Better make the patients function on their own

Dementia often rears its ugly head, drowning the patient. Yet, love, respect and care ensure that the patient lives with dignity.

“My 71-year-old mother just got up one morning and forgot how to walk. She is bed-ridden and is just like a three-month-old baby,” said Lakshmi at a support group meeting organised for family members of Alzheimer’s patients at Sandhya Kirana in Shanthinagar. She wanted to know why the deterioration was so sudden?

“She was de-conditioned”, said Dr Neela Patel, pointing out that patients of dementia forget walking, talking, lose control of their neck movement, etc. 

“The hospital environment is different from home environment. In India, there is no therapy to accustom patients to  such changes. Hence, sometimes, they forget to carry out their basic tasks.” Dr Patel said. With failing memory, it is vital to keep the patient in a familiar environment.

Many raised concerns over dementia patients getting aggressive and abusive. To this, Dr Patel said, “Any change that patients are  unable to understand can cause them frustration, and since they are unable to express or communicate this, they get abusive or act  aggressive.”  She suggested that such behaviour be dealt with care: “Ask patients what is bothering them and make them feel wanted.”

Most often, frustration causes them to become recluses or aggressive. The best way to deal with this is to set a specific routine. If there is a change, informing them of it constantly helps them adapt to it.  “They can’t understand long sentences, so try breaking information into smaller sentences,” she said.

Most often, when a patient is diagnosed with dementia, families start “doing things for them” which is wrong, she said, and advised that if patients can still function on their own, let them.

“Let them do their tasks, even if it takes a little longer time. When you do things for them, you are accelerating the deterioration as they become more prone to forgetting how to do that task,” she said.