The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)

by Nancy L. Mace

Families tell us that people who have dementia sometimes follow the caregiver from room to room, becoming fretful if the caregiver disappears into the bathroom or the basement. Or the person who has dementia may constantly interrupt whenever the caregiver tries to rest or get a job done. Few things can irritate one more than being followed around all the time. This behavior can be understood when we consider how strange the world must seem to a person who constantly forgets. The trusted caregiver becomes the only security in a world of confusion. When a person cannot depend on himself to remember the necessary things in life, one form of security is to stick close to someone who does know.