Home for the Holidays: Could Your Loved One Be Showing Signs of Dementia?

Home for the Holidays: Could Your Loved One Be Showing Signs of Dementia?

Senior Care and the Holiday Season

Returning home for the holidays means catching up with friends, family, former neighbors, and a myriad of other people. Engagements, pregnancies, new careers, and talks of graduation are evident in almost every conversation you have with loved ones. However, there is one conversation that will matter the most: the conversation you have with your aging loved one. Using this time to determine whether or not your aging loved one requires some additional senior care is critical in ensuring that they are safe, happy and independent within their own home.

How to Identify If Your Loved One Has Dementia:

Not every aging individual suffers from memory loss or dementia. Some go their entire lives with their short-term and long-term memory intact. However, as modern day medicine advances the life expectancy, we see many more aging Americans diagnosed with some form of dementia.

Dementia is characterized by a loss in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. https://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp You may notice loss in memory, logical reasoning, or communication. For example, your loved one may consistently forget your name, where they placed important items such as a wallet, or the date. Some of these items may be due to forgetfulness, but if the pattern continues, it’s best to get a doctor involved.

Senior care providers recognize the following as signs your loved one may have some form of dementia:

• Memory loss affecting daily life
• Challenges in planning or solving problems
• Difficulty completing household or leisurely tasks
• Trouble understanding visual images or spatial relationships
• New problems with words when speaking or writing
• Consistently misplacing items
• Poor judgement
• Withdrawal from work or social activities
• Changes in mood or personality

https://www.alz.org/10-signs-symptoms-alzheimers-dementia.asp

Next Steps

It’s important to detect dementia early so that a doctor can provide available treatments to prevent worsening of the condition. Once you and your loved one have met with a doctor you can then begin to iron out the details of how they will manage everyday life. Some individuals with dementia are able to stay in their homes with the help of a senior care provider such as Visiting Angels of Santa Clarita, CA. Some seniors decide to move in with their immediate family or move into a senior living community.

If you and your family believe that senior care is right for you, please do not hesitate to contact our Visiting Angels senior care office in Santa Clarita, CA. We’re here for you and your family.