Part of planning for a marathon is making sure you know the terrain.
Goals of Treatment
There is no cure for dementia so the main goals of treatment are to:
- maintain quality of life,
- create a safe environment
- promote social engagement.
How can medication help?
Don’t overestimate what medication can do. Be open to other treatments.
Modest benefits will be short term and the decline will continue. In 30% patients benefits may only last six months.
ALL medications have side effects so it is important to ask;
Who is prescribing? (is it Dr Google?)
Why is this medication being recommended?
What side effects can be expected?
Where can you find more information?
How will the effectiveness of the medication be assessed?
AND, if the medication is later stopped, how will this be managed? What is the plan?
We’ve all experienced taking medication like cold and flu tablets which made us “foggy”. Medications for dementia can have the same effect leading to impaired mobility and risk of falling.
Other Non-pharmacological Treatments
We often don't think about non-drug treatments or even regard them as unimportant. Yet having a few non-drug-related 'tools' can help to relieve some of the inevitable stress and add greatly to quality of life.
A few suggestions:
- Make life more fun. Know the person; be creative in what will engage them! Have you tried listening to music, dancing, light massage or aromatherapy?
- Modify your living situation to make it easier to find basic facilities like the bathroom.
- Consult your local branch of Dementia Australia or go online to www.dementia.org.au for help with more challenging patterns like wandering, agitation. repetitive questioning.
In every stage of your Marathon, the main care you can give is to maintain a safe environment and give the person as much autonomy as possible.
What Do You Think?
We’d love to hear your experience.
What benefits have you found from medication?
Have you tried any non-pharmacological treatments?
Would you be interested in trying some different treatments if they were available?
Leave us a comment below.
Till next time,
Justus and Kerry