People behave unsafely when their judgment is poor. Poor judgment is a hallmark of dementia of any cause, including Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease
A neurological disease that affects memory and behaviour. It is characterized by beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. There is no known cause but genetics and lifestyle are thought to play a role.. Safety is also a tricky issue because the extent to which people accept risk varies. What one person views as very unsafe and completely unacceptable might be viewed differently by other people. There is no right or wrong in this, but it is extremely important that those who are involved communicate. They need to communicate not just their concerns but how they can contribute to solutions.
Situations that put the person you care for at risk for harm must either be managed successfully or eliminated. The person you care for may need supervision or assistance when in the kitchen. They may leave burners on after cooking or act carelessly with scissors or knives, due to their memory Memory
The ability to process information that requires attention, storage, and retrieval. loss and shortening attention span. Many tasks involved in personal grooming are also difficult for the person to complete without harm. Using an electric razor, or bathing without falling are important safety concerns. Problems in maintaining attention can also lead to issues if the person you care for is attempting to drive. Inattentiveness while driving can pose a danger to themselves as well as pedestrians and those in other vehicles. It may be risky for the person you care for to attempt to leave the house unsupervised because of their poor judgment and ability to become disoriented. For example, they could leave the front door open, accept a ride from a stranger or become lost and not be able to find their way home.

When judgment is impaired and the person has difficulty recognizing consequences of behavior, the space for unsafe actions is created. Many people with frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia
A type of dementia that mainly affects the frontal lobe causing a problem in executive function tasks. will lack an appreciation for threats to safety and find themselves talking to strangers or inviting strangers into their home.

It is at this time that the person with frontotemporal dementia may have run ins with the law for things like shoplifting. The person may know perfectly well that they have been shopping, but fail to see why they should be expected to pay for it. In other instances the person may exhibit sexual behavior in public.

The first step in taking a more active role in symptom Symptom
In medicine a symptom is what the patient complains of. For example, a a patient may have symptoms of pain and fatigue. management is understanding how a symptom is affecting everyday life; the next step is communicating this knowledge to the care planning team and family members. SymptomGuide^TM is designed with these goals in mind.

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