Though pain itself does not cause dementia to worsen, pain can cause increased confusion, agitation, and depression in your loved one. The possibility of pain needs continuing assessment.

The issue of pain can be a difficult one to deal with in caring for a person with dementia. Often, a person with dementia will find that they are unable to express pain they are feeling or the needs they have, and as a result will begin to act out in other ways, such as wandering, agitation, grimacing, sleeping, or simply shutting down. If your loved one begins exhibiting a sudden change in behavior like increased confusion, it is possible that something is causing discomfort or pain—it could be anything from shoes that are too tight to an infection.

In regard to treatment for your loved one, the simple answer is that “pain is pain,” whether Alzheimer’s is involved or not. When working with cancer patients, for example, the goal is to eliminate pain as much as possible and to keep the patient as comfortable as possible. It should be no different with individuals with Alzheimer’s. No matter what the stage of their disease, your loved one should be as pain-free and comfortable as possible. A UTI (urinary tract infection) can cause pain; symptoms include inflammation, burning, and itching. Since treatment for this condition is not invasive and will ease the discomfort, treatment will definitely increase your loved one’s quality of life.

If a person with Alzheimer’s has a history of arthritis or other painful illness, continued treatment according to doctor’s orders is advisable to aid in the prevention of pain. Other types of pain such as headache, backache, sore throat or foot pain will also need individual assessment and treatment.

The bottom line is that as a caregiver, your goal should be to keep your loved one as comfortable as you can. This means not only treating pain as it comes up, but knowing what to look for. Pain can cause a person to become depressed, and a good indicator of pain in your loved one may be a sudden decrease in interest in things they usually enjoy; however this can also be a symptom of non-pain-related depression, so those issues may become a guessing game, and seeking a doctor’s advice will be beneficial.

Tags: alzheimers, caregiving, dementia