If someone you care about is starting to display some of the classic symptoms of early dementia, it can cause you to feel somewhat helpless. The individual might have trouble remembering things that they recently did and their personality could also begin to change. If your loved one hasn't received a diagnosis from a medical professional, they may either be unaware of the changes that you notice or be in denial about them. Either way, you need to know what you can do to help. Read through the following information so you will know how you can help someone who may be suffering from dementia.

Hire A Companion

A companion is someone who can come in and basically spend time with your friend or family member. It's a very unassuming relationship and one that can be very helpful when you're not around.

You can hire the companion to go out to your loved one's house on a daily or weekly basis. They can help with things such as driving to the store or performing some light housework. More than anything, they can keep a watchful eye on the person and let you know what they have discovered about their behavior. Does your loved one forget things like whether or not they took their medicine, or leave the stove or oven on after cooking? This is the kind of valuable data that can help you to better understand how to help the person you care about. It's very reassuring to know that there is someone there to assist when you're not around.

Suggest A Medical Evaluation

You should also start to think of how you can convince your loved one to get a cognitive test. This evaluation is usually not a part of the normal physical so it's going to have to be specially requested by them. Plan to be as gentle as you possibly can because the last thing you want to do is risk offending the person you care about. You might even want to stretch the truth just a tad by saying that you recently had a cognitive evaluation and gush about how glad you are that you were able to see a rendering of your brain on actual film. This could get them interested in having the same test done.

Obtaining an official diagnosis is the first step toward getting the right treatment. Do whatever it takes to help your loved one so they can come out of the shadows of dementia and turn toward the light. To learn more, contact a company like Lewy Body Dementia Resource Center.