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claredoll77 Posts: 472
Member
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Hi I'm a caregiver in a home for Alzheimer's patients. My experience is that they absolutely do understand pain, but usually not it's source or how to react in a way we understand, or even in a way that let's us help them in the best way possible. In the early to mid stages, I hear the patients say things that refer to specific types of pain in a specific location, but they don't understand its cause or ways they can help to alleviate it. For example, I have one resident somewhere in the middle stages who constantly complains that his bottom burns (specific location and type of pain). However, I cannot get across to him that he must stop scratching and clawing at what was at the beginning just a small diaper rash, treatable with Desitin cream. He will not let me apply barrier cream or do timely changes so that he can reduce the irritation and pain. Later stages, I notice that they definitely express pain and even do things to to try to deal with it, but their understanding of how to express it is very impaired. One man in 6th stage has a gout inflamed big toe. He knows to take his shoe off to give it some relief, but he does not know to stop putting pressure on it or to ask for meds or help from the nurses or caregivers for it. A woman in the 7th stage knows it hurts her to be moved even slightly on the bed for cleaning and changing her diapers and bed linen, but all she can do is moan. I don't know if it's her hips (I suspect it is), her feet, or just general pain and fear. Long and short of it, they definitely perceive pain at all stages they are conscious, but their ability to express it's source and location and deal with it's cause decreases greatly as the disease progresses. In the early stages they can definitely tell you what hurts, the kind of pain and sometimes even make sense of ways to help it. Post edited by: claredoll77, at: 04/04/2012 06:50 PM |
