This education pack is designed for live in carers who have undertaken responsibility of providing care to service users who suffer from Dementia.
What is Dementia?
According to information published on the Age UK website, Dementia is a progressive disorder that affects how your brain works and in particular the ability to remember, think and reason. Dementia is not a disease in itself – but a group of symptoms that may accompany a number of diseases that affect the brain.
The most common of these is Alzheimer’s disease. Another is vascular dementia which can develop following a stroke or mini stroke or if there is blood vessel damage that interrupts the flow of blood to your brain. Other types of dementia include – dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia.
Dementia is not a consequence of growing old but the risk of having dementia increases with age. The numbers are staggering – in 2014, of the estimated that 850,000 people who were living with dementia in the UK, 773,502 were aged 65 and over.
Common symptoms of dementia
In most cases, the symptoms that characterise dementia come on gradually and get worse over time, often over a number of years.
Symptoms can vary according to the disease causing them and from person to person. They affect your daily life and are more than just occasional lapses. Symptoms of dementia include:
- Struggling to remember things that happened recently, even though you can easily remember things from longer ago.
- Struggling to follow conversations, particularly in groups.
- Forgetting the names of people or things.
- Struggling to follow a story on television or in a book, or understand magazine and newspaper articles.
- Having trouble remembering the day or date.
- Having trouble remembering where you put something, or where things are kept.
- Being unaware that you are repeating yourself or losing the thread of what you are saying in mid- sentence.
- Difficulty completing familiar tasks.
- Struggling to do things you used to find easy.
- Feeling confused even in a familiar place.
- Having problems controlling your mood, or controlling your emotions.
Both the person with dementia and those around them may not even notice the signs or take them seriously for quite some time.
As a live in carer, you may face numerous challenges when dealing with service users who suffer from dementia. This pack is designed to ensure you are up to speed with the knowledge and practicalities related to dementia sufferers.