If Your Loved Ones With Dementia Tend To Explore, You Should Read This – Home Environment Preparation Tips
We have gotten a message from one of our readers recently.
“My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when he was 70. He was only showing symptoms of memory loss and agitation up until recently, but now, he has started wandering. I am currently working from home so I can be with him him during the day, however he mostly wanders at night. I tried to stop him, but he won’t listen. It’s as if there’s something he needed to complete. I am a single mom and have to take care of my son and my dad. We are Italian so family means everything to us, but my dad’s behavior has really been hard to handle. Can you give me some advice on how to prevent his wandering? Thank you.” -Mia
Mia is definitely not the only one we know that has such an issue – we see it almost every day. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 6 out of 10 patients with dementia show signs of wandering, or as we are going to put it, exploring, and some explorers are never found, or found dead because of accidents. In that, keeping your exploring loved one at home becomes so important at this point. However, it is always easier said than done. So, today CareStory is going to provide you with some very useful tips to keep your loved one safe and sound.
Before You Prepare, You Need to Figure These Things Out
Step One: Find Out The Reason Why They Explore
Before you start to plan for safety for your loved one, it is always helpful to find out the underlying reason for his or her exploring. There are many reasons for someone experiencing Dementia to explore, and according our experience, they can be categorized into the following:
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Basic Needs: Some seniors explore because they have necessary needs such as finding a bathroom, food, or simply looking for fresh air.
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Old Routine: In our previous blog post, “The Power of Telling Senior Stories”, we have spoken about a woman who used to wake up at night and check on residents in their rooms. It turned out that she was a night shift nurse for over 30 years and she was just doing her job. (Power of Storytelling)
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Fear: The surroundings may be triggering, or make them feel unsafe, so they try to find a “safe zone”.
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Boredom: Of course, people experiencing dementia feel bored, too. When they are looking for something to do, as you would, they start to explore their surroundings.
The underlying cause may vary from person to person, and situation to situaton. To help you determine what’s on your loved one’s mind and what or why their are exploring, , you can ask yourself the following:
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Has your loved one always been this active? It’s possible that your loved one’s exploration is linked to a certain activity they used to engage in during the day.
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Is your loved one having difficulty distinguishing between the past and the present when performing daily activities (eg. picking up the kids from school)?
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Are your loved ones familiar with their current surroundings?
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Are there any needs for your loved one that isn’t being provided? (eg. the need to feel loved and care for, the need to go to the toilet, the need for food or water, the need to manage pain, etc.)
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Does your loved one look anxious, bored, or unsettled?
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Is your loved one taking any new or different medications?
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Has there been any recent change in your loved one’s living environment?
After all these questions are figured out, you will know the roots of their exploration. So instead of trying to put a stop to it,you can try to help them tackle their fear and anxiety, or provide them with what they need at the moment.
If the exploration continues, you can move on to the next step.
Step Two: Identify Patterns
Now is the time that you should take out a notebook and record your loved one’s patterns of exploration. Observe the time of day they start to explore, the duration of each, and the frequency they explore in a week or a month. You can also write down any negative effects caused by their exploration. Here’s an example of how you can take your notes:
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Exploration occurs daily at 1:00am for one hour, resulting in an slight injury to left leg.
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Exploration occurs twice a week, around 3:00pm, resulting in turning on the kitchen stove and walking away.
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Explorationoccurs once a week, between 6:00pm to 8:00pm, resulting in the person being lost outside for at least one hour.