I Need Help - Early Dementia/Paranoia

varneybraedon

Hello to all!

I am currently the grandson of my nana who I am led to believe that she is getting the early or moderate stages of dementia. She lives alone at a senior living apartment complex. However, for the past year or so - she keeps claiming multiple things. From someone drilling into her apartment, People are after her to put her in jail, and other things of that nature. Ive tried everything that I could to help her but it just seems to keep getting worse, and I have no idea what to do. Any advice?

M1

Hi varney and welcome to the forum. Delusions like this are pretty common jn dementia and are unpleasant for family as well as for the person with dementia. Someone in the family-likely one of her children-needs to make sure she sees a doctor to be properly diagnosed, and there are medications that can help. If she does in fact have dementia, someone will also need to have power of attorney or guardianship to make decisions on her behalf. She may need to not live alone any more. One thing you can learn here is not to try to correct her, as that will likely just make her mad. Usually it's best to just go along, or to try to redirect or distract her, although that can be hard. If she tells you someone broke in, you can say something like "gee, im sorry that happened, I'll check the locks on your door, " etc. Good luck, you and your family can learn a lot from the wise and kind folks on this site.

SDianeL

Welcome to the forum where you will find lots of answer. One thing that will help is if you read the book "The 36 Hour Day" which helped me a lot with my husband who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. If your Nana is in a senior apartment complex and has dementia, she probably should not be alone. Many things could happen that she would not be able to respond to like a fire or her falling. She needs for her primary care physician to refer her to a Neurologist for testing. Once she is diagnosed, you will then have to decide if she can live alone. she needs to be in a Memory Care facility that will be able to help with her delusions. To move her, you will need to have a durable or medical power of attorney which an Elder Law Attorney can create. If she won't or can't sign it, you may have to have them petition the court for Guardianship. Please keep us posted.

PRN

My story is a little different but I hope it will help. My mother was ill with cancer. Hiring the course of her illness she became paranoid. She thought she was being poisoned. She thought a neighbour was spying on her and she had an obsession with eradicating anything plastic. When it started to happen we thought it was the beginning of the end. When we were next at the doctors we mentioned it. The doctor immediately removed some of the drugs she was on and reduced others. In a matter of days, we had our lovely mum back. I’m not saying this is the answer for your Nan, but it’s something worth checking. Sounds like you are a lovely grandson and you visiting must give her great comfort.