help with alzheimers

[dannymc]

hey guys new here so hope im doing the right thing.. started looking after a man who is in the first stage of alzheimers, but im finding it really hard to communicate with him he doesnt want to do anything.. any ideas or simple things i could try, would be handy
thanks dan
ps do the chat rooms work always appear to be empty??

[cougarnurse]

Hey, dan! Welcome to the site!
I give ya credit with your job. Does the guy have any previous hobbies? What kind of sports did he watch/participate in? Look up the teams during his younger years, and ask him about those years and how he felt. What did he do for a living? I have heard about an 'interview process', where someone 'interviews' the person on Hospice/with Alzheimer's about their life 'before the change'. It involves major things in the person's life, ie: WW2, Korea, 'The Bomb', marriage/school/work, etc. When I come across the paperwork, I can fill you in more.

Keep us posted on things!

Any other ideas?


PS...I try to drop in the chatroom every so often; my work schedule is a bit wild, but.....if anyone else drops in and I am around, I pop in.

'Cat'

[stillearning]

You don't identify your role -- are you an RN?

You may want to arrange to have this gentleman be tested for depression -- a common concommittant illness with Alzheimer's Disease.

Also, you may want to learn what medications he is on -- a circumstance called Polypharmia is common in the elderly and some of his symptoms COULD be the interactions of a number of drugs (many seniors are on 9 or more medications!). This may require the assistance of a geriatric pharmacist.

Finally, Alzheimer's patients respond to routine. He may not have one, but helping to establish one -- a time for getting up, for breakfast, for taking a walk, for watching an old, familiar movie, for sorting the mail, etc. may help him move through the day with a sense of purpose (which is often hard for the patient to build on his own).

Do consider your local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association as a valuable resource for your questions and for the program interventions he may require.

--p