Dementia Behavior and Wrongly Medicating
These are often just a few of the words used to describe the distress commonly shown by people with dementia.
- Combative
- Agitated
- Difficult
- Anxious
Unfortunately, the all-too-common action taken by family and physicians is to try to treat the behavior with medications. It is rarely understood that these medications do not actually address anything but more likely cause other side effects and begin a vicious circle of problems.
Behavior is communication, not a disease.
The key to preventing the distress, it turns out, is to use the behaviors and other information as a means to identify and resolve the root causes of the anguish.
Dementia diminishes a person’s ability to communicate verbally, so people with this condition of tend to compensate by communicating behaviorally.
Rather than drugging residents to suppress the behaviors, we must try to figure out what the behaviors mean.
Family caregivers can attend free classes to gain an understanding of how these behaviors manifest in order to learn how to communicate with their dementia afflicted loved one.
When we are looking for an appropriate assisted living home or community for someone with dementia we strive to find those places that will work with the elderly resident in helping solve these “behavioral” situations with means other than medicating. This search is detailed for the individual we are working with, it is not general. Each time we are helping a family find the right care community it is a new search. We do not just give the family a list of dementia communities and tell them to choose one. We are actually visiting, observing and asking questions to make sure that the person’s needs will actually be met. We are the experts! We are here to help any family that is looking for quality senior care.
American Senior Home Finders is a Senior Placement and Referral Agency.
We offer placement services FREE to the families.
We can be reach 7 days a week. Call: 949-278-0155