dementia

Tips for medication management with dementia

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First of all, it is very difficult to manage  behaviors in people with dementia.  You may be now wondering just how doctors are supposed to manage medications for difficult dementia behaviors. In short, patients need a smart pill dispenser for dementia to be effective in improving dementia behaviors.

Med-Q offers up these key points:

effective in improving dementia behaviors
Improving dementia behaviors
  • First, medication is not the first option. Hence, before beginning a medication, ones should try to identify what is triggering/worsening the behavior. Furthermore, it is critical to work with non-drug approaches.. To sum up, a pill dispenser can be replaced with exercise.
    • A typical problem. pain from being constipated. To illustrate, constipation has been overlooked in people with dementia. For example, the Geriatric doctor will often schedule acetaminophen 3-4 times daily. Hopefully, the patient will not forget or over dose. The reason, men and women suffering from dementia are not always able to articulate their pain levels. Doctors will try titrate laxatives. The goal, a soft bowel movement every couple of days.

A geriatric physician, also called a geriatrician, is a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease and disability in older adults. Geriatric physicians are primary care doctors who are specially trained in the aging process.

Med-Q Smart Pill Dispenser with alarms for Dementia and Alzheimer
  • As of the date of this [post, no type of medication has been shown to improve behavior with dementia. If one has a pill dispenser filled with pills for this purpose, be prepared to do some trial-and-error dosing. In addition, yt is important to carefully observe how the meds are working. Again, keep track of any side-effects that might be occurring.
  • Antipsychotics and benzodiazepines work on the quick side.. However, a majority of cases, they are working through sedation and chemical restraint. In addition, these have been known to cause a cloud thinking process. In conclusion, it is very important to have the smallest dose of these medications in the pill dispenser.
  • First, Benzodiazepines  will raise the risk of a fall. Furthermore, these medications can be habit forming. Second, these are less likely to prevent hallucinations, delusions as well as degrees of paranoia. To sum up, when a faster-acting medication is needed, geriatricians usually will prescribe antipsychotics to benzodiazepines.
  • Then again, Antidepressants will take a while to work. However, these pills are usually well-tolerated by dementia sufferers. Senior Doctors will also try escitalopram or citalopram in men and women with dementia.
  • Finally, give a dementia drug (such as a cholinesterase inhibitor or memantine) a try.

Non-drug methods are effective in improving dementia behaviors

In short, studies find that non-drug methods are effective in improving dementia behaviors. This being said, it’s not easy to implement these changes. To illustrate, many people with dementia are living at home. Consequently, family, fronds often have limited time and energy to learn and practice behavior management techniques. In addition, a
paid caregiver is very expensive. Despite the risks of
antipsychotics, family members are hoping for some temporary relief.

 pill dispenser with alarms
Older woman refusing medication at home

Agitation or behaviors is a sign that meds aren’t working

First, ongoing agitation or difficult behaviors is a problem. Second, this may be caused by the medication in the pill dispenser. To illustrate, these pills are not effective for your loved one. Hence, time to try a new medication. The best is to work closely with a doctor AND a dementia behavior expert. To sum up, take advantage of social workers and geriatric care managers. Hence, they are very good at dealing with different dementia behaviors.

We at Med-Q Pill dispenser with alarms hopes that this information is helpful;l. For the most [part, this helps to enable you to make more educated judgments as well as other decisions. This way you’ll help ensure that any medications are used thoughtfully, in the lowest doses necessary, and in combination with non-drug dementia behavior management approaches.

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