Seven Early Symptoms of Dementia
Senior home care can help seniors stay independent with daily support and care.
Caring for a loved one with dementia can be challenging, especially during the early stages when symptoms may not always be obvious. Recognizing these signs early on is crucial to providing the right support and ensuring their safety. Senior home care plays a vital role during this time, offering assistance with daily tasks and helping seniors maintain their independence while managing the changes brought on by dementia.
In this blog, we’ll explore seven early signs of dementia and how senior home care can make a difference in their lives.
Seven Early-Dementia Signs to Watch For
- Short-term memory challenges such as forgetting to attend an important appointment or not being able to remember why she entered a room. Senior home care providers can help manage and provide support for these moments of forgetfulness.
- Loss of interest in things she used to enjoy. Many people with dementia begin to withdraw from their favorite activities and may spend most of their day sitting in front of the TV or staying in bed. Senior home care professionals can encourage engagement and help bring joy back into daily routines.
- Struggling to complete tasks. It becomes difficult to follow multiple instructions, even when written out in front of her. She may not realize she skipped from step 3 to step 6, or she might repeat a step multiple times.
- Having difficulty remembering everyday words. It’s not uncommon to forget a rarely used word or the name of a restaurant she went to once ten years ago, but forgetting the word for cup or McDonald’s is more problematic.
- Getting easily confused. Your loved one may get overwhelmed and more easily confused in situations that aren’t normally too complicated. If asked to use her credit card to pay for something, she might struggle to find it and then get confused about how to use it.
- Easily becoming lost. Familiar places are no longer familiar, and your loved one might get lost in her neighborhood or home. A senior home care provider can assist with supervision and ensure they stay safe in these situations.
- She repeats herself a lot. She might tell you multiple times about a show she watched and not remember that she told you even when you reminded her.
Helping Your Loved One During Early Dementia
During the beginning stages of dementia, many seniors can continue to live in their homes with a little daily or weekly assistance. A senior home care provider can help your loved one stay independent by providing services that support him as his cognitive abilities decline. You might still need to have family members step in and assist in some areas as well, but when teamed up with a professional senior home care provider, your loved one can still enjoy many of his freedoms.
Some areas a senior home care provider can assist with:
- Helping with transportation. Once dementia begins to set in, driving can become dangerous for your loved one. She might forget or ignore the rules of the road (like knowing what the speed limit is), and she might easily get confused and turned around, ending up someplace she shouldn’t. A senior home care provider who can help with transportation can keep her safe as she travels.
- Assistance with meals. Many early dementia patients struggle with following simple instructions like reading a recipe or following multiple steps in reheating a meal. They might walk away in mid-preparation or skip over an important step completely. A senior home care provider can ensure your loved one is still eating well while keeping his kitchen and pantry a safe place for him to navigate.
- Maintaining the home and assisting with chores. If your loved one is struggling to remember to do basic home cleaning tasks like keeping the bathroom clean or washing her clothes, a senior home care provider can help her stay on top of her house cleaning needs.
If you or someone you know needs help with Senior Home Care in Jenison, MI, contact Gauthier Family Home Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services in our community. Call us at (616) 560-4057 for more information.
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