How you and your elderly family member handle the emotions that a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease can create is incredibly important for the rest of her health journey. It's not always easy to manage these emotions, but learning to recognize them for what they are is one of the first things you need to do.Denial
The first stage of emotions that both you and your elderly family member are likely to experience might be denial. In the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease, it's easy to attribute incidents here and there to circumstantial explanations. This is a difficult diagnosis for your aging adult and for other family members to accept easily.
Anger
As denial fades, it's not unusual for it to give way to anger. Your elderly family member likely had some very solid ideas about how the later years of her life would go and dealing with Alzheimer's disease was likely not a part of her plan. In your case, you may not feel prepared to deal with something of this magnitude as a caregiver.
Fear
Often the denial and the anger are a way for both you and your elderly family member to manage your fears about what is going to happen next. There are no guarantees about what happens now and there's no way to tell exactly how your elderly family member's Alzheimer's disease is going to progress from here.
Anxiety
Your elderly family member might not know when she's going to experience difficulties because of her Alzheimer's disease, which can be extremely stressful. For you, not knowing what to do if your elderly family member is having extreme difficulty can create its own form of anxiety.
Sadness
Grief and sadness for what is perceived as lost is extremely common both for aging adults and for their caregivers. Working through that sadness can be the key to helping your elderly family member keep a positive attitude about the rest of her life that is still ahead of her.
Having experienced senior care providers on hand can help you and your elderly family member learn how to manage all the different emotions that pop up while dealing with Alzheimer's disease.
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED-ONE ARE CONSIDERING HIRING IN-HOME SENIOR CARE IN LAKE SHORE EAST, IL, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT BRIGHTSTAR CARE CHICAGO. CALL TODAY: 312.382.8888.