DH wants to go all the time

Anza

My DH was diagnosed in September of 22, although I am sure he has had Alz beginning about 2014. Since he has been diagnosed and taking Mementine and Exelon patch all he wants to do is for us to go all the time. Per the neurologist the patch should give him more energy to want to work in his wood shop. She told him that his carpentry work was the best thing for helping build his memory cells. I am sorta thinking he doesn’t want to improve or he’s further along than they are telling me. He cannot come close to passing the cognitive exams which is definitely not him. Has anyone else experienced this behavior? He goes back in April for another cognitive test. The Exelon patch is extremely expensive.

Olly_Bake

Oh boy Anza. That is an issue with my Dad also. However, he does not take Mementine or Exelon. But boy does he drive me nuts with the wanting to go all the time. Dad was a very busy on the go type of guy before all of this (sun up and sun down) so I always thought he was reliving that part of his active life over and over. Don't know!

From the time I set foot in his home, he wants me to help him dress. Then it is where are we going? Is it time to go? You driving or I'm driving? Didn't you have to go (to the store or doc or etc.)? Didn't we have to go (pick up grandkids, neighbor, his parents, etc?) What time you going to be ready to go? Hey baby daughter, you ready to go? It should be time to gooooo. 

Before short, I'm ready to run into the nearest wall in an attempt to knock myself out.

He does get to go at times. But once back, he is still ready to gooooo. Sigh!

Marie67

I go through this every day with my husband. Starts out him asking if I'm ready to go. We have not talked about going anywhere previously. When I say we're not going anywhere, he gets angry and bangs things around. So many times, I just get him in car go to city lake or maybe to a store.  Sometimes it helps, but majority of time we get back home and he starts in again asking when we're leaving. If I go as much as he wants, I can't take care of anything around the house.

Joydean

This brings back memories. About 4 years ago my husband was doing the same thing. I would have to take him for rides 4 or 5 times a day!  He was having really bad panic attacks and getting out and riding around was the thing that helped. His medication wasn’t helping. Thank goodness now we only go once a day. Just a short 30 minute drive and a hamburger and he’s a contented camper. I didn’t get a lot accomplished during that time but it will pass. I think they just get bored and party they still know “going “ they have you all to themselves. My opinion on that. Best of luck to you.

Iris L.

Anza wrote:

. The Exelon patch is extremely expensive.

 

Exelon patch is available in generic form.

Iris

CatsWithHandsAreTrouble

My mom used to be go go go all the time which made it difficult for me since my energy level was always different day to day and couldn't do much. That was about two years ago. She still somewhat active at times but is less often and usually only spikes when she's sundowning. It seems to be a cycle some go through going off of what others are replying with.

Have you tried looking at alternatives for the Exelon patch? Iris mentioned generic. Also some pharmacies have different pricing for prescriptions and you can look into that with goodRX. We also have mom on a state assistance program that comps the cost of her prescription and other things that I currently don't recall. Perhaps your area has a similar program that can be looked into.

harshedbuzz

Anza-

Cobbling off of what Iris said, Excelon is available as a generic in capsule form. Mark Cuban's CostPlus mail order pharmacy charges a little over $5 for a 30 day supply. Good Rx can offer a coupon that might bring it down to $75.

There are some PWD who do seem to channel the Energizer Bunny in the middle and early late stages of the disease. Some caregivers hire a companion to take them for outings or walks to get a break or to do things around the house/see to appointments.

Given that he was symptomatic enough in 2014 to be diagnosed, I would expect that he is at least late middle stages. Sometimes a PWD can showtime while in the doctor's office and give a false impression of how impaired they are day-to-day. My dad showtimed like it was his job. He'd go to see his geriatric psychiatrist and would put on quite the act joking in Yiddish with the doctor. (Dad's mostly Irish, so this was quite the parlor trick) He also had a fair amount of cognitive reserve and could do better than most on those quickie screenings like MMSE and MoCA which also led the docs to assume he wasn't as progressed as I thought he was. I actually made a quick video of dad's behavior at home so he could see what my mom was living with.

She told him that his carpentry work was the best thing for helping build his memory cells.

I seriously side-eye the above. For starters, a neurologist should know that the brain of a dementia patient is not something that can be exercised like a muscle. I had an aunt whose husband believed crosswords would delay progression. After he died, we found thousands in the house- a 12' closet floor to ceiling and more stuffed under her double bed. The early ones were mostly done, then there was a phase where they were just cut out and finally the newest had just the grids cut out. 

It is fairly typical for PWD to lose interest in what previously was a passion. I think this has to do with not just memory loss, but also apathy and the executive function skills that allow a person to devise and execute a plan to accomplish something. Specific to carpentry, he may have suffered damage to regions of his brain that control spatial reasoning which would make woodworking a challenge. 

Plus, it's probably not safe for him to use sophisticated power tools for the same reason he shouldn't be driving. I would not encourage this as an activity. In fact, I'd probably lock the workshop proactively as a safety measure. 

HB