Wellness Digest

Alzheimers Medication And Care

Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disorder with memory loss.  It affects anyone regardless of social class or intelligence.  Thought to be an old person’s disease, it has been known to strike as young as thirty years old.  It gradually destroys the memory and the ability to reason.  A brilliant person with a razor sharp mind can be reduced to a child like person.  It is a terrible situation especially for the loved ones around.  Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s need to take strong medication like Razadyne, Aricept, Memantine, vitamin B12 and others, in addition to sedatives.  As the patients are often child like, they can behave like children in refusing medication.  This puts the caregiver in a dilemma as to how to administer the medication. Caregivers who have to cope with Alzheimer’s will find the situation stressful, emotional and absolutely overwhelming.  The patient in turn can become taciturn, unpredictable, aggressive or anxious. To keep the patient calm, they are often over medicated especially in nursing homes.  This is not in the best interest of the patient.  It is important to be able to learn to communicate with the patient.  Since they often only remember the past, the caregiver has to learn to relate to the patient’s world.  Correcting the patient is not to his best interest.  It’s best to go along with their thinking, to their time and world.  That way they open up and it becomes easier to communicate. A caregiver’s quality care involves carefully monitoring the intake of the prescribed medication and the dosage.  Proper intake of the medicine and strictly following the time interval is paramount to Alzheimer’s management.  A lot of tact and imagination will have to be devised to make the patient take the medication.  The medication can be given with food or drink.  In fact some medication is better off given with food and drink to prevent stomach upsets.  Other medication has to be given on an empty stomach and can prove tricky.  A lot of imagination connected to what the patient remembers will have to be used to achieve the desired result. Monitoring the patient’s condition and the patient’s tolerance to the medication will have to be done regularly with a physician who is a specialist in Alzheimer’s treatment . The caregiver must also learn about the disease and be knowledgeable about the adverse effects of medication and the effects of over dosing.  That way, any negative reaction can be treated as soon as possible.  It is best to keep up-to-date logs of the medication.  The name of the medication and the time each one was taken with the patient’s reaction must be noted.  Especially the adverse reactions.  Just as with children, the medication must be kept out of reach to avoid over dosing without the caregiver’s knowledge. It may be wise for Alzheimer’s caregivers to belong to a support group.  The experience of the people in the support group can help the caregiver even though each case is different and each patient has his own individuality.

 

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