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Also starting to help in an association
Hi everybody I read that Ed began to imply in an association, me too ! I think I am not able to help others by speaking with them. It is too difficult to continue to speak about this desease. I wanted to help in another manner. 1 month ago the association we followed since my partner diagnosis (and that helped a lot when I…
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Newbie Intro
Hi all. I knew that I would have to take care of my wife someday but didn't think it would be because of dementia. My wife is 20 years older than I am and as we are about to celebrate 32 years of marriage I get a certain amount of joy in being able to care for her in her hour of need. A little of our backstory. We started…
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Stupid Song
Eric Carmen’s “All by Myself” came on the radio on my way home. It hit a little different. I used to make fun of that song. The Raspberries rocked!
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Advice requested: Insatiable appetite
My DW (79) is somewhere between stages 5-6 of her ALZ. In order to manage her intermittent sleep and anxiety episodes, a couple of months ago her neuropsychologist increased her seroquel intake from 50 mg to 125 mg a day. (She also takes 0.5 mg a day of clonazepam.) This boost has (partly) helped, but caused another…
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Feeling sad(1)
I havent been on for a long time, but Ive been feeling sad and frustrated. My husband is in the 6th stage of Alzheimers and doesnt know who I am to him or how he knows our kids. He has so much trouble trying to tell me anything and usually cant get it out, except to tell me "he wont be around much longer". Not sure how to…
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Donating his clothes as if he’s passed
When he went into memory care I packed his extra clothes away. They were too painful to see every morning in our shared closet. They have sat for 2 1/2 years and I know he has no need for his clothing: ties, shirts, sweaters, pants, hats, scarfs, gloves or sunglasses any longer, even his tailored suit he wore so…
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A lot of frustrations ....
DH does his laundry 2-3 times a week! He washes his clean cloths thinking they are dirty. I liked the fact that he enjoys doing laundry and he feels he has accomplished something, but I feel it’s such a waste of water, gas and electricity. This only adds to our already high bill! He also enjoys grocery shopping but gets…
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VA recovery for nursing home question
Have any of you had spouse in VA nursing home, where you had financial assistance? I know medicaid has a recovery for money used for spouses that have passed. And I'm wondering if VA has a recovery system, especially when financial assistance is used.
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Anger
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Husbands as caregivers
I swap emails with another man whose wife also has Alzheimer’s. Here is part of one of the emails that I sent to him. One of the things that makes it more difficult for us to be caregivers for our wives is the fact that we are men. We’re men, we fix things, that’s what men do. When something is broken, we fix it.…
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Reporting DH to the BMV / the Driving Issue Has Returned
I know the driving issue has been addressed many times on this forum. I read through several older posts, but I'm not finding any issue similar to mine (reporting to BMV). Has anyone ever needed to go so far as reporting your LO to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (the BMV) to get them to stop driving? I think I will need to…
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For the very first time, I told people spouse had dementia!
We recently took a 10-day Carribbean cruise. Part of me knew it might be one of our last trips, but I think I had deluded myself as to how far along my husband is. It was a big ship with over 3000 passengers, and my DH stayed pretty close to me - until he didn't! We were eating dinner in the buffet one night (skipping the…
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A case for cameras
This post was from a woman who has a daughter who is brain damaged, and bedridden. She said if she tries to fix her hair, her daughter thinks she is trying to hit her. Anyone that has a family member being care by a CNA or etc. please put cameras in their room and everywhere else , most of you know me and my handicap…
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(For you) Alzheimer’s is…
I posted this on Caregivers Forum on Monday and it was suggested to me that I post it on this forum also. In September of 2020, a post asked us to complete the sentence, “Alzheimer’s is…” At the time, my response was, “knowing that, if I can’t find it, it’s probably in her purse.” What a difference 2 years have made. She…
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Big leak.
I read somewhere dementia is like a boat with a rotten bottom. You don't know what is going to leak first or how big the leak will be. When I look back to 3 years ago when she was first diagnosed I thought the leaks were huge. Now I think what would I give to have that version of her back. Comparatively more normal than…
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Dehydration and Incontinence
My DH was diagnosed 8 years ago; he is about to be 73. He is incontinent, and I have had him on two pairs of Night Defense Depends. Additionally, we have been to Urgent Care twice because he was dehydrated, even though I keep water in front of him and keep telling him to drink it. I have switched to Crystal Light lemonade,…
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Another Awareness problem
Most of you know that I'm trying to increase awareness of dementia. For those of you who might not, I'll keep this part short. At the present time, I'm working with a reporter for the largest newspaper in our region to get our story out there. This reporter is a seasoned veteran of reporting. Yesterday he emailed me four…
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Strange experience
My wife is wide awake wandering around the house wanting to go home. She says I have to call Bill. I am Bill. I hand her phone to her and call me. I pick up the phone and start talking to her while she is right in front of me. She couldn't make the connection the person on the phone and the person in front of her was me. I…
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Therapy
I want to talk to a therapist. Just someone who understands caretaking and the stress and anxiety that is driven by real-world things that are actually happening. Better Help found me a pretty good fit. On the 3rd session we finally got to caregiving, and I told him I chose him because we had some tangencies, what with him…
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vascular dementia weakness
Okay Hospice just left and my DH was much weaker. Not sure he will make another shower. He had trouble following directions. I wish they could say that it means he has so many days left. I know it depends on a person and how much they can or can't give up. In my mind I have already lost him.
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DW has been placed on hospice
It was just a week or so ago I posted about my DW being in an MCF for six months. I talked about her unusually rapid decline. Just since that post my DW has taken a turn for the worse. My DW has just been accepted for hospice. DW's MCF was seeing some new decline and medical issues so they contacted DW's neurologist (with…
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Game App
Littlehelp My husband used to play candy crush. He could still play today if the advertisements didn’t throw him off, he plays fine, but can’t grasp how to get through the advertisements. So my question is, is there an app of games for Alzheimer’s patients. I can’t get him interested in anything such as coloring or…
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Totally unexpected re: awareness
I got a call from the newspaper reporter. He had a lot going on today, and asked me if I would be willing to give an interview over the phone. Of course I would. We were only about 5 minutes or so into the interview, when I became emotional, and told him I was sorry, but I couldn't continue. He was very understanding. He…
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Interesting book
Now that DH is in memory care I have some free time for reading. I realize many of you don't have this luxury. But I do want to recommend a book called "Making the Rounds with Oscar" by David Dosa, a gerontologist who works in the memory ward of a SNF in Rhode Island. Oscar is an ordinary residential cat on the ward who…
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Alone time - HA!
Can’t seem to get alone time! Everyday there is a different ailment and DH follows me room to room to just sit! He says he feels lightheaded or his leg hurts or his back hurts or he feels confused. I understand his need to be with me but it’s like having eyes on you every second of the day. I try to give him simple tasks…
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Website with free nature videos
On Daily Caring site I found information about a free website that shows a wide variety of animal and nature video....many of them are live and some are prerecorded. The few I looked at are peaceful and interesting, and lots of different subjects from cats ad dogs to hippopotamuses.. Go to Explore.org to see what might…
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Confusion increasing
Ddoes the confusion with Alzheimer's just keep increasing? My DH with Alzheimer's diagnosed last July, just seems to keep getting more and more confused in last couple months. He's still mobile, but can't figure out how to open car door, can't figure out how to get seatbelt on or off. Gets so confused when I give meds to…
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New to this site and find your experiences helpful
As I scroll through each person's experiences, I am in awe of the heroism and strength each of you are exhibiting. You are all an inspiration to me. My husband was diagnosed in 2018 but he was exhibiting signs at least 2 years before that. He can still get around, communicate and is no way as challenging as many of your…
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dementia and diet
When my DH was first diagnosed we started following the Mind Diet by Maggie Moon. It seems pretty nutritionally sound to me. A friend just gave me a copy of Dale Bredesen MD's book : The End of Alzheimer's The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline. I plan to talk to his Dr the next time we go, but I'd like…
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Makes me think of the Energizer Bunny
Just wondering, do any of your LOs constantly keep going? My husband is sleeping around 4 hours at night. And during the day he cannot get still. He's inside, outside, in the bedrooms, in the bathroom and then in the kitchen. Each place he goes he created a mess. He's on serequal morning and evening. And Xanax as needed to…