Anosognosia is when a patient is unaware they have a disease. This is most common with aging adults diagnosed with dementia and other cognitive impairment. Changes can occur in your loved one’s brain, and makes them believe they don’t have a disease. This situation is frustrating for family members, as aging adults with this condition live in constant denial of the disease.
If you have a loved one in this situation, you don’t have to stress too much. You only need to implement strategies to help them cope. These are some of the ways a 55+ community in Doraville, GA, can help your loved one with anosognosia in dementia.
Empathy and Personalized Care
Retirement communities have dealt with different cases of residents with anosognosia in dementia, so they won’t judge your loved one. Instead, they demonstrate empathy. They see things from an aging adult’s perspective, and instantly offer all the assistance your loved one needs to cope with daily activities.
Therefore, moving your loved one to a 55+ community will help them adjust to the changes discreetly, without upsetting them. These communities offer care options to address situations like this. Therefore, it’s an effective strategy to help them cope with the condition.
Daily Routine
It’s important that aging adults with dementia have a daily routine, as it offers them structure for living. Helping your loved one keep up this routine might be difficult, thus explaining the need for a retirement community. These communities have activities and events, tailored to the conditions of your loved ones. This way, your loved one will always have something to keep them engaged daily.
Professional Help
Once you notice your loved one can no longer cope with daily tasks, you need to start working with team members in assisted living communities. Team members in these communities don’t operate alone, and they understand that you know more about what your loved one is going through. Also, you can tell them your loved one has anosognosia in dementia, so they wouldn’t need to convince them. In addition, retirement communities help your loved one cope with activities of daily living, without the need to admit to this complication.
Safe Environment
Creating a safe environment for your loved one with anosognosia in dementia will help them live without hurting themselves. Cognitive impairment makes them a potential hazard to themselves and others when they engage in activities like driving, cooking, and even managing their finances.
Retirement communities have developed creative ways to stop your loved one from engaging in these activities. Additionally, there are activities and programs to keep them engaged and away from daily living activities.
Learn About the Condition
The most difficult part of dementia is seeing your loved one change before your eyes. Their cognitive ability begins to decline, and it becomes more frustrating when they aren’t accepting the condition. Although you need to move them to a retirement community, as the primary caregiver, you must learn about the condition.
Knowing about anosognosia in dementia will help you stay calm and find solutions to keep your loved ones safe.
