.
Thesis/Preview Statement – Alzheimer’s disease (AD) causes a decline in brain function, it destroys healthy nerve cells. Today, we have discussed Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis of AD.
Dementia is classified in three stages. In each stage there are various things caregivers and family members can do to improve the life of their demented loved one. Throughout all three stages of dementia it is important for family members to keep in touch with their loved one. This will make the demented patient feel a sense of belonging and importance. Patients may also benefit from stories, pictures, trinkets, and documents that remind them of the
Taylor, C., Dening, K., Duncan, A., & Kendall, T. (2009). Therapeutic Interventions in Dementia. Retrieved [18th April 2011] from http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice-clinical-research/therapeutic-interventions-in-dementia-part-1-cognitive-symptoms-and-function/1961703.article
Caring for dementia involves a lot of patience and understanding. It should be dealt with audacity and flawlessness to ensure the vulnerable adults’ well-being. Aiding at home or care home required carers to be at their best, physically and emotionally. The responsibility can be distressing but it is rewarding as well since helping dementia adults in their day to day activities is a significant matter for them. However, carers need a pause as over duty can result to substandard nursing. The big question is: who take care for the carers of people with dementia?