How Do I Get My Mom to Go Out When Dementia and Grief Are the Challenge?

When your mom has a form of dementia, she already requires a higher level of care. If one of her loved ones dies, grief adds a special challenge. How do you get your mom to resume daily activities when she's dealing with both dementia and grief? Here are a few tips.

Remember She May Forget What Happened

Grief isn't an easy process for anyone. When your mom has dementia, the loss of a loved one can be even more difficult. She may not, at first, remember that someone has died. If she does, she'll have a hard time remembering why. As a result, she'll ask a lot of questions and deal with renewed grief each time she remembers.

Be patient with her and continue to answer her questions. It may help to have notes around the house reminding her what happened, who will be coming to spend the day with her, and what appointments or tasks are coming up that day.

Avoid Places With Meaning

For a few weeks or months, your mom may want to stay around the house. Talk to her memory care doctor and you'll likely be told to let her grieve at her pace. When you do need to take her out shopping or to eat a meal, places she frequented with her loved one may be hard for her to visit. She may shut down, become very anxious, or refuse to go in.

If possible, find new stores or restaurants to go do. If you need something at a specific place that she spent a lot of time at with the deceased loved one, go alone and get it for her.

Get Support For Yourself

It's likely that you're also grieving the loss. You need support, too. It may feel best to push your feelings aside to focus solely on your mom, but bottling up your grief will not help anyone. Make sure you're taking time to grieve. If necessary, call an elderly care service to offer respite.

A caregiver from the elderly care service can come in as often as you need to help your mom with meal preparation, light housekeeping, laundry, and much more. Use the time the elderly care professional is with your mom to meet with a grief support group or have some time alone to decompress and process all you're facing.

If you or an aging loved one are considering elderly care in East Lansing, MI, please contact the caring staff at Seniors Helping Seniors of Lansing. Call today: 517-332-9953.