Try: Intimacy is the special bond we share with a person we love and respect it involves the way we talk and act toward one another this bond can exist between spouses or partners family members and friends alzheimer’s disease ad often changes the intimacy between people sexuality is one type of intimacy it is an important way that spouses or partners express their feelings physically for one another ad can cause changes in intimacy and sexuality in both the person with ad and the caregiver the person with ad may be stressed by the changes in his or her memory and behaviors fear worry depression anger and low self-esteem how much the person likes himself or herself are common the person may become dependent and cling to you he or she may not remember your life together and feelings toward one another sometimes the person may even fall in love with another person you the caregiver may pull away from the person in both an emotional and physical sense you may feel upset by the demands of caregiving you also may feel frustrated by the person person’s constant forgetfulness repeated questions and other bothersome behaviors most caregivers learn how to cope with these challenges but it takes time some learn to live with the illness and find new meaning in their relationships with people who have ad coping with changes in intimacy remember that most people with ad need to feel that someone loves and cares about them they also need to spend time with other people as well as you your efforts to take care of these needs can help the person with ad to feel happy and safe it it’s important to reassure the person that you love him or her you will keep him or her safe others also care about him or her information references "caring for a person with alzheimer’s disease your easy-to-use guide from the national institute on aging" by national institute on aging 2011 available at www nia nih gov
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Categories: Sage, Topic, Emotional Psychological, Medical Physical, Sexuality Intimacy, Social, Gender, Male, Female, Verbal Communication, So-So Verbal Comm, Poor Verbal Comm, Cognitive Awareness, Somewhat Aware, Unaware, Long-Term Memory, So-So L T Memory, Poor L T Memory, Short-Term Memory, So-So S T Memory, Poor S T Memory
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Keywords: Sex intimacy sexuality relationships memory loss cognitive impairment
*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed