Cognitive Decline While Living Alone: Early Warning Signs Family Members Miss

When an elderly person lives alone, early warning signs of cognitive decline, and potentially dementia, can easily fly under the radar. If left unnoticed, cognitive decline can have serious consequences for both the sufferer and their families.

Spotting the signs and getting a dementia diagnosis allows families to develop a care plan, get finances in order, and understand the next steps to take.

In this article we’ll outline the early warning signs of dementia, as well as highlighting the steps to take to keep your loved one safe.

The difference between normal aging and dementia

While the process of aging involves symptoms such as memory loss, struggling with daily tasks, and occasional disorientation, it doesn’t present the same difficulties as dementia. Dementia sufferers will experience similar symptoms, just to a far greater degree of severity where daily life is turned upside down.

In short, dementia isn’t a traditional part of aging, but instead a syndrome caused by brain disease. Here is a further comparison between the two.

Memory loss

It’s natural for the elderly to experience blips in their memory, such as forgetting someone’s name or where they left their glasses. These blips are usually short term and can be rectified within minutes. For those with dementia, it would be a severe understatement to refer to gaps in memory as ‘blips’.

Instead, dementia sufferers will forget information they have only just learnt, often repeatedly asking the same question as a result. They will also forget faces, names, and someone’s very being, having a devastating effect on the sufferer and their friends/family.

Daily tasks

Struggles with daily tasks for those with normal aging are often a result of technological incompetence rather than a genuine inability to complete a task. Those with dementia will struggle with tasks they have previously mastered, such as cooking basic meals or looking after pets.

Disorientation

Disorientation is a major symptom of dementia, with sufferers becoming lost in places they know well. They will also forget dates and times, sometimes forgetting what time of year it is. As previously mentioned, normal aging involves temporary forgetfulness, which includes dates and times. This tends to be in its very essence temporary, with the information usually being figured out quickly.

Remote monitoring technologies for dementia sufferers

Those going through dementia can be aided with the help of remote monitoring technologies. With the help of wearable monitoring technology, family members and response teams can keep an eye on the patient without having to be present at all hours.

Remote monitoring technology includes:

• GPS monitoring: Being able to track the location of a dementia sufferer is vital, as it is common for them to wander. This links back to disorientation symptoms, where dementia patients can get lost in familiar places. By tracking their location, you can quickly respond if you see them heading out of the house or somewhere they’re not supposed to go.

• Fall detection: Many remote monitoring systems, such as the options sold by SureSafe, have automatic fall detection technology. Falling is common with natural aging as well as amongst those with dementia, and can cause serious harm to aging bodies. If the patient were to fall, a panic alarm would be triggered, instantly alerting remote response teams.

• Panic button: Panic buttons are also important for dementia sufferers when they’re in a troubling situation. Whether they press the button themselves is dependent on the stage of their condition. However, if they are lost in public, a noticeable, wearable panic button can be pressed by a passerby to alert a response team of the situation.

Communication strategies with resistant seniors

A perceived loss of independence, feelings of intrusion, and general stubbornness can cause many elderly people to resist wearing remote monitoring technology. This makes it difficult for family members and healthcare professionals to guarantee their safety, especially as their condition worsens. However, with the right communication strategies, convincing them that it’s for the best is very much doable.

Understand their resistance

Effective communication with the elderly is built on empathy. By letting them know you understand their discomfort with monitoring, they will be more inclined to listen to your reasoning. If they don’t feel listened to, they will be more likely to dig their heels in.

Lay out the benefits

Explain clearly that wearing a monitoring device is for their benefit just as much as it is yours. Let them know that the device will actually help them maintain their independence, as they won’t need round-the-clock supervision.

Don’t overload them

Explaining the technology to someone who may not fully understand what it is or how it works can be intimidating. Try not to use technological or medical jargon, instead keeping your language simple and concise.

Ask them what they think

While you will have to do the lion’s share of the talking, it’s important that you maintain an active conversation rather than a lecture. Ask them what they think or if they have any questions about the device.

Let them in on the decision making

You don’t want to appear to be forcing the system on the elderly person, which is why it’s important they have a say in the decision making process. This can involve choosing the system that’s right for them, giving them a sense of control.

When independent living is no longer safe

As a dementia patient’s condition further deteriorates, there will come a point when independent living is no longer safe. Their cognitive decline will be noticeable and may result in a fatal accident if they are not moved into assisted living in time. Signs include:

• Physical decline: When a person’s cognitive abilities decline, their physical abilities tend to follow soon after. Frequent falls and general frailty put the patient in serious harm whilst home alone.

• Poor hygiene/self care: Poor hygiene, forgetting to take medication, and forgetting to eat and drink are typical signs of later-stage dementia. This will cause the patient to rapidly lose weight.

• Safety hazards: Cluttered mail, obstacles left on the floor, the oven being left on, and sockets being overloaded will put the patient at extreme risk. In the case of the latter two, they present a fire risk which will put other people in harm’s way, as well as the dementia sufferer.

• Financial vulnerability: Dementia patients are at full risk of exploitation, which is often related to their finances. They are also likely to forget to pay bills, leading to more stress for their families/guardians.

Legal considerations: Lasting Power of Attorney and guardianship

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is the current legal mechanism used in the UK for managing the care and affairs of a person with dementia. It allows the person with dementia to nominate people to make decisions for them if their cognitive abilities were to completely deteriorate in the future.

The LPA must be set up and signed while the person with dementia still has the mental capacity to understand what the document involves. This makes it one of the first important steps to take after a dementia diagnosis.

LPAs are split into two sections:

Health and welfare

This surrounds decisions about daily care, the treatment the patient receives, and future decisions about moving the patient into a care home. The individuals nominated by the patient can only make these decisions once it is deemed that the patient has lost cognitive capability to do so themselves.

Property and financial affairs

This covers the financial situation of the patient, including the management of bank accounts, paying bills, and collecting benefits or pensions. It also includes the decision of selling the patient’s property if they have moved to assisted living. Unlike health and welfare, this LPA can be used as soon as the document is signed, providing the patient has given permission.

The forms must be signed by the dementia patient, their nominated attorneys, a witness, and the certificate provider. They will then need to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

Making dementia care simpler with SureSafe

As you go through the different stages of dementia, the support system around the sufferer needs to increase. This isn’t often easy, especially with family and friends navigating lives of their own. That’s where SureSafe remote monitoring systems can help.

Our systems will help maintain independence while ensuring a response if anything were to happen. We also stock technology to help elderly people navigate natural aging, lone workers, and people who have seizures.

To learn more about our products, contact us on 0808 304 0480, get in touch with our live chat, or request a call back.