How Dementia Can Affect Your Body Physically
Dementia has long been known to affect the mind, but it's been found that it can also cause physical symptoms. Knowing this in advance can help you keep track of the disease, plan for it, and stay ahead of it. Read on to see exactly how dementia can physically affect you and be prepared to help your loved one or yourself.
The Connection Between the Body and the Brain
Doctors have come to believe that the symptoms of dementia are a result of the buildup of harmful proteins in the brain. These proteins, tau and amyloid, join together and form plaques, tangles, and large clumps that interfere with normal brain function and also kill healthy brain cells.
The reason why people in the early stages of dementia have trouble remembering things is because this damage normally starts in the part of your brain that forms memories.
As the disease progresses, the clusters and plaque start to appear in the parts of the brain in charge of bodily functions. It is at this stage that things like eating, going to the bathroom, and walking start getting harder.
Different people will suffer from different effects and the disease will also progress at different paces. While the average life expectancy is between four to eight years, there are people who live up to 20 years after they have been diagnosed.
The Physical Changes of Dementia
As mentioned, the symptoms differ for everyone, as does when they appear and how they develop. For some people, the physical problems actually appear before the mental ones.
Some of these physical changes are:
- Developing stiffness in the muscles
- Loss of coordination and balance
- Fatigue and weak muscles
- Shuffling as you walk
- Having trouble sitting up in a chair as well as standing up
- Fatigue and weak muscles
- Uncontrollable twitches and even seizures
- Changes in sleeping patterns
- Having trouble controlling the bowels and bladder
These symptoms may all appear, or someone may have just one of them. Over time, things like brushing your teeth, changing clothes, and washing your hair and body will become more challenging.
Further Challenges Involved with Dementia
Due to the added complications, people with advanced dementia need a lot more care. Speech also becomes an issue, so while taking care of someone with advanced Alzheimer's, it's advisable to keep speech simple. Limit communication to basic subjects and ask questions that can be easily answered as meaningful conversation will practically be impossible to have.
Due to the difficulty of eating and drinking, it's advisable to cut food into small pieces or purée it. This is necessary to avoid dehydration and malnutrition as well as hazards like choking. Add drinkable supplements and proteins to the diet of a person suffering from dementia to make sure they're getting the right amount of nutrients.
As these needs get more complicated, it may be a good idea to consider an in home care agency like Comfort Keepers or have a full-time caretaker. For this decision, it's good to involve the family doctor and other family members. Comfort Keepers provides caregivers that are trained to recognize and deal with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Progressive Health Problems
Declining health leads to an increased risk for more health problems. These include:
- Injuries due to slips and falls
- Pneumonia from food and drinks which may get accidentally inhaled
- Infections due to a failing immune system
- Heart attacks and other heart complications
As much as it may be difficult to have the conversation of how you would like yourself or your loved one to be cared for as the disease progresses, it's a necessary conversation. The earlier this is done, the better things will be in the end. It may also be a good idea to commit these instructions to writing so that they will be followed to the letter.
Working with a doctor from the early stages of the disease may help provide insight on the best way to manage the issues as they occur. Asking for help whenever things become too much is a great way of making sure you don't get overwhelmed. Whether you are making these plans for yourself or for a loved one, remember that failure to plan is essentially planning to fail. Leave nothing to chance, therefore, so that things will be easier for everyone involved in the end.
Comfort Keepers provides in home care for the elderly in Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods (including Laguna Woods Village) and the surrounding communities of South Orange County. Besides in home memory care we offer a variety of in home personal care services with plans customized to meet your personal needs. For more information or to find out more about Comfort Keeper care services in South Orange County contact us online or call (949) 481-6900 anytime to speak to a client care coordinator.
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