Question on transitioning caregiving support

Kathy517

Well as we all know with out LO suffering from this disease, most of the time there is no such thing as a long term solution.

I have my moms POA and function as one of her caregivers also. She’s currently 96 years of age

We’ve been dealing with the disease the past several years but the past year has gotten progressively worse with COVID not helping.

We have been lucky and have good caregiving help, people who have been with her longer term on a regular basis. Even with that it has been regular changes in terms of level of care, increasing the level of support she needs - well I am sure you all know the drill.

We’ve lost one of our caregivers so now I am in process of transitioning a new person is. So far mom is suspicious and paranoid. I have been working with this new person regularly so far but mom still looks to me or my brother who lives with her versus the new person who she is still very wary of. Problem is when this has happened in the past she’s gotten combative. Yes even at 96. We have tactics we use to try to mitigate it, but I admit I am fearful if I leave it will get worse. And my brother being with her is a blessing but can also be a curse. He has his own challenges and can at times try to step in and makes it worse.

We also have been in process of adjusting her doses of  memantine which has helped in some ways by not in others. 

I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions, should we get her medication stabilized first. My fear with that is it can take weeks for the medication to show a consistent result. On a side note it’s done wonders for her lagging appetite. She’s eating almost all the time now lol

Marta

Kathy - if your Mom was already on memantine and the dose is adjusted (I assume increased?), it would not take weeks to see the results, as the memantine receptors are already "awake."

I would not count on memantine to curb agitation.  She would need Seroquel or something similar for that.