WHEN YOUR LOVED ONE WITH DEMENTIA REPEATS THE SAME QUESTIONS: 5 TIPS

[Music] hey there care Blazers welcome to the place where we talk about everything dementia if you are caring for a loved one with any type of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease or Lewy body dementia then you've come to the right place I'm Natalie Edmunds a board-certified Jarrow psychologist and I specialize in working with people with dementia and the family members taking care of them in today's video we are going to talk about a common symptom of dementia and that is repetition does your loved one repeat the same questions over and over again does your loved one repeat the same questions over and over again does your loved one repeat the same okay you get the point here in today's video we're going to talk about how to cope with the constant questions repeating the same question over and over again is a pretty common symptom in dementia because memories often impaired and they don't remember having asked the question and they certainly don't remember whatever answer you gave them and even though asking the same question over and over again isn't technically causing any harm it can make you feel like you want to scream and pull your hair out so we can't expect our loved one's memories to improve all of a sudden so we need to find ways to respond to the questions that don't end up driving ourselves crazy so in today's video I'm gonna review five tips that other caregivers have used with success to help reduce the frequency of their loved one asking the same question over and over again let's dive in tip number one is the most obvious response in terms of how to deal with your loved one asking the same question over and over again and that is to just simply answer their question however there's a trick to this you want to remember that it's the disease that's causing them to ask the same question over and over again they aren't intentionally trying to drive you crazy so of course it's completely natural to get frustrated and irritated by it however as much as possible just simply respond to their question and move on I actually just watched finding dory this weekend and you could take a cue from Nemo and friends in terms of how they handle her constant questions and repetition just simply hear the question answer it move on and remember that it's the disease and they can't help it tip number two and trying to find ways to deal with your loved ones repeated questions is to find an activity to distract them by getting them interested in something else it can distract them from their focus on the question that they're constantly asking so for some simple ideas on ways that you could distract your loved ones and activities you can get them involved in you might want to take a tune in to a video I did a couple weeks ago on dementia friendly activities you can do in your home using items probably already hanging around your house tip number three on how to deal with your loved ones repeated questions is to consider posting some sort of visual reminder or cue in their home or in their environment so for example if your loved one is constantly asking about what's going on that day or when their appointment is you could point them to a calendar that you have on the wall that lists all of that day's activities or lists their upcoming appointments if your loved one is constantly asking where the car keys are but they're not safe to drive you could point them to a sign on the wall that says the car is in the shop or that the car is broken or that they're no longer safe to drive whatever you feel like would be the best reason or reminder to your loved one you can write that on the sign put it on the wall so after some time of continuing to redirect them to that place on the wall you might they might start to just go and look there so this is a really good strategy if your loved ones asking the same question over and over again about something that you could easily jot down on account or on a sign tip number four and how to deal with your loved ones constant questions or asking the same question over and over again would be to consider whether changing something in the environment could help reduce or eliminate the question altogether for example if you notice that every time your loved one passes a picture of a former family member on the wall and that starts to get them to ask the same question over and over about where their family member is that could be a sign that the picture is triggering the question and consider moving the picture or taking it down altogether this is true for more than just pictures though if there's pay attention to when your loved one asks the question and if you notice that there's a trigger around them which a lot of times it's the case consider whether moving it or getting rid of that trigger all together could take care of the questions altogether the fifth and final tip for ways that you could deal with your loved one asking the same question over and over again is to try to identify the underlying feeling of their question so if they're constantly asking a question about a loved one who's passed away identifying the underlying feeling of sadness loneliness or feeling scared and acknowledging that could be helpful if your loved one is constantly asking questions about where their car keys are and they're no longer safe to drive identifying the underlying feeling that it's really important to you that they get to where they want to go when you're gonna make sure that you do whatever you can to get them to the community center or the hair salon the grocery store wherever it is you think that they would want to go in some cases if there's not an easy explanation or an easy solution to the feeling that they're having simply just tearing them out letting them know it's tough than that this is a difficult time in their life and just sitting there with them can be helpful so again paying less attention to the actual words and more attention to the feeling all right care Blazers thank you so much for tuning in I hope that some of these tips will be helpful for you when you're dealing with your loved one asking the same question over and over again please consider subscribing to the channel and also leave a comment about ways that you cope when your loved one is asking the same thing over and over again alright care Blazers until next time take care [Music]

Channel: Dementia Careblazers

Views: 238,746

Keywords: careblazers, lewy body dementia, dementia behaviors, caregiver stress, frontotemporal dementia, dementia stages, dementia repetition, repeating the same thing, why do people with dementia repeat themselves?, why do people with dementia ask the same thing over and over, how to talk to someone with dementia, how to handle difficult dementia behaviors

Id: ivr0piTs2Mg

Length: 6min 47sec (407 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 20 2017