Understanding Alzheimer's

jyoung1950 · Jun 14, 2004

Hi all. I have a question about Alzheimer's pts. I'm currently a student and one of the interests I'm leaning towards in Geriatrics. I've only done a few clinical assignments in LTC facilities and am interested in Alzheimer's patients. Are you able to 'reach' them in anyway--guess this depends on the advanced stage of the disease but for the most part, are they able to acknowledge you and your care, able to be comforted, etc.
Thanks so much for any in put.
Sue :)

I give them alot of smiles and touch their hands and when I care for them I always tell them what I am going to do next. Even if they still get stubborn and close to combative I always let them know what I am doing. If they are combative I'll get another aid to help me. Then when I am finished with their care I tell them I love them and sometimes give them a little kiss on their head.

One lady who would fuss and fume when we dressed her for bed and put her into bed would tell me back that she loved me.

I never argue with what they are saying; I carry on a conversation with them even though they are babbling about things out of this world.

By the way, I heard a doctor on TV today state that Alzheimer's really can't be diagnosed until after death and the brain is looked at. He said many other diseases could cause the same symptoms as Alzheimer's.

Cubby · Jun 14, 2004

I also disagree with the nursing-school theory that says you always should try to re-orient them to reality; I say that whatever twilight world they live in IS their reality, that if they think it's 1940 and they're a young wife with a new baby, it's perfectly OK. They don't need to know that it's really 2004 and their "new baby" is a gray-haired grandma who's dying of cancer in another hospital a thousand miles away; if living in that other world makes them happy and helps them to stay calm, who's to say that that's wrong?
Just my 2 cents' worth. :)

Thank you for your sentiment. I have always felt that however "Out-There" they seem to you, that is their reality. I am not going to be the one who says it isn't. You have to accept these gentle souls as they are and TRY to get their attention focused on something besides what they are obsessing about at that time. It does no one any good to try to reorient them,they are oriented, only in their world.