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Depakote or Haldol for agitation and combativeness?
I'm reaching out once again to this group of fellow travelers down this road none of us has chosen. My DH is 77 and in stage 6 of his dementia - in Memory Care since last July. He is still quite strong and has become very combative when showering is attempted. Just wondering if anyone has had experience with either or both…
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I CANT DO IT!!!
I'm 39yo female caring for the kindest, all giving to anyone in need 45yo EOA bf. I hate this f**cing disease so bad. Tomorrow i have an assessment with the facility i plan to put my loved one in. The fast track to get him into MC is via hospice. We had that intake on friday. My anxiety is at a high right now and I'm…
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New/old member back again
Quite a few years ago I was a member of this forum to get support helping care for an elderly family member. Unfortunately I'm back again because my DH has now been diagnosed with Neurocognitive Disorder. His issues are caused by encephalopathy caused by an autoimmune disease he's had for decades and we have been told it…
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New Here - Looking for help for brother
Hello, I've been lurking and reading discussions for a few months now. Our family became concerned last fall. The ball got rolling after I scheduled the PCP appointment my brother had been procrastinating. That was in Feb. A few weeks later we got in to see the neurologist. He scored 22 out of 30 on the assessment that was…
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The guilt trip
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On the hard days…
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Dental problems
My DH who is in stage 6/7 has been having problems with his teeth for at least a year. He has several front teeth that have decay and lost a crown several months ago that the dentist was not able to replace because of decay underneath it. He said he would likely need about 7 teeth pulled. The dentist said he was unlikely…
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How do you talk to your DH about worsening symptoms you are seeing?
My DH (66) was diagnosed with the beginning stages of Alzheimers 18 or so months ago. A bit of back story - he is proud, stubborn and still trying to come to terms with what is happening to him. His mother has Alzheimers and my father had Alzheimers as well before passing away. He knows what is coming and there are days…
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body jerking while sleeping
My DH has started having jerking motions with his arms, hands, legs, head, or body while sleeping, not all at the same time but for about 3 to 4 hours some part of his body is moving. Some are minor but some are pretty strong. If his arm is around me and his arm jerks, sometimes it will have enough force for me to be glad…
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dealing with our LO's anger
My DW have vascular dementia (sorry I can't use the acronym VD😂). About a year ago she became angry and has stayed that way. I spent every day trying to do things that would make her happy to no avail. I placed her in MC 3 months ago. She remains angry and upset with me. I visit her daily for about an hour. The first 30…
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What should we be hoping for?
Several years back, after months of testing and imaging, we got the EO ALZ diagnosis from the neurologist. Prior to the diagnosis, upon our first visit, I noticed all the rooms we used at neurology has many boxes of tissues. I thought that was odd, but we eventually found out why there were there. Going into this, I…
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How accurate are estimated time of stage 6 & 7 ?
When my DW was diagnosed with early onset (Oct 2021), we were told she was stage 4. Just recently I took a really close look at the clinical stages and it seems we are now clearly in the early part of stage 6. Last time I saw our social work was about a year ago and she said our rate of progression appears "typical". My DW…
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Clothing for Stage 6-7?
My DH is stage 6, I’ve switched to pull up pants instead of button up. They are easier to get on and off. I’ve been going through his clothing, he was such a fashion fanatic and has a great wardrobe, but should I let the button up pants, shorts go? Has anyone felt at this stage that button ups are better for any reason?
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Periodic changes in behavior getting more concerning
My wife was diagnosed with Alz 5 years ago at 65 years old. She has a strong family history on her Mom's side and we noticed concerns at least 2 years prior. Her memory decline was slow the first couple of years and then I started to notice more pronounced changes at roughly 3 month intervals. This winter she started to…
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Collateral damage from dementia
I am sole caretaker for DH with VD for several years. Like all of you, we care, show up everyday, we do our best, yet this awful disease affects us too. It not only affects our mental and physical health but also our relationships with friends and family. My 2 grown sons live on the opposite coast and I have not seen them…
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Spouse not eating or drinking enough .
I seem to have come to a difficult time with my DW on eating and drinking and taking a shower . She keeps telling me no to all those things that are important . This issue I know will probably turn bad but I would like to know if anyone has any input on this matter . P.s I've tried mostly everything that has been suggested…
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Vascular Dementia Coping
As recommended by another user I am making a new thread here. hello my husband is in a facility which is hard I’m 76 years of age and have been taking full care of him since 95.he had a lot wrong with him last summer he locked me out of the house.since then he was diagnosed with vascular dementia.my daughter and I have…
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Grateful for returns to normalcy
My DW is showing signs of more deterioration. Getting her interested in a movie used to help, but now she has to repeatedly ask who the characters are related to, who the “good” guys and “bad” guys are, etc. Then she took a nap and we had two hours of normalcy. I am still smiling.
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Ostomy management
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Covid and he won’t stay away!
I came down with Covid 2 days ago. DH withVD has been ok so far. I am trying desperately to separate myself from him, asking him not to come into the bedroom to wear a mask but to no avail. I know he doesn’t understand/remember. It’s frustrating and I’m at my wits end. I want to rest, get better and not get him sick but he…
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video cameras to monitor hired in home care
For people who hire help in your home for respite care and such, what is your perspective and experiences with having cameras in the house to record / monitor what happens while you are gone? It has been recommended that I use cameras but I am concerned that it will interfere with the trust I hope to develop with the…
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Speech Language Therapy
My husband was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment. He does well for himself, has no medications to manage, exercises, and sings in two choirs. He does have problems with word retrieval and sometimes needs time to process someone else's speech or express his own needs. We were referred to a speech language therapist.…
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Failed my first test
Since my husband’s diagnosis about a month ago, I have been super focused on not over reacting, arguing, correcting him if he’s wrong, etc. and have been doing really well. Yesterday out of the clear blue he told me he had made a decision. I asked what decision he had made. He told me that he decided he was going to go to…
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Struggling to regain control of my life
I've always been a strong positive woman with an internal locus of control...until blindsided by DH's dementia. These days my life runs me, time is not my own. I stay on top of all that needs to get done, take care of my husband but find there's no time or energy left for myself. We put everything in to caregiving and…
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Social worker coming .
Any comments on palliative care ?
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Does anyone forget how far there LO is
Sometimes I forget what stage he is in. I think I do alot of scaffolding without realizing it. Today I went back and looked at his test results. Not good. He has both VD and Ad. It was just a reality check.
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Lessons learned
Sometimes we act emotionally instead of rationally. My DH with VD and I both miss the RV trips we used to take so I decided we should continue to make a few more memories while we can. This trip was more for me to have some recent memories when he's gone than for him. Not my wisest idea. We stayed close to home and only…
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Medication Thoughts: Quetiapine, Risperidone, Lorazapam, ABH Gel
My wife is in Stage 7 Alzheimers per the FAST Scale and has changed her behavior in the past weeks including being more Anxious, Confused and Combative. This week she had what I would describe as a hallucination episode and was very anxious, upset and uncontrollable for about 30 minutes. She has severely restricted her…
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What was I THINKING 🤔
yesterday we / I decided to join our daughter at the Casino in Laughlin for dinner and play a few slots. Dinner was great then we all headed for the slots😆we all thought my LO( loved one) was with the other ? After about a half hour we realized we lost him 🤦♀️after searching we found him sitting alone at a machine with no…
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Just need to talk to my friends (203)
It has been a beautiful day, sunny and 75. Meant to check on the daffodils but forgot. The ones I can see from the kitchen window look okay! QVC has started their gardening shows so Spring is near. They had the perennial Gerbera daisies again today. So pretty. I bought them two years ago and had one bloom and they didn't…