Agitation In Dementia

Living with and/or caring for a person with dementia is not easy. Your loved one suffering from memory disorders (including Alzheimer's disease) may experience irritability, restlessness, and explosive behavior – or agitation.

This disturbing behavior – constant pacing, demands for attention and reassurance, repeated questions and phone calls, yelling, screaming, threatening, hitting, and biting – is painful, confusing, and stressful for the caregiver, making it even more difficult to care for the loved one.

Often times, caregivers are surprised by how angry or guilty they feel when they lose patience with their loved one. Agitation displays can become disruptive and dangerous and is one of the main reasons that families eventually decide to place a loved one in a care facility.

Medical problems, environmental changes, sleep disturbances, and/or psychoses can be leading causes of agitation in dementia patients. A sudden illness like a bladder infection, bad cold, or bronchitis or pneumonia can bring on a bout of agitation. A new medication may cause a bad reaction in your loved one. Other physical problems that cause pain such as arthritis can also be contributing factors.

A comfortable environment is important to dementia patients. Being in an area that is noisy poorly lit, or temperature challenged in either direction can cause agitation. It is also important for your loved one's to have a routine, because a change in schedule can cause disappointment, fear, and frustration. Patients with dementia have trouble falling asleep or staying awake. Another sleep disorder, “sundowning,” affects the patient's internal day/night clock in such a fashion that he or she becomes more confused and disoriented in the evening and night hours.

Sometimes patients with dementia have psychoses that cause delusions and hallucinations. A patient may have delusions that someone stole money from them, a relative is an impostor, or a spouse is unfaithful—for example. The patient may develop anxiety as a result of these delusions.

A caregiver can learn strategies to reduce agitation such as distracting & soothing techniques. Try to provide you loved one pleasant activity during the day such as listening to music, watching a movie, and playing simple card games.

Your loved one's doctor may prescribe a medication to help treat the agitation, depending on its cause and symptoms. Medication will not cure the agitation, but it can lessen the frequency and severity of agitated behavior.

Remember the agitation is caused by a medical illness; it is not your loved one's fault. Caregivers can help by providing a calm, structured, safe, and caring environment.

Resource: UC Davis Alzheimer's disease Center