In my years of dealing with Alzheimer's Patients, the hardest part is for the families to understand who their loved one is now, and how to accept who they have become. It is very difficult for the families because Mom or Dad wound never talk like that, or act like that. Mom or Dad may be living in a different world, although they may still recognize their families, they may not remember their names. I always use my Grandmother as an example for the families, she had a related dementia. She regressed in time to the 1950's and would ask me about my Pop Pop (my mother was pregnant with me when he died). I would go along with it, like I knew him, it made her day, she would be so happy talking about him. I lived in her world while visiting with her, even if she didn't know my name, she knew my face and that I belonged to her and that was a feeling of comfort for both of us. All was not lost.

 I find that the most difficult thing to deal with is that they truly do not have any control of this disease. You have to learn and take classes to make you aware of what is really going on in there brains.

editor says ...

Alzheimer’s can be a crippling disease that’s not only hard on the patient but their family as well. Since caring for a patient with no recollection from one day to the next can take its toll, we want to know:

 

What’s the most difficult aspect of caring for patients with Alzheimer’s?

For me If I know them before they got to this stage, It is hard to see them deteriate to this point.  You remember how knowlegable they were. How much they like to fish. How they danced. Now you see them lost and scared. Like if they were trapped in a little box. Some becoming angry and lashing out.

Give us and your fellow community members some tips on how to deal with this tricky situations.

 I use a lot of tender loving care. Trying my best to reorient them to time, and place. Talk to them calmly to sooth them. Letting them know they are ok. Secure.  Making sure they are safe and everyone around them are also safe. Mostly they are scared. They don't understand what is happening. Most of all you let them know they are not to blame for what is happening to them. That it is their desiease. If they are able to comprehend in any way. And that they are still loved.

Check out the following article for tips on how to handle patients living with Alzheimer's:

nursinglink.monster.com/careers/articles/39-how-to-handle-a-patient-with-alzheimers-disease

 

 

 

My first Alzheimer's experience was as a Home Health Aide when I was 18-years-old.  I still remember her name, what she looked like (dressed, coiffed, and perfumed as well as when she was crawling on the floor in her own feces).  To protect this fiercly independent woman that I adored and broke my heart over and over again, I won't say her name but will call her ... Laura. 

I was a CNA back in the day when you didn't have to be certified.  I learned this trade 'on the job' being taught as I went by the wonderful, courageous, intelligent, gentile, determined, astute nurses that I so admired, I was encouraged to become a nurse.  I met Laura in her home.  She had a friend, Flora there to 'sit' with her.  Her son, a senator had set this up.  Laura was a sweetie.  Dressed in a pant suit stained with food, her hair was combed but kind of sticking out, and no make-up ibut with a sweet smile that reached her eyes that shown brightly as she attempted to tell me about herself.  The problem was, she couldn't remember many things.  But she kept smiling and tried to find her words, often to be talked 'over' by her friend Flora.  Flora it seemed was determined to shine above dear Laura by tellling me every 'fault' of Laura.  You know, like being incontinent and forgetting her last name and finding her wandering in the streets naked, crying and scared.  But alas, and perhaps as a blessing, Laura did not understand that this was her friend, nor that what Flora was telling me was about things that she had done or that they were even 'bad' things.  Laura just kept smiling sweetly and tried to show me around her house.  Well, ok, her son's house but her 'place' was in the renovated basement.

Before I could really look around, the nurse arrived and gave me the clinical picture of Laura and educated me on my responsibilities.  You see, her son was single, dating and on his way up.  He didn't understand mom's diagnosis and didn't want to put her in a nursing home.  He just thought that if someone where to be there in the mornings to get her up, prepare her meal and coax her to eat that she would get better.  So, my time with Laura began.

The nurse and the friend left.  I started this morning by making her breakfast and tried to get her to eat as she had lost a lot of weight.  But she appeared not to know what to do with the food in her mouth no matter what I did.  Then, I got her showered and dressed.  She was still able to apply her face powder so i started to make her bed and look around the room.  I was astonished.  There on the walls were pictures of her at work.  She was the first female editor of the newspaper of this town that served as the 'gateway' to the west!  She was immaculate!  In the pictures, she was surrounded by men, as if telling them what to do.  In frame after frame, I say her awards and honors given to her for her accomplishments.  I was completely shocked.  How do these '2 women' relate?  How could it be?  I was determined to help this pioneer back to herself.  So little did I know about this terrible, devastating disease.

The next day, we began our morning ritual.  When she wouldn't again take the food, I watched more closely.  I saw that she had dentures and removed them.  Once I did, I saw that her gums were open and bleeding due to the poor fit from her weight loss.  I notified the nurse and left a note for the son to call me.  He did, and got her fitted for new dentures.  Once we had these, she did eat better.  I was then better able to determine foods that she liked that were nutritious and with the son, we got her these foods and she began to gain weight. 

When I dressed her, I always made sure that she had clean, professional clothes.  Her hair done like in her most recent pictures, nails done, and makeup on.  I started her on my own version of a toileting program and shortly she was continent again.  We began to look at the pictures together and at first I would read the newspaper stories to her, then she could read some of them to me.  I was so very excited and hopeful for her...for this grand lady that appeared to be making a recovery!

Then came the day when I walked into her house to find her crawling on the floor with feces all over herself, the walls and carpeting.  She wasn't wearing any pants at all and when she looked up at me it was with fear, confusion and sadness.  Like she knew that something was very very wrong but she couldn't understand what was wrong, nor how to make it 'right'.  This was the beginning of a quick decline for my dear sweet Laura.  There were more frequent episodes of this along with her reverting back to 'forgetting' how to chew and swallow.  The day came when I found her after she had a similar episode like this but she was unconscious.  My Laura had had a stroke some time in the early morning hours after her son had left for his day and before I arrived. 

As I said, this was my first encounter with this disease.  When Laura had this last episode, my heart almost broke in two.  I had so attached to her and knowing that she was a true pioneer not only as a women working in a more real version of a 'man's world' than I had ever known, fighting against all odds to gain the respect of men and the country, but she was also a pioneer of our country.  And to see her at the end, knowing that no matter the educational level, nor a persons internal strength could prevent this from happening really enlightened me to the devastation of Alzheimer's Disease. 

Then one

In the past I have worked with Alzheimer's patients.  It is a very sad disease process.  I remember caring for a man who had this disease at the age of 40 years old and he was in the mid stages, so sad.  I know it is hard on all the family members of these patients as they are very difficult caring for and really have to be monitored 24 hours a day.  I hope to never have to experience this disease with my family members.

JoyStricklandRN says ...

I worked the evening shift at the hospital.  We often sat Alzheimer's patients in front of the nurses' station and gave them towels and wash clothes to fold.  Due to short-term memory loss, the repetition of this activity often calmed their anxiety for short periods of time.  One day however, a CNA saw a patient sitting in front of the nurses' station and ASSUMED she was an alzheimer's patient.  As the CNA walked by the patient, she grabbed the towels and wash clothes and messed them all up.  The patient looked at her, frowned, and yelled, "I just folded those for you!  They were ready to be put away!  Now YOU can fold them!"  It was a lesson learned for the CNA, but didn't help the anxiety level of the patient.

Oh my, that was not a very good situation there, and that CNA might need to be re-educated about the need for "caring" in the simplest form..

Being in the Skilled Nursing Career, I have been with a LOT of Alzheimer's Disease patients, and being recognized for their efforts and letting them know how much you appreciate them is enough. Sometimes, they just need to feel like they're part of something, or is valued, at one point or another. For some nurses, it might be a very tasking and tiring job to handle and care for these patients, but whether or not it exists in the mindsets of the older adults and elderly in our society, we all should be able to properly deliver and secure the health care quality that these people recieve, because, as it is, we are also human beings, and we also age. We might not hit that point where we get to experience Alzheimer's ourselves or in our family members, but it doesn't take for it to personally happen to us or to someone we love before we start caring for them the right way. It is enough for them to be rightfully treated, and cared for as few of the population's most sensitive cases that need nursing with a heart.

How do you handle patients dealing with Alzheimer's disease? Does it take a toll on you as a nurse?

I have patient with alzheimer's and mermory lost and i am alwasy consistanly encouraging and keeping them aware of the time of the day,  and year, by saying their name asking them to repeat my name but in a very encouraging friendly but playful way even, if i have to repeitivily repeat myself, and if he/she don't want to, then it okay. It does not take a toll on me as a nurse it just encorages me to keep trying because there is aways another patient and going the extra step might bring  a positive out come. Also i am learning to contiune to encourage them to do activities because even thought the are not completely able to speak or talk you could be amazed what a slow paced game of bingo could turn out of color flags shout games could do. I just think it is so important to not let a person with alzheimers to just give up because then it very hard to encourage someone in that stage. My grandmother has alzheimer and she was in a very bad skilled nursing facility and when my aunt resued her from the faclity she didnt remeber her daught and she got so upset it hurt her. so she got her back walking and talking and being active. so sometime it take a huge effort to have someone remeber but it better for them to learn it again then just lose all hope