Is Your Parent's Difficulty with Problem Solving a Sign of Alzheimer's Disease?

Problem-solving is a basic element of daily life. People plan, strategize, and solve problems multiple times every day, and the result of this problem solving greatly impacts their functioning, health, well-being, and quality of life.

For seniors in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, difficulties with problem-solving, and struggles making plans can be some of the first signs a family caregiver notices. This doesn’t mean a senior who has had some difficulty with problem-solving or planning necessarily has this progressive disease.

Occasionally making mistakes with problems, or making a plan that doesn’t work out is something that happens to everyone. For example, your parent might make a mistake when they are balancing their checkbook, or paying bills. These are simple mistakes, and if they happen once or just occasionally, and your parent can understand the mistake they made, it is usually not a sign of concern.

Home Care Services in Irvine CA: Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

Some examples of problem-solving issues or difficulties with planning that might indicate the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease include:

- Inability to develop a plan for an activity, event, or task that is logical and provides for the task to be complete, such as an order in which to do housework or a plan for a gathering.

- Inability to follow a plan set out for them. This can include difficulty following a to-do list or struggles with a recipe.

- Difficulty working with numbers that is unusual or new for your aging parent. This can include trouble determining how much money to bring to the grocery store, or adding ingredients for a recipe.
- Challenges keeping up with monthly bills when they haven’t previously had this difficulty.

Many people believe elderly care is only for those seniors who are very old, have extensive mobility problems or are otherwise unable to care for themselves at all.
This is not the case. And elderly home care services provider can offer a wide range of tremendous benefits even to those seniors who are still largely independent, and only have moderate needs and challenges.

An elderly care services provider offers customized services, which means your senior will receive the care and support that is right for them. Services such as transportation and mobility support allow your parent to stay more independent and active, while assistance with activities of daily living such as keeping their home clean allows your parent to conserve energy for things they enjoy more.

For many seniors, mobility issues and balance problems make bathing independently extremely challenging, and this can be stressful for them. An elderly care provider can offer dignified and respectful assistance for this task to relieve stress and ensure your parent remains healthy and comfortable.