What can I do to help myself?

To download this document- What can I do to help myself? 

 

The good news is that there are many things you can do to help yourself and help maintain your independence for as long as possible. The changes described above are not sudden changes but changes that occur gradually and often over a period of years. Making changes to your lifestyle may help you to adjust to these changes more easily.

 

Here are some top tips to help you, help yourself:

 

·      Positive mental attitude

Try to stay positive. By staying positive, you will find having dementia much easier to adjust to. Try to concentrate on what you can do, rather than what you cannot do. You can still enjoy life but you have to make adjustments to get the most out of it.

 

·      Maintain a good diet

It is very important that you eat well and drink plenty of fluids. If you do not eat well or become dehydrated from not drinking enough, you may become unwell and as a result, become confused.

 

Whilst many people enjoy an alcoholic drink, try to keep this to a minimum and seek advice if your medications warn against drinking alcohol.

 

·      Exercise

The benefits of exercise are just the same for people who have been diagnosed with dementia as for those people who have not. The important thing to consider is that it might be wise to have someone with you if you exercise outside of the home, or carry your address with you in case you should become lost.

 

·      Manage long term conditions

If you suffer from long term medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, it is important that you continue to manage these conditions in order to stay well and to try and prevent your health from deteriorating. You may need to speak to your GP for advice or ask for a referral to someone else who may be able to help. This could be in practical ways such as organising your medication into as fewer doses as possible or getting someone to remind you when to take tablets or help with your diet.

 

·      Socialise

People diagnosed with dementia often feel embarrassed to tell people about their diagnosis and withdraw from their usual social activities. However, most people close to you will already realise that you have had problems with your memory. By discussing your difficulties with them, it will much easier for both of you to find ways to cope with your difficulties together.

 

Continuing to take part in your usual activities where possible, will not only give you some purpose but it will enable you to enjoy yourself. Shutting yourself away will increase the chances of becoming depressed and socially isolated.

 

·      Humour

There will be times when things happen, or you do things which you might find embarrassing, irritating or frustrating. If you are able to find humour in these situations, it will make life much less stressful for both you and anyone whom you are close to. It also makes it easier to talk about things.

 

·      Keep to a routine

Keeping to a routine is one of the best memory prompts. By establishing usual patterns of behaviour, this in itself will be become prompts as well as make you feel more secure and less anxious.

 

One very useful thing to do is to always put important information, documents, keys or valuables in the same place so it is easy for you to find what you are looking for.

 

·      Make notes

Write down things you want to do and things you want to ask of people. Keep the notes in the same place, usually near to where you sit most often in your home. Refer to the notes regularly and ask other people to add to your notes. They might write down reminders for you. This should include important telephone numbers and contact details.

 

·      Orientation prompts

There are various useful prompts to help you to become orientated to time and date. Calendars, diaries, notice boards and clocks with date displays are very useful as prompts.

 

Because short term memory difficulties are a big problem in dementia, keeping track of what time and day it is can be very difficult to do. As a result, people can become disorientated. By having a calendar or diary close at hand, you can tick off the days to help keep you orientated. Asking someone to check this with you can be a good idea in case you tick off two days in one day. You can also record appointments, which otherwise would be difficult to remember.

 

Newspapers can also be useful in reminding you of dates and keeping up with what is going on in the world and clocks with date displays are a useful as a backup to your calendar or diary.

 

Notice boards can be a good visual clue and hold appointment cards, letters you want to show someone, a list of your medications and other useful pieces of information; such as telephone numbers etc.

 

·      Labels and notices

Some people like to use labels to help themselves find things around their home. For example, labels on cupboard doors to remind you where you keep tea and coffee or besides switches to remind you not to turn things off such as the fridge. Some people respond well to notices on doors suggesting that they do not go out by themselves as their dementia progresses.

 

·      Mental stimulation

Mental activity is helpful in passing the time, enjoying yourself, getting satisfaction from achieving something and may slow down the deterioration in your mental abilities. ‘Brain training’ activities such as puzzles, crosswords and quizzes are all useful things to do. Doing them with other people is even better and some people have found hand held games consoles and portable computers fun to use.

 

·      Simplify things

As time goes on, people with dementia will find every day activities more difficult. With this in mind, start to simplify things where possible. For example, if tying shoe laces is becoming a problem, buy slip-on shoes. If fastening buttons is a problem, try larger buttons, or avoid buying clothing with small buttons. This could also apply to where you keep things in your home or with preparing food and cooking.

 

·      Multi-sensory stimulation

Try to vary the activities you do and make use of all of your senses. For example, listening to music, walking in gardens where you can smell flowers and herbs and enjoy creative activities where you can make things.

 

·      Information sharing

The ‘Message in a Bottle Scheme’ was introduced to enable emergency services to find information about people quickly. Information such as medical history, medication, allergies, next of kin etc is kept in a specially labelled plastic bottle in the fridge. A sticker is then placed on the front of the fridge and also on the back of the front door, reminding emergency staff that there is a bottle with information contained in it, within the fridge. The Lions International club give these out free of charge. An example of what information goes into the bottle can be seen on a form which you can download here: http://www.lions.org.uk/PDF/miab_insert_form.pdf

 

The ‘Carers ID Key Fob Scheme’ is literally a key fob which informs emergency services that if something happens to a carer, there is someone at home who may need assistance. It contains contact information and the names of other people who might be able to help. These are available from the council.

 

The ‘ICE - In Case of Emergency Scheme’ involves people adding an entry called, ‘ICE’ in their mobile phone phonebook giving a next of kin number for emergency services to find, should something happen to the carrier of the phone.

 

·      Assistive technology

There are numerous devices available to help you stay independent. This could be in the form of electronic reminders to take tablets, warnings not to go outside, alerts to your family or devices to switch off your gas supply if you leave your cooker on without lighting it. There is even a satellite tracking device you can wear in a pendant in case you become lost so your family can find you! Tunstall produce useful information for people with dementia including several booklets on what is available to assist people with dementia: http://www.tunstall.co.uk/Home/Dementia

 

·      Life story

Many people find it very useful to write out their life story and include photographs in this. This can be a very enjoyable experience, be useful for reminiscence and something to refer back to if long term memories become clouded.

 

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