Pain Assessment in Late-Stage Alzheimer's Disease

By Christine Kennard, Health Pro Wednesday, October 01, 2008

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As Alzheimer's disease progresses towards the later stages, the ability of the affected person to communicate becomes increasingly compromised. Caregivers can no longer ask "are you comfortable?" or, "are you in pain?" and get a reliable answer. A caregiver has to interpret what behavior means. Are s...

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Sue

10/ 2/08 9:26pm

Thanks so much for this information Christine. It never occurred to me that someone - dementia or not - could not explain if they were in pain. I suspect some of our community members who are caregivers have faced this question and not known how to get an accurate assessment of their pain. These traits, if you will, are somewhat easy to identify as behaviors and it just might help their loved one ease the pain they are experiencing.

All the best, sue

10/ 3/08 10:11am

Thanks for your post!! This will help us a lot. My father-in-law is now expressing with more difficulty. Later we will need to depend on his facial expression and etc.

Nina

10/ 3/08 10:11am

Thanks for your post!! This will help us a lot. My father-in-law is now expressing with more difficulty. Later we will need to depend on his facial expression and etc.

Nina

Pain Assessment in Late-Stage Alzheimer's Disease

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