People with dementia begin to feel lost, confused, and insecure. Attention-seeking behavior displayed by needy elderly people with dementia is their way of asking for help.
Clingy dementia, or clinginess is the 4th stage of dementia. When people with dementia or Alzheimer's become clingy it usually indicates that they are experiencing confusion at a level that makes them unable to do many simple tasks when alone.
A person with dementia may feel agitated or irritable, fidget, tap their fingers or make other repetitive movements. They may also walk up and down, move objects around or fixate on tasks such as tidying.
Coping Strategy. "Don't stress. Recognize that some things may become more difficult for you to do. Try to accept that these changes are out of your control and focus on the things you can still do."
Being active, eating a better diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, keeping normal blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and having low blood sugar in middle age may all lower the chances of developing conditions such as Alzheimer's disease later in life, research suggests.
Some of the more common triggers for dementia like a change in environment, having personal space invaded, or being emotionally overwhelmed may be easier to handle if you mentally practice your response before you react.
This is known as sundowning and these behaviour changes can become worse after a move or a change in routine. The person with dementia may become more demanding, restless, upset, suspicious, disoriented and even see, hear or believe things that aren't real, especially at night.
People with dementia often carry out the same activity, make the same gesture, or ask the same question repeatedly. Medical professionals sometimes call this 'perseveration'. This repetition may be because the person doesn't remember having done it previously, but it can also be for other reasons, such as boredom.
Repetition. A person with Alzheimer's may do or say something over and over — like repeating a word, question or activity — or undo something that has just been finished. In most cases, he or she is probably looking for comfort, security and familiarity.
Administration: The examiner reads a list of 5 words at a rate of one per second, giving the following instructions: “This is a memory test. I am going to read a list of words that you will have to remember now and later on. Listen carefully. When I am through, tell me as many words as you can remember.
Holding food or medications inside the cheeks. This is called pocketing. Your loved one may not be aware that there is something in their mouth to swallow. You may need to tell them to swallow.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
For people with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, watching TV can help keep their brain active, which can stimulate positive memories, improve mood, and even increase socialization.
In stage 6 of dementia, a person may start forgetting the names of close loved ones and have little memory of recent events.
When looking at individual symptoms in dementia patients, the most prevalent BPSD are apathy, depression, irritability, agitation and anxiety, while the rarest are euphoria, hallucinations, and disinhibition. The most clinically significant symptoms are depression, apathy, and anxiety.
The greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer's and other dementias is increasing age, but these disorders are not a normal part of aging. While age increases risk, it is not a direct cause of Alzheimer's. Most individuals with the disease are 65 and older.
The biggest risk factor for dementia is ageing. This means as a person gets older, their risk of developing dementia increases a lot. For people aged between 65 and 69, around 2 in every 100 people have dementia. A person's risk then increases as they age, roughly doubling every five years.
Physical activity. Doing regular physical activity is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of dementia. It's good for your heart, circulation, weight and mental wellbeing. You might find it difficult to start being more physically active, or worry it means doing an activity you don't enjoy.
Although a person's own experience of living with dementia varies, as does their needs for care and support, common everyday challenges for people with dementia include washing, getting dressed, eating and bathing. Dementia is a progressive condition.
The 7 'A's of Dementia, or anosognosia, amnesia, aphasia, agnosia, apraxia, altered perception and apathy, represent changes that can happen in dementia patients because of damage to their brain(opens in a new tab).