Has your elderly loved one been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease? If so, or even if they have another type of mental health condition such as schizophrenia, they may suffer from hallucinations and/or delusions. As a family caregiver, it can be extremely helpful to learn more about both of these issues. That way, you are not only better prepared for when they happen, but you can get your elderly loved one the proper help from elder care providers, as well.
Proper Management of Delusions
There are many people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease that suffer from delusions. These are the beliefs that cause someone to act out in certain ways. For example, your elderly loved one may believe they have insects crawling under their skin, even though there is medical proof that isn’t the case. No matter how many times they go to the doctor, they are still likely going to believe that this is the case.
Sometimes, the delusions may go away, especially if their doctor can get them on the proper medications. However, many people who have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, will forget to take their medications. If your elderly loved one has medications they are supposed to take, you or the elder care providers should remind them to take those. Hopefully, by doing so, that will lessen the severity of the delusions.
It may also be beneficial for you to know that these delusions are most common in the middle to end stages of Alzheimer’s disease. If you have been trying to help your elderly loved one with their delusions, but it is becoming too much, don’t feel bad. You can hire home care providers to step up and help.
Proper Management of Hallucinations
There are also many people who have Alzheimer’s disease and other health conditions that suffer from hallucinations. These occur when a person thinks they are going through something that isn’t the reality. For instance, your elderly loved one may keep thinking there is someone upstairs in their house, when really, there isn’t. Unfortunately, just like with the delusions, no matter what you say, it can be tough to talk them out of the hallucination. With that being said, there are times when your elderly loved one may not have the hallucinations and other times when they may be worse.
If your elderly loved one is having hallucinations, you or an elder care provider should make sure they see their doctor. There may be medications the doctor can give as a prescription to help reduce the severity or amount of hallucinations your elderly loved one has. If they do get a prescription, you or a home care provider will need to give reminders for them to keep taking it each day.
Conclusion
Does your elderly loved one have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease? If so, do they have delusions or hallucinations? These can be very difficult to manage. Learning more about them, as you did above, can help you, the elderly care providers, and the doctors to work together to help your elderly loved one to lessen or manage the delusions or hallucinations.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Elder Care in Neosho, MO please contact the caring staff at Adelmo Family Care today at (417) 206-4576.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181181/
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