One of this sites experts has given a little advice regarding the subject of wandering. This is a portion of Dr. Helen's advice. An article will follow in the future. "your comment makes me think how to deal with wandering in dementia would be a great future post. In general, medications are NOT a good solution for wandering. They only work by the side effect of oversedating the person with dementia (e.g. they do not directly impact the behavior) and the sedation can lead to falls and injury which can be devastating. We will say more in the future post but know that wandering has many possible causes (for example, reaction to medications, desire to exercise, sensory overload or deprivation, boredom, etc). So, it is best to try to figure out the underlying cause and make some simple environmental and behavioral interventions. More in the future post!"
Not really, it's usually not brought on by anxiety, but by the Alzheimer's itself. Call the MD and give him a heads up on when this started, how often it happens and what time of day, so you get the appropriate Rx
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"your comment makes me think how to deal with wandering in dementia would be a great future post. In general, medications are NOT a good solution for wandering. They only work by the side effect of oversedating the person with dementia (e.g. they do not directly impact the behavior) and the sedation can lead to falls and injury which can be devastating. We will say more in the future post but know that wandering has many possible causes (for example, reaction to medications, desire to exercise, sensory overload or deprivation, boredom, etc). So, it is best to try to figure out the underlying cause and make some simple environmental and behavioral interventions. More in the future post!"
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