Seniors with dementia experience the same prevalence of conditions likely to cause pain as seniors without dementia. Pain is often overlooked in older adults and, when screened for, often poorly assessed, especially among those with dementia since they become incapable of informing others that they're in pain. Beyond the issue of humane care, unrelieved pain has functional implications. Persistent pain can lead to decreased ambulation, depressed mood, sleep disturbances, impaired appetite and exacerbation of cognitive impairment and pain-related interference with activity is a factor contributing to falls in the elderly. Although persistent pain in the person with dementia is difficult to communicate, diagnose and treat, failure to address persistent pain has profound functional, psychosocial and quality of life implications for this vulnerable population.
Signs and symptoms that affect a person include personality changes, memory loss, and inability to reason, inappropriate behavior, paranoia, agitation and hallucinations. Associated health risks of Alzheimer’s disease include mobility problems and an increase in falls, aspiration due to swallowing difficulties, because of memory loss; social activity may
They may find it difficult to carry out physical tasks due to sensory loss. A person is unique and may have had different life experiences which means the way dementia affects them is personal to them. They have different likes/ dislikes and needs so we must try to meet these the best we can. 1.3 A person with dementia may feel excluded from society because the way they are treated by other's. They may not be given the opportunity to be involved just because other's haven't got the time of day for them.
Observing body language helps the speaker if the other person understands/agrees. Observation helps understand the effectiveness of communication. Body language is instinctive and more reliable than verbal communication in many cases. Outcome 2 2.1 Some people have communication difficulties, people with Autism, dementia or people who are physically unable to speak. In order to support individuals with communication difficulties their needs, need to be understood of the difficulties they face.
Many of the clients and their family support will struggle with their emotions due to their injury, disability, or mental health status. A few examples of clients’ emotions would be confusion, anger, guilt, embarrassment, joy, pride, and excitement. Ensuring trust, offering empathy, and directing guidance are crucial roles for an Occupational Therapist in order to progressively treat a client. Without a bond between Occupational Therapist and client, advancing treatment would be difficult on both parties. There are numerous subfields, key issues, and perspectives in psychology.
Whist communicating it is important to observe the other person as well as listen carefully to what they are saying as this can give clues as to whether they have understood you, heard you or are telling the whole truth. Body language can tell you as much about a person as their spoken word. E.g. do they grimace, tense up whilst being washed or moved – are they in pain? Are they making eye contact with you?
Nina 1 Dementia describes a group of symptoms that are caused by changes in brain function. Dementia symptoms may include asking the same questions repeatedly; becoming lost in familiar places; being unable to follow directions; getting disoriented about time, people, and places; and neglecting personal safety, hygiene, and nutrition. People with dementia lose their abilities at different rates. They are several neurologic disease for which dementia is the major symptom. They are called neurodegenerative disorder simply because they degenerate the nervous system .Alzheimer disease is by far the most common neurodegenerative disorder.The cause of AD are still very unclear.
1.4 Explain how other factors can cause changes in an individual's condition that may not be attributable to dementia. Sensory changes due to age-related degeneration eg: loss of hearing and increase of things affecting balance. Head trauma after an accident ie: car crash or ski accident. Depression can impair the ability to create long term memories and the individual can have a negative view of life recalling negative and unhappy experiences. Cardiac problems such as heart failure/coronary artery disease that reduces the blood flow.
key functions of the brain that are effected by dementia are processing and understanding information given to them, speaking can be difficult and often their language is jumbled up and incoherent, memory is poor as they forget recent things but may be able to remember things that happened years ago. They may also lack the ability to make sound judgements and make poor decisions. The key functions that are affected by dementia are: Temporal lobe = responsible for vision, memory, language, hearing, learning Frontal lobe = responsible for decision making , problem solving, control behaviour and emotions Parietal lobe = responsible for sensory information from the body, also where letters are formed, putting things in order and spatial awareness Occipital lobe = responsible for processing information related to vision Cerebrum lobe = biggest part of the Brain its role is memory, attention, thought, and our consciousness, senses and movement Hippocampus = responsible for memory forming, organizing and storing and emotions 1.3 explain why depression, delirium and age-related memory impairment may be mistaken for dementia. Depression, delirium and age-related memory impairment can often be mistaken for dementia as there are many similarities. This may be the case because they all share many of the same symptoms as dementia, for example: Symptoms of depression: Anxiety, irritability, Delusions Hallucinations Increased or decreased body movements Pacing, wringing their
There is also the social exclusion side of the illness as well. They may feel like they no longer want to participate in their usual hobbies or going out socially with friends. They may also feel like they are a burden on people and chose to withdraw even more from society. “Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms gradually get worse over time. How quickly dementia progresses vary greatly from person to person.” (Alzheimer`s Society, 2013 p.2.b.)