Caring for someone with dementia

If you or someone you care for is given a diagnosis of dementia, you will probably feel scared and bewildered. People experience a range of emotions including grief, anger, shock, fear and even disbelief. There are 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia, with one person diagnosed every three minutes. And it’s not just older people who can be affected by it – more than 40,000 people under the age of 65 in the UK have the condition. If you are worried about your memory, or someone else’s, ask your GP to refer you to a memory clinic for tests. As every carer of someone with dementia knows, the condition impacts on the whole family. While the condition may ‘plateau’ for a while, things can change quickly – and carers may worry about what lies ahead. It is essential that carers look after their own wellbeing; it’s not selfish to have time off to rest or meet up with friends and family. It’s also important to accept offers of help, especially if you’ve always coped before. Dementia is extremely stressful to deal with, but there are things that carers can try to keep their loved one occupied and busy in the earlier stages, such as getting out old photographs or putting on nostalgic TV programmes to spark memories. Encouraging them to stay active and carry on with hobbies if possible may also help vary the routine, which in turn can help carers cope. Drugs can help slow the progression of symptoms in some types of dementia, so keep in touch with your GP. Dementia is not an inevitable part of getting older, but if memory problems are starting to impact on day-to-day life, see your GP and explain your concerns, as early diagnosis will mean that medication may be available. There are other reasons that someone may have memory loss including depression, chest and urinary infections, vitamin and thyroid deficiencies, and brain tumours, so it’s important that you get a proper diagnosis.