Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia can be a long, stressful, and intensely emotional journey, this is why many families opt to get help from senior living facilities like the one at carltonseniorliving.com/community/san-jose/. Some individuals with dementia may become aggressive and physical with you or other caregivers (dementia violence) when appropriate medical/pharmacological interventions are no longer effective in treating behavioral symptoms or when caring for someone who is having psychotic episodes in the later stages of Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia can take a toll on your physical as well as your mental health—family and friends often become the main providers of care to their loved ones with an idiopathic form of progressive memory loss who have begun to lose the ability to communicate their needs to their families because of a loss of mental faculties such as those associated with Alzheimer’s or the other types of degenerative brain disease that impair everyday functioning such as Parkinson’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

As there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s or dementia, it is often your caregiving and support that makes the biggest difference to your loved one’s quality of life. October is National Family Caregivers Month and it is the perfect time to talk to your family about the kind of support your loved ones will need to help them cope day to day with their diagnosis and with any ensuing changes that come with a diagnosis like memory loss and /or cognitive decline as well as their roles and responsibilities as caregiver(s).

According to professionals like those at senior memory care, caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia can often seem to be a series of grief experiences as you watch your loved one’s memories disappear and skills erode. In the face of everyday challenges, you may find it helpful to recognize the five stages of grief and to know that you’re not alone in experiencing them: denial/isolation; anger & guilt at situation or personal loss (“Why me?”) and/or feeling unworthy or unlovable due to new caregiving demands at home. The caregiver may also feel demoralized as their role becomes one-sided and demanding of time and emotional energy that they once reserved for work and leisure pursuits. Finally the Caregiver may come to acceptance and peace within themselves and their ability to provide quality care to the ill person they love so dearly is strengthened through understanding and acceptance with the support of others in their community.

While everyone’s experiences of Alzheimer’s or dementia are different, the more you learn about the condition and how it’s likely to progress, the better you’ll be able to prepare for future challenges and take advantage of current opportunities for giving and receiving support along the way. It may also help to understand that each person’s journey with dementia is unique—there is no “typical” experience of how the disease will progress or how caregivers will react at each stage of the illness experience or provide care to the person affected by these changes during different times of their life together – it’s the uniqueness that’s truly important in a journey without conclusion. We suggest visiting websites like https://www.pioneerplacememoryhaven.com/ and other similar services such as summerfieldstockton.com/memory-care/ to find support for your senior loves ones struggling with this condition.