Meals to Help Slow Down Dementia
What to eat, what to eat?: A look at different meals that may carry benefits to slowing cognitive decline for those with dementia Everyday we wake up and one of the first things we do is eat our breakfast. Later on we have some snacks or our lunch, and as the day goes by we eventually make ourselves dinner. We do this because our bodies need energy to keep us going...
What Are The Different Types of Dementia?
This post is the first of many in a series about understanding the various types of dementia and how each one impacts an individual after diagnosis. We acknowledge that there are over 400 different types of dementia, we will be focusing on some of the more common ones as well as some of the not so common dementias that are affecting many people today. In this first post we will...
Tips for helping someone with dementia to shower or bathe
So like many of you, I enjoy my shower every day. My mother also enjoyed her bath on a regular basis. As the dementia set in, she was more and more hesitant to take her bath and even wash her hair which she used to do in the kitchen sink. I never really thought about that too much, but seems odd to do that there, but that is not what...
Dementia: What people lose and what they keep
If I knew then what I know now with regards to dementia, I think the relationship I had with my mother would have been very different. I had very limited information on the disease, and I was busy trying to run another company at the time. I was unaware of all the changes my mother was going through. As an example, I really did not know why she was not...
Wandering and getting lost
Dementia Behaviour: Wandering This is the final installment on the most common behaviours we see when caring for a loved one with dementia. As we know the disease can cause us to lose our ability to recognise familiar faces and places. People with dementia can wander and get lost at any stage of the disease. Sixty percent of those with Alzheimer’s wander at some point. Some of us want to go...
Repetitive Actions
This is our fourth blog about behaviours and how we as caregivers should respond to said behaviours. Have you ever noticed that your loved one may be saying or doing the same thing over and over – like repeating a word, question, or activity. You may find yourself getting frustrated and saying something to the effect of, I just answered you two seconds ago, why are you repeating the same...
Anxiety and Agitation
In our first blog on behaviours, we explored anger and aggression and determined that the best way to deal with it was to remain calm and remember that it is not truly towards us as caregivers. It is usually because your loved one is frustrated, and they do not know how to truly express themselves. According to the Dementia Society there is a basic three-step approach in understanding and finding solutions...
Anger and Aggression
Many of us are dealing with loved ones who have dementia, be it Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body, Frontotemporal, vascular, or any of the other dementias out there. What has been noticed is that there are several behaviours that present themselves and we have decided to address the most common ones over the next few months in our blogs. These behaviours may present themselves over the course of a few hours a...