Finding out that your partner, your mother, father, sister, brother, or other family member or close friend has been diagnosed with a memory-based illness such as Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia is a highly emotionally charged time indeed. With this in mind, here is some helpful advice for coping with a loved one’s diagnosis of dementia and how to help them as best you can as the disease progresses. 

Make Yourself Aware of the Common Signs & Symptoms

It may well be the case that your loved one’s medical doctor has diagnosed their dementia in the first stage, and as such, you might not notice any particular and reoccurring signs for several months or even years.

However, no matter the stage of your loved one’s dementia progression, it would be incredibly helpful to make yourself aware of the common signs and symptoms of dementia, which are as follows:

• Losing track of the time of day or the date
• Starting to experience difficulty in conversation and communication 
• Mood changes that could include periods of impromptu aggression
• A feeling of disorientation and confusion when walking
• Forgetting the names of loved ones, recent events, or commonly-visited places
• Requiring more and more help with personal care 

Start to Think About the Future

Obviously, every individual’s journey through dementia is entirely different, but, unfortunately, the sad fact remains that in the vast majority of cases, signs and symptoms of dementia do progress over time. 

This is why, even though it can seem unnatural to start thinking about the future, especially in the early stages of diagnosis, it can actually help not only focus your own mind but also to provide a sense of control to your loved one. 

Moving to an assisted living facility with built-in, onsite memory care facilities is certainly one of the best ways for you and your loved one to adapt and adjust to the diagnosis and to move forward together. They can get the appropriate care they need, and you don’t have to worry about caregiver stress that can often come with it. 

Learn Ways of Communicating with Your Loved One

As touched on above, one of the most common symptoms of dementia is a reduced ability to converse and confusion when recalling past events in conversation. This is why it would be incredibly helpful and productive, both to benefit yourself and your loved one, to adapt and improve your own skills at communication. Adapting your cues, the words you use, and the sentences you construct can make a huge difference to your loved one’s understanding and how comfortable they feel. 

Always convey positive and calm facial expressions throughout any conversation, however long or short. Speak slightly slower than you would usually and ensure that you annunciate every word and steer conversations to cherished memories from the past.

Other ways to more effectively communicate with your loved one include minimizing the level of distractions in the room, such as turning off the television and radio, sitting in front of your loved one, and maintaining eye contact throughout the conversation.