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Pass criteria for dementia care
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Dementia Assignment 1Introduction
Dementia is a common disease that typically effects people aged 65+ and
effects the way you think, act, and communicate with other individuals. There
are many different types of dementia that all have relatively different symptoms
however, all of them share a few similar ones. Dementia is extremely harsh on
both the individual suffering with the disease and also the family and friends
around them. It can be a very distressing time for people and have huge
emotional implications. A person suffering with dementia will need large
amounts of care that can last years until they unfortunately pass away.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and is caused by the
proteins, amyloid and tau. These two proteins cause plaques and tangles to build
up within the brain which mean that the nerve cells die, and brain tissue is lost.
As a result, this causes a neurodegeneration in the brain. When
Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed, the brain slowly starts to deteriorate over time,
and effects your cognitive function, memory, and orientation. Alzheimer’s
disease can be both chronic or progressive meaning it can either start bad as
soon as you are diagnosed, or it can be a slow deterioration of the brain over a
certain period of time. Progressive dementia is more commonly recorded
compared to chronic.
Some symptoms of Alzheimer’s include significant memory loss (long or
short term) which means they may struggle with memory retrieval and decision
making which can be quite irritating for them. Most Alzheimer’s patients suffer
more from short term memory loss due to the fact they’re so recent to them
whereas their long-term memories were made when the dementia wasn’t
present. For example, a patient may remember something like the war but not
remember what happened 5 minutes ago and this is due to the damage caused
to the hippocampus in the brain. Feeling withdrawn from usual activities
that a patient typically enjoys is another common symptom and this may be
caused by embarrassment due to their lack of being able to problem solve or just
the fact that they’re not as good at is as what they used to be. Again, this may
become upsetting to an Alzheimer’s patient as they will need to now almost
rediscover something they enjoy meaning they may become quite bored or
lonely. A patient may withdraw themselves from activities due to the fact they
now have little to no knowledge within that specific area so they may just lack
interest in doing it and not wish to participate. Another common symptom is
getting lost in familiar places such as local shopping centres as although
they’ve probably visited these places before, being exposed to large places
where there is a lot to take in can be quite overwhelming for them and may
cause confusion and distress as a result. Not only can this be hard on the
patient, but also the carer as well as trying to reassure a distressed patient is
particularly difficult in most situations. This symptom is caused by deterioration
to the lobes in the brain that manages familiar places/faces. Finally, extreme
, mood swings which can be caused by frustration and disorientation from
something such as not being able to recognise a face that should be familiar to
them may cause violence or serious distress. This is because, if someone walks
in who they don’t recognise they may not feel safe in their environment meaning
they will do what they can to protect their own safety. These mood swings can
happen for many reasons such as a dementia patient becoming frustrated from
their loss of abilities if they’re in pain or even something as simple as being
hungry or being too hot or cold.
Reasoning and communication may become an issue for individuals with
Alzheimer’s disease as it effects their brain function. Reasoning and
communication means that a person may become irrational and fail to perceive
risks of a situation. Within health care, an example of something someone will do
who struggles with reasoning and communication is changing their spending
habits. This could involve, spending money excessively when they don’t actually
have that money to spend and not realising the implications of it meaning they
become more vulnerable to exploitation. As a result, it is the job of the carer to
support and help the individual through this in order to make them feel worthy
still as some may get frustrated and irritated at themselves as they don’t realise
they’re doing something wrong. Mental health is quite often worsened due to this
as these overwhelming emotions may cause depression and anxiety from
becoming so distressed and the constant fear that they may be doing something
wrong. Also, physical health is affected due to the fact that they’re forgetting
meaning this may cause stress related illnesses such as nausea and also they
may be starting to put themselves in danger for example, leaving a stove on
after forgetting to turn it off after cooking a meal which is putting the patient at a
huge risk. Therefore, it is the carers job so assess the environment they’re in and
supervise them at all times to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
Anxiety, fear, and depression could become a problem for someone with
Alzheimer’s disease as the lack of memory and knowledge that they have can
add extra paranoia to them and make them feel isolated, angry, and fearful of
many different things. Mental health is extremely influenced in this situation as it
can really take a toll on an individuals emotional and social wellbeing due to the
fact that they may start to withdraw themselves from activities with other
members in care with them, making them have less interaction with people that
aren’t their carer. Therefore, this could lead to them becoming socially isolated
and lonely which could possibly make them fall into a depression. Due to their
minimal understanding of their surroundings and people around them, a patient
may start to feel anxious when exposed to things that are unfamiliar to them
which means they may start to deal with this is different ways. Physically, a
patient may begin to harm themselves without realising the damage it is causing
to their body as they may find that aggression is the best way to cope. If this is
the case, then a carer should ensure that the safety of the environment they are
in is at its best to avoid the risk of any further and unnecessary accidents to both
them and the patient. Another thing that may affect them physically is
sometimes you may lose your appetite when you’re anxious due to feeling
nauseous meaning that this could potentially lead to a patient becoming
underweight and malnourished which can cause further health complications for
them in the long run. Therefore, a carer should make sure that a patient sticks to
a routine that they can follow easily to avoid this from becoming an issue.
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