DH cannot understand the words.

nancyj194

Hi all, I hope the new year is treating you and yours kindly. The world us such an uncertain place. 

Last night while watching a TV show, DH would sit and mutter a lot of swear words. He rarely swears and so I paid attention.  

I mentioned this was a series we had watched in the past and did he want to continue watching it and he said that he did.

Another half an hour into it, he mumbled he could not understand anything being said on the TV show. I listened and repeated what I heard them say. He seemed to understand me, but looking back, perhaps he did not.  

Has anyone had this with their LO?  DH is mid to late stage 5 and keeps on a slow progress the last few years.  Should I have his hearing checked? He seems to be hearing fine today.  

We are down to watching just a few shows on TV because he gets irate and says that not much is going on or he cannot understand them, though it is usually with a fast paced movie, not things like "Little House on the Prairie." He becomes lost because he falls asleep rather quickly and wakes up, watches the show for a few, falls back asleep.  Now and then I will say that he had fallen asleep.  At least he doesn't reject my statement.  

I am one week and two days following a knee replacement surgery. Everything is going well, with the exception of me not sleeping much.  At this point I am not taking any prescription pain pills, so hopefully I will be released to drive following my two week visit to the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday.  I am not using a cane or walker, so get around fairly well. 

My physical therapist is coming in an hour. I have in home therapy as I cannot leave DH alone.  This is round two of knee replacement with the first being done last April 2.  There was no problem getting PT to come to our home after the first replacement. The therapy girl who came to question me the day after surgery,  made the comment that I could take an Uber to the PT place beings I could not drive. Then I mentioned the risk and liability of leaving DH home alone while I went off ubering to a PT facility.  She seemed fairly new at the job and had been off having a baby, so that might explain it.  

When the regular therapist arrived last week, I was happy to see he was the same one as I had the previous year, so I asked if having in home care would be a problem and he said no that it would not, he just needed to bill it correctly.  That made me feel better.  

I'm off to get ready for his visit.

Take care,

Nancy

M1

Good luck with your therapy Nancy.

My partner also has problems understanding the television.  Hard to tell how much of it is brain processing and how much might be hearing loss.  I know she has hearing loss--was a contractor and around loud equipment all her working life--but she would never agree to evaluation even pre-dementia, and I think that ship has sailed now.  At stage 5, there is absolutely no way she could handle the technology of even the simplest hearing aids,  much less not lose them.  There have been other threads about this in the past.  I do wish I could have convinced her to do it years ago, because yes, hearing loss contributes to dementia, just like vision loss can (there was an article in the Washington Post the other day about cataract surgery clearly preventing dementia).

Rescue mom

My DH with mid-stage, I think 6, Alzheimer’s has not been able to understand TV since early in the disease. . He used to say they talk too fast. And he couldn’t remember any ongoing news. He also cannot follow normal conversations, nor a change of subject, unless it’s done super-slow and with simple words, short sentences. He simply does not understand or can’t process it anymore. 

I believe he also has hearing loss, but by the time that became noticeable or suspect, he was too far into dementia to deal with hearing aids. There may be some new tech now with the aids that make them less troublesome to handle, but even “normal” people who have and use the newest/high-tech ones say there’s 2-3 weeks of hard adjustment, which I doubt he could deal with.

Dealing with your PT (and any health problems) must be super hard when also being a caregiver. Good luck.

Quilting brings calm

Many tv shows now throw out facts or conversations that leave out things.  The viewer is supposed to extrapolate the plot.  Such as there’s a statue on the floor and the victim had blood in their head.  Therefore the criminal hit them with the statue,  and that’s an example of an obvious one. I think PWD can’t follow the clues and get frustrated when the tv conversation makes no sense.

Then there’s also the plot that the background music is so loud that it overpowers the verbiage. 

loveskitties

My father gets very agitated with news programs.

He does well with watching game shows or ones about animals.  They are more visual than mental processing.

Lizzielou

About 5 years ago I noticed DH couldn’t hear very well.  He went to an audiologist who over the years fitted him with 3 different sets of hearing aids.  DH complained that they were all too loud.  It turned out the problem was much worse than hearing loss.  He was unable to process and understand the words.  Now when I talk to him I need to be directly in front of him, speak very slowly and give him lots of time to think about the words. The only thing we watch on TV are programs without much dialogue like football games, sporting events,  game shows.

jfkoc

There is hearing and there is comprehension. I know many who have difficulty with a television. One huge factor is that people seem to talk faster.

I have a hearing problem and wera hearing aids but that does not fix everything. I would suggest investing in over the head wireless headphones. That may go a long way to solving the problem.

TV and headphones are independent, so the person wearing the headphones can hear while the TV is muted. Or everyone in the room can listen to the regular TV sound while the person wearing the phones can listen at a completely different volume.

Ed1937

Nancy, it sounds as though the recovery from surgery is going very well. That's great!

I think Judith's suggestion about the headphones is well worth a try. 

Paris20

My husband no longer can follow tv programs, movies, or news. He interrupts constantly to ask me what’s happening. His interruptions interfere with my ability to relax and enjoy what I’m watching. I try to maintain my cool but sometimes the frustration gets to me. DH cannot comprehend the change from one program to the next or from a program to a commercial. At times he’ll even inject us into a program, e.g., we were watching a film about Paris and he suddenly remarked that we were in Paris too. If only….

nancyj194

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses concerning DH's hearing problems. 

As several of you said, hearing/understanding/comprehension is an issue with so many.  

I've noticed that, but last night was filled with a lot of anger, which is not common. 

Well, we were not watching another run of Little House on the Prairie, it was Cobra Kai. My bad.

He was not handling the fighting well, which I understand, as I can only take so much myself. 

We discussed it today and he said he did not like that series, so tonight we are watching one of our usuals, When Calls the Heart.  He enjoys watching those along with Beating Bobby Flay.  Even if he does not understand everything, he understands who wins and who loses on that cooking show. Another plus is DH cannot remember any of these shows we are watching. I just try to have a few months or year in-between what we re-watch.

Like M1 and RescueMom, getting hearing aids is no longer an option. He would never figure them our plus they would get lost.  

jfkoc, they do talk faster on TV it seems! The headphones is a good idea to check into.  Thanks.

Paris wouldn't it be wonderful to take off for Paris right now?  How lovely that would be.  We traveled to Europe both before and after DH showed signs of dementia.  He thinks we can go back, but that is not going to happen.  

Paris for my sanity, I do things like respond to comments on this site or write emails. I can follow what is going on with what we are watching as long is there is not a quiz afterwards. That way DH can talk and comment, which he does a lot and I am not too stressed.  

Ed the recovery/therapy is going pretty okay.  I am back on the cane for now, as the therapist noted that I have a slight limp and it is changing my gait, so use the cane for now.  My right leg is not flattening down like it was on the first visit, so I am now back to pain and torture stretching exercises. Uff

KatieKat1

When my DH had Alzheimer (he passed last August), he had Primary Aggressive Aphasia that developed around Stage 4 or 5.  He started out having some difficulty with his speech but as time went on he eventually could not form his words or make a sentence.  I rarely could understand him and I don't think he understood me so I always had to show him something or direct him, etc.  When he had a UTI and was in the emergency area of the hospital he suddenly found the  swear words that were aimed at the doctors and techs.  We all did have a chuckle over it because in his mind he still knew how to use some four lettered words, and never did I hear him swear in our home for the 40-plus years of our marriage.  He may have sworn around his male friends, and I am sure when he was in the military he heard and used the language of the men, but he took me totally by surprise that he could remember to swear at Stage 5/6 of the disease but could not say any other word.  The disease is a mystery in many ways and I know it affects everyone differently.

Also at Stage 5 he lost interest in TV and no longer would sit and watch it and I don't think he liked me to watch it either because he would become agitated and want the TV turned off, and then he would start his hours of pacing.  I am sure it is because he could not understand what was being said on the TV, plus he could no longer read and write.  It must be very frustrating for this to happen to a person.  The part of his brain - the left side according to the Neurologist, was failing with each stage and seemed to take away his memory for most things.

I wish you best with your DH.  I know it is not easy going through a this disease with a loved one.  I was the sole caregiver for 4 years with some help from our daughter when she was not working or attending to her family.  All of our patience and understanding will be tested.

 

I wish you the best with the healing and PT of  your knee surgery.  It is a difficult time caring for yourself and DH.

Iris L.

I am nowhere near the stages of your LOs since I don't have AD.  But I no longer watch most TV shows especially not news or crime dramas.  PWDs cannot process rapid changes in plot nor, as described above, implied plot changes.  They cannot hear well or see well due to aural and visual agnosia.  This is in addition to any of the common visual and auditory pathologies present in the older years.  

My suggestion would be to watch classic tv shows on DVD or on a classic tv station.

P.S.  The other day on the radio I heard something that sounded like "nazi cupcakes"!  Of course it was a distortion and I laughed to myself.  I figured out what it really was but I don't recall it now.

Iris

Jack Z.

Hope your after surgery knee therapy goes well and you recover quickly!  My DW, who has EOAD, has a tendency to pick up words or phrases from the TV and use them in conversation if we happen to be talking in the living room (while the TV is on.)

Does anyone else see this behavior?  She's probably mid-stage AD at this point in her life.

Thanks, 

Jeff86

My DW, late stage 6, hears perfectly well but comprehension is a major issue.  She rarely watches television now but occasionally is frightened by a news story or a violent episode.  (She always abhorred any scenes of violence.)  I have to carefully curate what we watch.

Ed1937

Jack Z. wrote:

My DW, who has EOAD, has a tendency to pick up words or phrases from the TV and use them in conversation if we happen to be talking in the living room (while the TV is on.)

Hello Jack. Not exactly the same thing, but my wife at times cannot find the words she wants to say. She got up, and started to walk into another room. I usually walk with her, holding her hand because she is a little shaky on her feet. I asked her where she was going, and she couldn't tell me. I asked her if she was going to the bathroom. She said she wasn't. She was going to the bathroom (which may or may not be right). So she picked up that word from me, and that has happened several times when she couldn't find the right words. Maybe different, but along the same lines.

Michael Ellenbogen

I can hear well but can no longer easily process what is being said. Todays TV shows makes it even harder to understand unless it is a simple format. Hope fully it was just a bad day as I have them tow were nothing sticks no matter what. I had a day like that a week ago when I was in meetings. Could not understand a thing they were saying. Luckily it was recorded and I could understand the playback.   This diseases sucks.

toolbeltexpert

Nancyj194 it is good you have been able to get the care you needed, I pray you continue to recover and heal. My DW has had hearing aides for close to 10 years, I had the doc take out the technology so that they wouldn't  be to hard to use, I have an app on my phone that I use to check the settings. I am grateful she wears them and hasn't lost them it's  been close a couple times. When it comes to TV and comprehension she is beginning to have the same problems so I have turned on the closed caption that has helped. I don't  let her see any news that was a trigger for frustration. I use game shows and her favorite movies on dvd plus Netflix. As for swear  words I have watched a teepa snow video on the the things they lose and the things they retain.  Teepa has a way of teaching so I can understand and Remember. Teepa says Language  on the left and rhythm on the right. If you google that it will bring up the video, it has been very helpful to understand why things are the way they are. Sorry I went so long. Be blessed.

CStrope

I agree, it is more likely a comprehension issue rather than a hearing issue.  Before diagnosis, we used to joke because my husband always had to have the tv so loud, but as soon as he wanted to go to bed then it had to get turned way down.  He could hear every word from the bedroom at the other end of the house clearly when he wanted to sleep, but needed it loud enough for the neighbors when it was something he was watching.  Now we realize that he turned it up loud to drown out any distractions to help him follow whatever it was he was watching.

Now when we turn on a show that we've watched together for years, he often gets up numerous times throughout it because he just can't follow the plot.  He really enjoys if I turn on old Seinfeld episodes.  Their familiarity is comforting.

nancyj194

I am getting a better grasp of what goes on with the brain and hearing/understanding/comprehending. It's complex!

Like Michael, I have now and then listened to something and thought what did they just say. I could hear it, but didn't comprehend.  I would re-wind and listen again and the jumbled words would make sense. It happens so rarely, I am not sure if I should be concerned. 

The older I get the more extraneous noise/music comes in to drown out what is being said. 

My DH talks and mostly I say, "what did you say?" I listen intently and he mumbles the words, again. He does not talk clearly like he used to.  

CStrope we used to call that selective hearing with my dad.  He died of a rheumatic heart at the age of 51, so never reached old age.  He played deaf, except if was what he wanted to hear. We smiled when he would not hear what was said in the same room, but could hear every word from the other other side of the house.  

Toobelt I am glad the doc was able to remove the technology so your wife could enjoy the aids.  Technology can be challenging for so many  as we grow older, but adding Alzheimer's/demetia into the mix only makes everything complicated and frustrating. Teepa sounds interesting, so I will definitely watch the video.     

KatieKat, I am sorry for the loss of your husband. Your comments were very helpful and made me smile also when your DH's hospital swear words. I am glad the doctor's and staff found the humor in what he was saying. That makes for sweet memories.  I dread the day when DH no longer watches TV.  Like you I am the sole caregiver for DH with some help from our two married children who live close by.  They have their busy working lives, but do their best to help out when something happens.  

My knee is doing as it should be, which I am thankful for.  The healing process is time consuming, but I am up for this knowing the end result. makes everything worth it.