Is DICE the Key to Managing Dementia Without Medication?
|
Karl Sieloff, 56, had been an engineer at General Motors for more than three decades. Each day he arrived at work on-time and always had a good attitude. He went home to his loving wife, Kate, and was proud of their son, Kurt, who became a neurologist at the University of Michigan's Medical Center.
That year, Kate began to notice that Karl had been acting strange. Her hard-working, affectionate spouse was suddenly having fits of anger and aggression that were directed at her. He also became irresponsible in that he stopped paying the bills and some days, he didn't even show up for work, finding it too hard to get out of bed. The last straw was when he began depleting their savings on impulsive purchases
and grew even more aggressive and violent.
Most people who didn’t live with Karl couldn't see what was really going on and thought perhaps he was suffering from depression. Doctors tried him on a variety of antidepressants, but that didn’t treat the entire problem. Karl and Kate’s son, Dr. Kurt Sieloff, insisted that they bring Karl to his hospital for evaluation, where he was quickly diagnosed by Kurt’s colleagues with frontotemporal dementia
(FTD).
Kate felt mixed emotions when she received her husband’s FTD diagnosis. While the diagnosis itself was a relief, she found that she was becoming overwhelmed and needed help coping with her husband's illness. To treat his symptoms, doctors started Karl on a mood stabilizer and a new antidepressant to control his mood swings while restoring some of his loving personality. Unfortunately, there is no drug that can
prevent or stop the eventual progression of FTD (or any other type of dementia), and the behaviors that result. What Kate needed most was something that could help make her day-to-day caregiving more tolerable, and strategies to help Karl when the confusion sets in.
The DICE Method Focuses on Behaviors Rather than Memory Loss
Researcher Helen Kales, MD, PPA, is a geriatric psychiatrist who practices at the University of Michigan, who has developed a behavioral approach to dementia care. Her DICE approach focuses on behavioral interventions rather than pharmaceutical, puts the caregiver first, and emphasizes training and support for them as much as for the patient.
|
Order Books by Evan Farr, 4-Time Best-Selling Author
|
Certified Elder Law Attorney and Medicaid Asset Protection Expert, Evan H. Farr, CELA, has written four best-selling books in the field of elder law. For more information and to order, click here.
|
Receive Special Reports of Your Choice
|
We offer free special reports for all of the topics below. To instantly subscribe to any of these reports, just click on the cover!
|
|
|
