Dementia Signs and Symptoms
By Brenda Enright
Owner of Home Instead Newmarket and Aurora
Dementia is a disease that alters your senior loved one’s brain. One day, the result may be that your beloved mother looks at you and doesn’t know you. Your mild-mannered dad may yell at you suddenly. It’s tough to watch your aging parent deteriorate mentally. If you have just learned of the diagnosis, you may be worried about what will happen as time passes.
On the other hand, you may have been dealing with this for a while, making you wonder if your mom or dad will be able to live out the rest of their lives in their own home. You might also wonder what signs you should be looking out for as the disease takes over. When you hire the services of a professional senior caregiver, you give loved ones the best chance at aging in place in familiar surroundings that make them feel safe.
6 Common Signs and Symptoms of Dementia and Memory Loss
Every disease has some signs and symptoms. Here are six related to dementia:
- Mood and Behavioural Changes: Maybe the most common symptom, changes in the dementia patient’s moods include depression and apathy. They may withdraw from social activities or lose interest or motivation in being social.
- Delusions and Hallucinations: These two items are close but slightly different. Delusions refer to false beliefs, such as your mom believing someone is living in her house with her. You may give her evidence to the contrary, but she won’t believe you. Hallucinations deal with the body’s senses and incorrect perceptions of objects or events. To Dad, they seem real, but no one else can verify them.
- Disorientation and Waywardness: Mom may become stressed or anxious and start pacing like she is searching for something or trying to keep busy. This is called active wandering. If Dad seems to roam and is easily distracted, it is called passive wandering.
- Repetitive Behaviours: Your senior may start repeating the same question or movement. They do not have much insight or control over these actions. You may think this is their way of getting attention, but it is not.
- Responsive and Reactive Behaviours: When things are negative in nature, your loved one with dementia may act out. These responses and reactive behaviours include aggression, agitation, wandering, restlessness, paranoia, or becoming more withdrawn.
- Sundowning: This phenomenon tends to peak in the middle stages of the disease. It often occurs in the evening and night hours, affects the patient’s quality of life, and can be exhausting for you as a caregiver. Your mom may become demanding, experience delusions and hallucinations, do impulsive things, attempt to leave home, and more.
Get Support for Your Senior with Dementia – Choose Home Instead
Provide the best care for your loved one with dementia when you choose the team at Home Instead Newmarket, Aurora. Our senior caregivers support you and your senior with customized homecare services to enhance your lives. We fix nutritious meals, help with light housework, and give you a respite when you need time for yourself. Gain back your quality time with your loved one by counting on our help. Contact us today to learn more about our services to make your life easier.
Call us at (905) 235-7130 to schedule a no-obligation, in-home consultation. Learn more about the compassionate, quality senior care we deliver, every day, to families in Newmarket, Aurora, Baldwin, Beaverton, Bradford, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Cannington Brock, Ceder Valley, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, Holland Landing, Jacksons Point, Keswick, Kettleby, King, Leaskdale, Mt Albert, Pefferlaw, Queensville, River Drive Park, Sanford, Sharon, Stouffville, Sunderland, Sutton West, Udora, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Willow Beach, Zephyr.