What you can do, when your loved one’s diagnosed with Dementia

When your loved one has been diagnosed with Dementia from my experience it is really important that you have an understanding of the disease together with an insight into what lies ahead.
 

 Obtain as much information as possible about what you may come up against.

For me, in order to help my Dad I started with a thread of what I knew about him in order to access his mind.

I prepared myself for seeing the worst and then once I had made that emotional adjustment within myself  that this was not going to get better ,I did 2 things.

1. I made it as safe as possible for him just to be him , in every way I could.

2. I made sure where possible, he had the best care and when it wasn’t up to scratch I spoke up.

It is important that others involved understand your loved ones needs.

If you don’t tell them, how are they going to know?

Driving the experience for the best possible outcome for my Dad stopped me plummeting into clinical depression and if it is any help, I suggest people try to do the same.

Dementia/ Alzheimer’s locks people in fear. Fear locks people down to a place that they are unable to function or manoeuvre.

When people feel as though they can speak up, fear lessens. Preparing individuals in society for what they may come up against gives them a choice.

The choice is , put your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening.

Or, understand what you can do for your loved one and yourself, and more than anything keep your self well and not isolate yourself in society.

Keep talking about it, it opens the debate for people to engage

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