Services for Caregivers
Caregivers of persons living with dementia face unique challenges. Dementia progression can take several years and the caregiving needs vary as their loved ones transit through the stages of dementia. The good news is, no one caregiver is alone. There are several initiatives in Singapore to help support caregivers, specifically those caring for loved ones living with dementia. Read on to learn more about them!
Managing Grief & Loss
Dealing with loss is a part of life. It is all right to feel sad when a loved one passes on.
Grief is a reaction to any form of loss. While it is a universal experience, responses to it vary from person to person, depending on a range of factors such as one’s relationship with the beloved, and the meaning one attaches to them. Here are some common reactions that you and your other family members may experience while experiencing grief.
Taking a Breather
It is good to think about caregiving as something akin to running a marathon. Like in a marathon, you will want to pace yourself, making sure that you do not run too fast and burn out before the race is over. Pace yourself from the start so that you will not be overwhelmed over the years of your caregiving journey. More importantly, ask for help and take an occasional breather so that you can recharge yourself for the next leg of the journey.
Dealing With Caregiver Stress
Caring for a loved one with dementia can be stressful. Find out some self-care stress management techniques to deal with caregiver stress. These include ways to adjust your mindset and how you might manage your emotions and health.
Managing Negative Emotions
A caregiver’s role is challenging, especially if you need to balance a job, family and housework on top of caring for your loved one living with dementia. You may think you can or should do everything by yourself, or may want things to be done well with very good outcomes. This is understandable, as the stakes are high in caregiving. However, it is not always possible to have things done perfectly as a caregiver, and expecting this may increase the likelihood of burnout.
The Needs of Informal Caregivers
When working with informal caregivers (family members, friends, or foreign domestic workers) of persons living with dementia, it is important to first understand their needs, worries, and struggles, before working with them to develop and implement an effective care and support plan. A research conducted locally in 2013 explored the experiences and challenges informal caregivers of persons living with dementia face. Through the study, they identified the following unmet needs of these caregivers:
Risk Factors
There is no single cause of dementia. Rather, a combination of multiple factors is associated with the development of dementia. Family history and lifestyle factors, such as exercise patterns, dietary habits, and stress levels, are examples of risk factors that may contribute to the onset of dementia. Risk factors are characteristics which increase the likelihood of developing a disease. Their presence does not guarantee the development of the disease in question. For example, not everyone who smokes develops heart disease and not everyone with heart disease has been a smoker. However, a person who smokes is more likely to develop heart disease.
Learn about Dementia via E-Learning
Want to learn more about dementia? The following article provides a list of e-learning programmes to better support your loved one’s needs.
Different Types of Dementia
Alzhemer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. It is caused by the build-up of certain kinds of proteins in and around brain cells. It has an insidious (slow) onset and is a progressive disease whereby symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. AD is irreversible, slowly impairs memory and thinking skills, and may eventually affect the ability to carry out simple tasks such as eating. Currently, there is no cure for this disease but treatment can help manage symptoms of AD.
Is It Dementia or Other Conditions?
Some conditions share symptoms with dementia. Here is a comparison between dementia, mild cognitive impairment, depression, and delirium.
Debunking Myths About Dementia
There are many myths surrounding dementia. Here are some common myths that have often exacerbated the stigma of dementia and perpetuated negative stereotypes about the condition. Dementia is an illness that affects the brain and is not a natural part of ageing. It is a condition that affects the brain, leading to progressive memory loss, decline in cognitive abilities, and personality changes.
What Is Dementia?
Dementia is a collection of different symptoms characterised by a progressive worsening of memory and intellect (cognitive abilities), orientation, or personality, that is caused by the diseases that affect the brain. It is not a natural part of ageing. Persons living with dementia eventually lose the ability to do things to a level that affects their daily functioning, such as working, performing daily activities, or social interaction.1 They may gradually find the following abilities challenging.
9 Differences Between Normal Ageing & Dementia
Forgetfulness is not the only warning sign of dementia. Instead, it might be a result of normal ageing and not dementia. Learn how dementia is different from normal ageing. As we age, some of us may get more forgetful and require a bit more time to recall things, or even struggle to multitask. It can get a little worrying that these might be early signs of dementia. However, these can be a result of normal ageing and not dementia. The table below compares the 9 differences between signs of normal ageing and symptoms of dementia.
Dementia Signs & Symptoms
Although symptoms of dementia vary between individuals, there are some common warning signs. Every person living with dementia is unique and does not present the same symptoms. The needs and manifestations vary between individuals although there are some common symptoms.
How Dementia Changes The Brain
Knowing how dementia changes the brain, which affects dementia symptoms, helps us to understand why persons living with dementia behave the way they do. The human brain is an organ of the nervous system that controls the body’s activities, processes information received by the body, and controls psychological functions such as cognition and emotion. Changes in the condition of brain regions can cause temporary or long-lasting impairment.
How The Brain Works
Dementia can affect the entire brain. Learn how the brain works and understand how changes in specific brain regions can affect the ways dementia symptoms manifest.
Non-Modifiable Risk Factors
Here are four common non-modifiable risk factors of disease that have been associated to the development of dementia. The greatest risk factor for dementia is age. Although age increases risk, dementia is not a normal part of ageing, and ageing is not itself a cause of dementia.
Modifiable Risk Factors & Lowering Risk
Although factors such as genes, gender, race, and age are not within control, there are things that can be done to reduce the risk of developing dementia. Individuals can make lifestyle changes to reduce their risks of developing dementia, and systemic societal changes can be made to reduce the incidence of dementia in a community.
Benefits of Getting a Dementia Diagnosis
Have you or your loved one been living with memory loss for some time? Have you been concerned about whether you or your loved one has dementia? A diagnosis may help address these concerns and reduce any anxiety you may have regarding these symptoms your loved one is experiencing.
ABCDs of Dementia Progression
All types of dementia are progressive. This means that while symptoms may at first be mild, they deteriorate with time. As dementia progresses, a person with this condition will need increasingly more help and support with daily living. Dementia affects every individual differently. This includes their experience of the symptoms, the rate at which the condition progresses (which itself varies across the different types of dementia), and the type and level of support required.
Where to Get a Diagnosis?
Diagnosis can be conducted at several places including the hospitals listed below and certified general practitioners’ clinics.
You may obtain a professional diagnosis by approaching the places below:
General Practitioners
You can approach local General practitioners (GPs) who are certified to support and provide mental health assessments and diagnosis.
A recommended list of certified GPs can be found at Pg. 83 to 86 in ‘A Resource Kit for Caregivers’ by AIC.
Starting a Conversation About Diagnosis
If you suspect your loved one is displaying the signs and symptoms of dementia, you should encourage him or her to get properly diagnosed and treated. However, starting a conversation with someone on this sensitive issue may not be easy. This article will first provide a short guide to how to start a conversation with a person living with dementia about getting a diagnosis, and then detail some guiding points about how to navigate these conversations.
Who Can Diagnose Dementia?
Screening persons for dementia and a diagnosis of dementia are two different things.
Screening for dementia with tools like the Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) cannot be used to diagnose a person with dementia. They are instead used to spot some obvious symptoms of dementia in persons being screened, after which persons who have been identified with dementia symptoms may be encouraged to consult a doctor for further testing.