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Panic attack? Sundowning? Both?
DW age 57 around stage 5 had an incident last week that was new to me. We had just spent a week visiting her parents. It was the first time seeing her father age 89 just placed in long term care with combination of physical and cognitive decline. She has not been told the full extent of his condition but she could see for…
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Step In or Be Supportive Adult Child?
Hello. This is my first post. My father has been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and I think the doctor is linking it to Alzheimer's. My parents keep confusing me about his diagnosis, probably because they are confused. I went to his appointment and that is what I think I heard. My parents think there is a chance…
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Bible Verse to Lift You Up 9/29/21
LOVE IS________. * 1 Corinthians 13:4 New King James Version “4 Love suffers long…” * 1 Corinthians 13:4 New International Version “4 Love is patient…” * 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 The Message “Love never gives up.” * As you read Roget’s International Thesaurus’s synonyms and related words for patience, are there any that…
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HELP! What do we do next?
Since June 2021 my mother has been living in a memory care facility. We were told when we got there that mom could "age in place" however we are unsure now. A hospice nurse checks on mom once a week and a hospice aid tends to her for about an hour, five days a week. Mom is 78 years old and in late stage Alzheimer's. She…
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Is it time?(1)
Does anyone know of any kind of checklist or guidelines for considering whether a person "qualifies" for memory care? Since I am truly on the outside looking in, I am trying to help my LO's primary caregiver with this decision. I feel inadequate in doing so, mainly because I believe (from what has been said on here in the…
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I Think It May Be Time
DH and I feel it's time to move our LO to memory care. Her care needs are beyond what we can handle, mentally, physically and emotionally. Starting to look at facilities in our area. For those of you who already have a LO in a home, what should we look for? What kinds of questions should we ask? What was your experience…
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Vacationing with my mom.
My mom loves the beach. We are at the beach and sitting on the patio. She is sitting in a lounge chair under an umbrella fast asleep. Not the vacations we used to take, but I'll take it. She will forget that we were here by the time we travel the two hours home, but I will remember. She is very relaxed. Evenings are a bit…
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Today was the day we placed Mom into care
Today was the day we placed Mom into care. I feel gutted and numb. It was an agonizing decision, I went back and forth right up to the admit. This would be difficult in any case but their facility is currently closed for visitors due to higher covid transmission rates in our community and a positive staff member there.…
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I am depress
It is getting harder and harder for me and my sister. Seeing my mom get worse everyday. She is not my mother anymore. She doesn't seem to care about me. I miss my old mother. I don't know what to do. I miss the good old day. I think about it a lot. I lost my dad about 5 years ago and now I am going to lose my mom. Issues…
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Why does this happen?
My LO wakes up confused and agitated, the evening before she was fine (at least my definition). As she goes through the day the confusion and hallucinations build up for a blowup (not exactly the word I want). They get so bad she wants to be sent to a facility because if she can't deal with what is happening. Tonight she…
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Bible Verse to Lift You Up 9/26/21
REST FOR OUR SOULS * Matthew 11:28-29 Amplified Bible * 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble…
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Brain atrophy
I am new on this journey but grateful for this group. My husband fell this spring, broke multiple ribs and was hospitalized. The head CT indicated that the ventricles in his brain are enlarged so we were referred to a neurologist. The neurologist indicated that the enlargement of the ventricles was consistent with the…
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Bathroom Issues/Questions
Sorry if this is TMI but I'm consulting my village about this. From what I can tell, LO hasn't had a bowel movement in about two weeks. We've given her stool softeners. The first round worked quite well but I haven't seen evidence of a BM since then. We've given more stool softeners (as suggested by one of her doctors) but…
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Helping Mom to Eat
Hi My mother is 78years old and refusing to eat food. We have been trying various solids but does not want to eat, but she is ok to medications. Looking for advise from other caregivers on the options and techniques to help her eat. Questions: 1. What are ways to improve her appetite? 2. What are alternatives to solid…
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Finding Purpose in life of LO with ALZ
Hello everyone, I was the primary caregiver of my precious mother who lived with Alzheimer's for 9 years after diagnosis. She and my m-i-l, who also lived with ALZ, died 24 days apart in July, 2019. While their deaths, both of strokes with lingering 10-12 days, were not a surprise, but the timing intensified our grief. We…
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Caregiver knowledge
My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimers around 10 years ago. Both my parents refused help and wanted to do everything themselves and they got by. However my dad got sick in 2019 and ended up in a nursing home and we lost him in 2020. When my dad went into the nursing home that left my mom to care for herself which was not…
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Going to Court
Well my Ego Maniac sister had the nerve to file for guardianship for my dementia 93 year old father. Problem, she now uses my mother, who live at her house, as an excuse she doesn't have time for my dad but once a week and for an hour. As my dad's primary caregiver I couldn't stand by so I filed too. So now a court date is…
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Terminal Cancer and Demented Challenges
My father's dementia was escalated and his cancer came out of remission following a battle with COVID-19. His short term memory is non-existent some days and he now has large gaps in his long term memory. He had to be put on Seroquel to control the hallucinations he was having. During all of this I had to make the decision…
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NOTHING is working for FIL Sundowing!!!!
Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to get your LO to sleep when they have sundowners? My FIL has Alzheimer's and we have had ongoing problems with him sundowing. My MIL is his primary caregiver and we have been dealing with both of their lack of sleep for months now. FIL is pretty quiet during the day and will…
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NUPLAZID-other problems
Have any of your LO been on Nuplazid? My mom went on that a couple of days ago and she became disoriented had "no idea why she is here" and then she said something about committing sucide. Ironically, she had been seeing hallucinations with this one medication, she went off and wasn't seeing them anymore. Then went on…
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Body progressing faster than the mind
Hi all. I'm mostly here for answers to my suspicions. To be very clear, we have no diagnosis for our LO (my grandmother), and it took a hallucinating event and some recent loss of function for me to look back and put the clues together. * My grandmother is about 84, and her mother died of Alzheimer's * For the last 10-15…
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OCD-like behavior common?
Mom is 83, stage 6 (I like to say 6.5, because she's getting worse without going into the next stage), and I am her FT caregiver. I've noticed that she has some very repetitive behavior lately, and some of it needs redirection. For example, after meals, she likes to wash her face and rinse her mouth out in the kitchen…
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Need Input from those who have been there
Hello to all. This is my first post. I have read a lot of the comments on the message board and I can pretty much relate to most of them. My mom started having memory issues about 5 years ago and I did insist she see neurology. Her father's siblings have a significant history (14 out of 19 children), dying of Alzheimers.…
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First Post seeking guidance
Hello everyone, I am a legal permanent resident in USA. My mother is 83 years old came to visit on January of last year. She has Alzheimer's since 2013 she needed daily assistance with almost everything except going to bathroom. She had a wheelchair to use when we go out. Due to COVID and travel restriction she could not…
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I just started reading this and so far it looks great.
I only got to page 39 since yesterday. https://www.alzint.org/u/World-Alzheimer-Report-2021.pdf
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Time for a nursing home?(1)
Our 93 year old mother, in the late stages of Alzheimers, has been living in a memory care / assisted living facility for 2 years. She is an extreme fall risk, and does not realize she should not walk anymore. Because of this, we are paying extra for round-the-clock personal caregivers to prevent her from trying to walk.We…
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I'm feeling angry, guilty, overwhelmed, and like I'm failing
Hi all! I'm reaching out because I hit a breaking point. I spent my birthday (yesterday) alone in my room crying for most of the day. For a little context, I was doing OK with managing my stress and the situation. I joined a boxing gym for the physical release I needed. It was also less expensive than seeing a mental…
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My favorite folks in the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeczfCOFZE8
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family visits
My mom has been diagnosed with mild dementia. I live with her. She is relatively independent, but needs help with various things. I have a brother who lives out of the area. He came twice this summer, 5 weeks apart. His visits are tiring for both my mom and me. It throws her routine off and makes her memory worse. I feel…
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Questions and Divergence
How do you respond to the same questions over and over again? I’ve tried diverting but she wants the answer and when I give it, it seems to trigger another popular question. The questions usually send us down a rabbit hole of things that are in the past that are not comforting to her. If I make up a fiblet to get her…