Quick Answer: Dementia behaviors, such as agitation, suspicion, or pacing, often have a reason behind them. Your loved one may be in pain, tired, overwhelmed, or unable to say what they need. Looking for that reason and responding calmly can often settle the moment. When these changes outgrow what a single household can accommodate, a memory care team can help.
Key Takeaways
- With dementia, your loved one’s behavior often conveys a need they can’t put into words.
- A calm voice, fewer demands, and a steady routine can help many moments at home go more smoothly.
- When something new appears, like hallucinations or suspicion, your loved one’s doctor will want to know.
- Our team at The Kensington Redondo Beach uses the Positive Approach to Care in both memory care neighborhoods.
- Licensed nurses are on-site 24 hours a day, so the nights don’t fall on one person.
This recording is from a virtual event we hosted with Dr. David Hart on behavior changes in dementia.
Seeing something new in your loved one and not sure what it means?
Our team at The Kensington Redondo Beach is glad to listen and provide guidance.
Discuss memory care for your loved one.
How Dementia Can Cause Changes in Behavior
Changes in behavior occur because dementia alters how the brain processes the world.
Your loved one may feel pain they can’t name, or fear in a room that looks strange to them. What comes out may look like anger, stubbornness, or accusations.
If you’ve been on the receiving end of that, it hurts. Being yelled at by someone you’ve loved for decades leaves a mark, and it doesn’t mean you’re doing this wrong.
The National Institute on Aging lists pain, poor sleep, noise, and sudden changes in routine among the triggers of behavioral changes for those living with dementia. Some medications can play a part too.
The reason may be smaller than the reaction: a cold room, a full bladder, or a question asked too quickly.
Our team watches for these small triggers as part of everyday memory care in Redondo Beach.
Agitation and Aggression: What Helps in the Moment
Agitation means your loved one is restless, worried, and can’t settle. Aggression is when that worry turns outward, as shouting, grabbing, or swinging an arm.
What Agitation and Aggression With Dementia May Look Like
You may be noticing some of these:
- Pacing the hallway with nowhere to go
- Snapping at you over a shower or a change of clothes
- A raised hand when you reach to help with a sleeve
- Words you’ve never heard your loved one use before
What Can Help
Your loved one may take their cue from you. A soft voice, a slower pace, and a seat beside them can help them feel safe again. If dressing or bathing sparks the upset, setting it aside for a while can give you both a reset.
When aggression comes often, or anyone gets hurt, that’s not a failure on your part. It may be a sign the arrangement needs more hands. Knowing when to move from assisted living to memory care, or from home, can help you see the next step.
Confusion, Repeated Questions, and Asking to Go Home
Confusion happens when dementia blurs where your loved one is, what day it is, or who you are. The same question may come ten times in an hour, each time new to them.
A written note, a familiar photo, or a clock with the date can help answer those questions.
Routine helps more than reasoning. The same chair, the same mug, and the same order to the morning give your loved one something to hold.
They may ask to go home while sitting in their own living room. There’s often a reason someone with dementia says “I want to go home”, and it’s rarely about the address.
Wondering whether what you’re seeing has moved past what home can hold? Our team at The Kensington Redondo Beach can help you and your loved one.
Discuss your loved one’s care needs.
Seeing Things, Suspicion, and Pulling Away
New hallucinations, suspicion, or withdrawal are worth mentioning to your loved one’s doctor. Sometimes an infection or a medication is part of the picture.
Hallucinations and Suspicion
Your loved one may see a person in the corner, or hear a voice from an empty room. They may accuse you of taking a purse they misplaced. Arguing the point rarely helps because, to them, it’s real.
You can stay close, keep your voice even, and say you’re there. If the vision frightens them, moving to another room may help more than explaining.
Hallucinations can happen in several types of dementia, and they often appear during the early stages of Lewy body dementia.
Low Mood and Withdrawal
Your loved one may stop joining in, laughing at a favorite show, or finishing meals they used to enjoy. Low mood can be treated, so it deserves a doctor’s attention too.
A smaller appetite can have other causes as well, from dental pain to trouble with utensils. Many eating problems in dementia can be eased once the cause is clear.
Wandering, Sundowning, and Sleep: How a Daily Rhythm Helps
Wandering, sundowning, and sleep changes often feed one another. A restless evening can turn into a walk out the door. A wakeful night can leave the next afternoon more unsettled.
- Wandering: walking with a purpose only your loved one can see, sometimes out the door
- Sundowning: restlessness or confusion that builds as daylight fades
- Sleep changes: being wide awake, dressed and ready, at 3 a.m.
A steady daily rhythm can ease all three. That may mean early daylight and movement, meals at regular times, and a quiet hour before bed.
Night wandering may be a sign that someone with dementia can no longer live alone.
How Our Team at The Kensington Redondo Beach Responds
Our team meets these changes with calm and a plan.
The Positive Approach to Care
The Kensington Redondo Beach is a Positive Approach to Care-designated community. Created by dementia educator Teepa Snow, it focuses on what your loved one can still do. It meets them where they are.
In practice, a team member approaches from the front, speaks slowly, and offers a hand instead of a pull. A shower that has become a struggle may go more smoothly with someone who can slow down.
Two Memory Care Neighborhoods, Nurses Around the Clock
Connections serves residents experiencing early- to middle-stage memory loss. Haven serves middle- to late-stage residents, and it’s built with natural light so residents can walk safely and freely.
Licensed nurses are on-site 24 hours a day and administer medications around the clock. Your loved one has a primary care manager who learns their habits, and care can change as needs change.
Life Enrichment fills the residents’ days with yoga, tai chi, and dance, among other activities. You can see how daily life in our community gives restless energy a better outlet.
Talk With Our Team at The Kensington Redondo Beach
If your loved one’s behavior has been changing, you don’t have to sort it out on your own. Dementia behaviors of concern tend to get easier to manage when more people know your loved one well.
Come for a private visit, meet the team in Connections and Haven, and bring your questions. We’re near Riviera Village and the Redondo Beach Pier, at 801 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.
Reach out to The Kensington Redondo Beach today. We’re here to support you and your loved one.
FAQ: Dementia Behaviors
Changes such as agitation, aggression, suspicion, or pacing that arrive with dementia could be signs that their care needs have increased. Your loved one is often trying to say something they can’t put into words.
Anger often comes from pain, fear, or a task that feels impossible to them. It lands on you because you’re the one who’s there.
It rarely helps to correct them because, to your loved one, what they’re seeing feels real. Staying close and calm helps more, and the doctor should know about new hallucinations.
It may be time for memory care when difficult moments come daily, or when safety needs more eyes than you have. Our team can help you think it through.