My Relative Has Dementia
When a person is affected by dementia, the disease will affect their close relationships deeply. First and foremost because the person with dementia will have problems with remembering people, places and events, learning, sense of direction, and later on with language functions and planning daily activities. "These are called ‘cognitive functions’.
The disease often progresses slowly and not only affects the sufferer, but their close relatives as well for a long period. Spouses are affected the most, but other family members and friends are affected as well. A long-term illness may cause a great deal of stress and illness in the person or people who take on the carer role for the demented person. Therefore it is important to learn to take care of yourself and be aware of stress-related burdens, physical and psychological.
Knowledge about what dementia involves can be quite frightening. You will need to face changes in everyday life. The carer will have to take on increasing numbers of tasks that the sufferer attended to. This increases the workload for spouses and close relatives. Soon you may be providing practical help such as with personal hygiene and structuring everyday life for the person who has dementia. You may find you become their "memory". This can be a physical and psychological burden for the carer.