Beyond Know How

Almost everybody has heard about dementia. However, most people don’t know the impact of the disease on the person itself and on it’s family. A person with dementia will slowly start forgetting everything he did in his life. Next to that, he will also forget how to talk and where he is in time and place. Most people with dementia in a nursery home don’t know that they are in a nursery home. Often they think they are in a restaurant or in their former house. They also tend to forget the year we are living in. It could be 1995 or 1956, they will not see the difference anymore. Coping with this behaviour could be very hard for primary caregivers. They slowly start losing their loved one cause of the disease and giving care asks a lot of physical effort. A large percentage is burned out cause of giving care for a loved one.

Many caregivers of person’s with dementia have a hard time coping with the behaviour the person is expressing. People with Dementia have difficulties understanding language or expressing language. They have difficulties in orientating themselves where they are, how they should go from place a to b. They don’t know what day it is or when they finally get something to eat. They also have primary difficulties with their memory, especially their short term memory. ou tell them something 5 or 6 times and still they are asking you the same question. The main problem for caregivers is that they know the person is sick but just can not relate the behaviour to the sickness. This leads to misunderstanding and stress which could lead to burn out syndrom. Coping with Dementia is a first step in giving better care for your loved one, but also for your self.