Why Do Dementia Patients Stare At You

What You Can Do For Your Loved One

As an individual with dementia declines, you can help them by providing a loving and supportive presence. Sit with them. Hold their hand. Play music they enjoy.

One of the greatest gifts you can give your loved one is helping to get their affairs in order. Ensure that financial and healthcare powers of attorney are put in place, so you can make decisions when your loved one is no longer able. Look into funeral arrangements before you need them, so you dont need to make important decisions in a time of crisis.

Talk to your loved ones physician about the possibility of palliative care support in the home and hospice care when your loved one is ready.

Dementia Symptoms To Track In Elderly Parents

No one knows your parents personalities, hobbies, or quirks like you do. So if you notice unusual behavioror experience a persistent feeling that something is offtheres a good chance it is. Aging is a well-known risk factor for Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. In fact, the risk of developing Alzheimers disease doubles every five years in people 65 and older.

Learning to spot key dementia symptoms in aging parents and documenting the early stages of dementia can make a big difference. Your observations could provide helpful insight to doctors, which can lead to a quicker and more accurate diagnosis. Discover eight dementia behaviors to track and how to get a diagnosis and treatment.

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Is It Normal For A Person Living With Dementia To Close Her Eyes All Day

Home> Community Voices> Your Questions Answered> Is it normal for a person living with dementia to close her eyes all day?

Is it normal for a person with dementia to close her eyes the whole day while being fed, exercised and laid down to bed? At other times, the person with dementia is wide awake while being fed, walking, listening to stories of the paid caregiver. Is this a cycle with people who have dementia?-Jerry

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Visual Perception And Aging

As we age, we lose the ability to process visual information. Furthermore, medical conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetes may aggravate the visual-perceptual difficulties. The significant changes are:

• Reduced peripheral vision
• A decline in the ability to process distance and three-dimensional objects

Charles Bonnet Syndrome is one condition that may arise with losing vision as we age. Its characterized by having visual hallucinations that may include:

• Patterns of lines, dots, and/or geometric shapes
• Scenery, such as rivers, volcanoes, or mountains
• Insects, characters, creatures, or animals
• Characters draped in costume from an earlier time

Hallucinations are most commonly reported when people wake up and can persist for a few seconds, minutes, or hours. They may be of various forms, move or be still, and appear in black and white or color.

Signs Of Dying In The Elderly With Dementia

Dementia is a general term for a chronic or persistent decline in mental processes including memory loss, impaired reasoning, and personality changes. Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60-80% of all cases of dementia. It is also the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, and over 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimers disease.

Alzheimers disease and most progressive dementias do not have a cure. While the disease inevitably worsens over time, that timeline can vary greatly from one patient to the next.

Caring for a loved one can be challenging and stressful, as the individuals personality changes and cognitive function declines. They may even stop recognizing their nearest and dearest friends and relatives. As dementia progresses, the individual will require more and more care. As a family caregiver, its important to be able to recognize the signs of dying in elderly with dementia. Hospice can help by offering care wherever the individual resides, providing physical, emotional and spiritual care to the patient and support their family.

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Thoughts On Is It Normal For A Person Living With Dementia To Close Her Eyes All Day

• My grandmother is a 106 old lady who sometimes behave like talking to someone I cannot see. Calling names of people who died sometimes ago. Calling names of people who are not around no matter how many times they are not around. She will just continue doing it. When she does that it could be the whole day and night and the next day will be quiet for the whole day looks very exhausted.

Changes In Behaviour Judgement And Moods

Becoming quiet, withdrawn or restless or frustrated or angry can be early signs of dementia. Someone may develop repetitive behaviour for example, they ask the same question over and over again, do the same thing repeatedly or make multiple phone calls to the same person. They may become insecure and anxious or start hiding and losing items. They may withdraw from social activities or give up hobbies and interests they have enjoyed.

They may show poor judgement, for example putting summer clothes on in cold winter months, not knowing when a kettle is full or overfilling cups when making cold and hot drinks, putting a kettle on the hob or leaving a cooker on or tap running. Someone with dementia may become very emotional and experience rapid mood swings or become quieter and less emotional than usual.

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Behaviors That Could Indicate Dementia

1. Difficulty remembering or trouble finding words

Is your parent often tongue-tied? Its normal for older adults to have lapses in thought here and there. But showing signs of forgetfulness every day is an early warning sign of dementia.

If your mom is frequently losing track of her thoughts mid-sentence, or if your dad has trouble finding words in casual conversations, these are dementia signs to note.

2. Inability to learn something new

Is your mom or dad struggling to absorb and retain new information? Is trying a new activity unusually difficult?

If your moms favorite activity is cooking, but shes struggling to use a new appliance or follow a new recipe, dementia may be the culprit. If you notice your parents avoiding new activities or struggling to grasp a new concept, note it.

3. Struggling to manage finances

Do you notice your dad failing to properly manage bills or taxes? Does your mom struggle to balance her checkbook? Watch for bills piling up or other problem-solving skills declining, as these are common behaviors of dementia.

4. Unable to keep track of time

Is your loved one having a hard time remembering what day it is? Are they losing track of time on an even larger scale?

If your elderly parent continues to forget the day, month, year, holidays, or other important dates, this is a red flag. Write down what they forget and how often the lapses occur.

5. Poor judgment and decision making

6. Problems remembering commitments

8. Repetition

Document And Share Dementia Behaviors With A Doctor

If you think that your loved one has dementia, keep a record of the symptoms. Track signs of dementia using your phone or a journal. Its important to share specific examples with a doctor.

If youre worried about upsetting a loved one, submit your observations to their physician privately in writing. Keep in mind that HIPAA authorization is not needed for you to share concerns about your parent with their health professional. However, their doctor wont be able to share a medical diagnosis with you without HIPAA authorization from your parent.

Include details about:

• When you first noticed dementia behavior
• Specific dementia symptoms your parents show
• How often they struggle and when it happens
• Changes in their normal routine or behavior

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Falling More Frequently Than You Used To

Constantly tripping over your own two feet? Everyone falls now and again, but frequent falling could be an early signal of Alzheimers disease, according to research. A study published in October 2021 in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience found that older adults who later develop Alzheimers disease are at higher risk for falls and other accidents in the years prior to their diagnosis than those who don’t have Alzheimers.

People will come into our office concerned because they forgot what was on their grocery list last week, but when their spouse says theyve fallen four times in the past year, thats a sign of a problem, says Rankin. Frequent falls may also be a symptom of other brain disorders, including progressive supranuclear palsy.

Just Because They Can’t Remember Your Name Doesn’t Mean You Aren’t Important To Them

Dont take it personally. In the early stages, it might be your name that they cant recall. In the middle stages, it may be entire events that are gone and even if you retell the story, it might not come back to them. This is not because they dont care, it wasnt meaningful to them, or theyre somehow choosing to forget it. Its the disease.

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Difficulty Forming The Words To Speak

When people who used to be fluent and could speak smoothly stop being able to produce language that way, this may be a sign of dementia, says Rankin. Despite this symptom, patients are often crystal clear in other areas. They can run a business, manage their family, or draw beautifully, but they have increased difficulty actually forming the words to speak.

Additional reporting by Brian P. Dunleavy.

Do You Still Talk To Your Dead Loved Ones

Among those who reported feeling the presence of loved ones, the vast majority indicated they did so indefinitely. Such encounters can compel people to communicate with a long-lost loved one, as seen by the studys finding that 12 percent of participants did so. This chatting might be accompanied by the sensation that the deceased spouse is listening in on the conversation.

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What Causes Sundowners Syndrome

Some studies suggest that as many as 20% of Alzheimer’s patients experience worsening confusion, agitation, and anxiety beginning in the afternoon or evening. Again, doctors do not fully understand sundowners syndrome or its causes, but some potential triggers have been identified. Research suggests that contributing factors may include the following:

• Sensory deprivation or overload
• Unmet physical needs
• Limited mobility or social isolation
• Increased stress levels
• Unfamiliar environment or unexpected change
• Disrupted circadian rhythm, sleep deprivation

Is it Sundowners Syndrome or Delirium?

When it comes to treating and managing sundowning symptoms, the first step is to confirm that it is, in fact, sundowners syndrome and not delirium. Delirium is a medical condition that results in mental confusion and changes in attention span, perception, mood, and activity level. Though delirium is a stand-alone medical condition, people with dementia are highly susceptible to it.

The best way to tell whether your loved one is suffering from delirium or sundowners syndrome is to look at the timing. Delirium sets in quickly over the course of days or weeks rather than months or years, and its associated confusion may fluctuate throughout the day instead of along a predictable late-afternoon or early-evening timeline.

What Doctors Need To Do To Diagnose Dementia

Now that we reviewed the five key features of dementia, lets talk about how I or another doctor might go about checking for these.

Basically, for each feature, the doctor needs to evaluate, and document what she finds.

1. Difficulty with mental functions. To evaluate this, its best to combine an office-based cognitive test with documentation of real-world problems, as reported by the patient and by knowledgeable observers

For cognitive testing, I generally use the Mini-Cog, or the MOCA. The MOCA provides more information but it takes more time, and many older adults are either unwilling or unable to go through the whole test.

Completing office-based tests is important because its a standardized way to document cognitive abilities. But the results dont tell the doctor much about whats going on in the persons actual life.

So I always ask patients to tell me if theyve noticed any trouble with memory or thinking. I also try to get information from family members about any of the eight behaviors that are common in Alzheimers. Lastly, I make note of whether there seem to be any problems managing activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living .

Driving and managing finances require a lot of mental coordination, so as dementia develops, these are often the life tasks that people struggle with first.

Checking for many of these causes of cognitive impairment requires laboratory testing, and sometimes additional evaluation.

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Not Understanding What Objects Are Used For

Now and again, most people find themselves desperately searching for the right word. In fact, failing to find the word you are thinking of is surprisingly common and not necessarily a sign of dementia, says Rankin. But losing knowledge of objects not just what they are called, but also what they are used for is an early dementia symptom. Oddly enough, people who are losing this knowledge can be very competent in other areas of their lives.

Emotional Content Of Conversations

Given that the couples generated their own conversation topics, it was possible that the groupsâ conversations differed in emotional content. Using a text analysis method described in a recent article from our laboratory , we found no differences among the groups in the total number of emotion words, F=1.79, n.s., spoken by the couples when controlling for total words. This suggests that the overall level of emotionality in the conversations was equivalent across groups.

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The Link To Parkinsons Disease

Most people with Parkinsons disease have Lewy bodies in their brains. Its these clusters that cause some or all of the motor symptoms of Parkinsons disease, as well as memory or cognitive problems, visual hallucinations, and problems with alertness.

We rarely know if a living patient has Lewy bodies with certainty, however. Its not until an autopsy that they can be seen, says Liana Rosenthal, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. If we see Lewy bodies in someones brain during an autopsy, thats considered a pathologic certainty of Parkinsons disease, she says.

As with Parkinsons, Lewy body dementia is associated with a depletion of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. These are:

• Dopamine: This neurotransmitter helps transmit signals that control muscle movement. When the accumulation of Lewy bodies blocks dopamines production and transmission, the result is the hallmark movement issues of Parkinsons disease.
• Acetylcholine: This neurotransmitter does its work in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, thinking and processing. When Lewy bodies build up in these areas, they interfere with acetylcholine, causing symptoms of dementia.

What To Do If You’re Concerned

Remember that these visual signs are only one aspect of the person, and they may be related to other conditions. Additionally, some people with dementia initially demonstrate very few of these visual clues, causing much surprise when they’re diagnosed with dementia because “they look so healthy.”

If you’re worried that someone has dementia, review these 10 warning signs of dementia and make an appointment with the physician for an evaluation. While this may be an anxiety-provoking step to take, a doctor’s assessment can also help by identifying reversible causes of confusion or by identifying dementia and beginning treatment as early as possible.

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Stage : Mild Cognitive Impairment

Clear cognitive problems begin to manifest in stage 3. A few signs of stage 3 dementia include:

• Getting lost easily
• Noticeably poor performance at work
• Forgetting the names of family members and close friends
• Difficulty retaining information read in a book or passage
• Losing or misplacing important objects
• Difficulty concentrating

Patients often start to experience mild to moderate anxiety as these symptoms increasingly interfere with day to day life. Patients who may be in this stage of dementia are encouraged to have a clinical interview with a clinician for proper diagnosis.

Common Symptoms Of Sundowners Syndrome

In the early stages of sundowners disease, symptoms may be subtle, inconsistent, and difficult to notice. Early signs of sundowners syndrome include restlessness and agitation, irritability, confusion, disorientation, suspiciousness, and becoming demanding. As the condition progresses, these symptoms become more pronounced and more regular.

At their peak, sundowning symptoms typically develop in the late afternoon, and they can go long into the night. Some of the most common symptoms of sundowning include the following:

• Trouble Sleeping

When it comes to sundowning, the timing of onset varies from one patient to the next and symptoms can often interfere with sleep. Sleep deprivation can then trigger ongoing episodes of sundowning while simultaneously contributing to other symptoms of dementia.

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