advice welcome

[wonky10]

how do you cope with the repetition,with some one who has dementia

[MAS_Nurse]

Hi there, Welcome to our community. Hopefully you will find the folks on here will come alongside you and share from their experiences, many of whom have or are in a similar situation to yourself. Being a family carer can be a lonely and at times frustrating journey. Know that you are not alone, we are here for you, listening to your concerns, and knowing that a problems shared is a problem halved. Here is some advice from the Alzheimer's Society UK regarding your question about how to cope with repetitious behaviours which can be due to anxiety and the need for reassurance:

alzheimers.org.uk/about-dem...

You also need to care for yourself and again here are some tips:

alzheimers.org.uk/get-suppo...

National Dementia Helpline - Tel:[phone]

Ok folks, over to you to suggest some coping skills for this new member.

Keep in touch and take care,

Best wishes,

MAS Nurse

[sassy59]

Welcome wonky, that’s such a difficult question to answer. With my mother in law I found changing the subject or creating a diversion helped. It’s really hard to remain patient but trying to do just that helps.

Thinking of you. Xxxx

[Hidden]

Hi wonky10 and welcome to this very friendly and helpful forum. I see you've already had two really good answers to your question from MAS Nurse and sassy59, and I completely agree with all they've said.

I also think that distraction is a really good technique. Quite often it's useful to distract with something that the person can engage with from the past, such as old family photographs, or music from past times. "Do you remember the day we....." was sometimes a good one for me in the early stages.

The other thing you can do, is to work on yourself. It's a much harder thing to do, because what carer doesn't sometimes get frustrated or annoyed with constant repetitions of something that has to then be dealt with again and again?

It's the act of choosing how you react to the frustration you feel. You can allow yourself to get wound up by it, or you can pause for a minute and actually choose not to engage , maybe by stepping out of the room momentarily and taking some breaths, or just reminding yourself that this behaviour hasn't been chosen and isn't done to make you annoyed. Think of choosing not to let it annoy you as a gift from you, to you both, in that remaining calm is less stressful for both of you. It does work, but it takes practice!

I hope either or both of these techniques will help a little bit.

Whether they do, or don't, please feel very welcome here and come back and visit again. We'll always try to help.

Best wishes.