Living with or caring for someone with both Parkinson’s and dementia can be very challenging. There will be occasions when your help and support is depended on heavily and there will be times when it will be better to take a step back and allow the person you care for to do things for themselves. This balance will be difficult to judge to begin with and it is likely to take time and patience to establish new routines and approaches to day-to-day living.
Environmental adaptations
Adapting the home environment can play an important role, for example removing clutter so as to reduce the number of visual distractions and to make it easier for a person to find their way around, can be helpful, as can keeping furniture in the same place and having a regular daily routine. At night it may be useful to keep a low-level night light on to minimise any possible disorientation upon waking.
Communication
As both dementia and some Parkinson’s symptoms can make speech and conversation difficult, the following tips may be helpful when communicating with the person you care for:
- speak very clearly and be patient, giving them plenty of time to understand and respond
- resist the urge to fill any silent periods with chatter. Silence allows the person to take in information and process their thoughts
- repeat information if necessary or break things down into manageable chunks, making one point at a time
- use names rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’ as this will remind the person who you are talking about
- try not to ask questions that require complicated answers but be mindful of patronising them. Don’t use ‘baby talk’; talk to them as you would wish to be talked to
- if they are struggling to find the right word, you may feel it necessary to offer a suggestion but try to avoid interrupting them to do so
- make eye contact and use gestures, facial expressions or touch as these can provide additional cues
- be aware that too many people in one conversation can make it confusing to follow
For further communication tips, Alzheimer Scotland – Action on Dementia1 has useful information.
For further information on carers and helpful organisations see carers.
