Paranoia, delusion, hallucination and aggression

mickenny

My mom with early onset Alzheimer is turning 69 next week. In the last two months, things take a drastic turn as she started with less engage with us turning into full delusion and hallucination all awake hours. There is no redirect or reassuring technique to help as she is not engaging with us. She turns physical and aggressive as her inner voice told her that she is being attacked or have her things stolen all the time. She started to refuse medication. We got no choice but to call 911 for help. It is not pretty.

she is in the hospital now and they just started her on risperidone 0.5mg. Previously before 911, we tried 25mg SEROquel but it doesn’t seems to help at all.

anyone have success on risperidone? How long will it take to show any improvement?

does hallucination and delusion ever goes away?

I feel so stupid that I never thought Alzheimer can turn into something like this; that I need cops to put my sweet mom into the hospital. She is crying non stop whenever we visit her now but she is still having full on delusion when she is not crying or anger why she is staying in the hospital. I feel so bad and haven’t been sleeping much for 3 weeks now.

M1

Hi mickenny, im sorry it's been so stressful but she's getting the care she needs. The risperidone is similar to Seroquel and should kick in fairly quickly, it will likely be a matter of getting to the right dosage, and they may add other drugs like an antidepressant for anxiety too. Be prepared for the process to take 2-3 weeks at least.

The social workers at the hospital can help you decide on next steps, they will be familiar with the memory care units near you. Keep us posted, and use this time for a well deserved rest if you can.

mickenny

Thanks @M1

Just really tough to see her like this and I hope the medication will be able to help her. Just tough knowing that if she won’t take it, they will have to force her with an injection. She only wants to take the medication that look exactly the same as her previous ones and refuse to accept or reason that additional medication is needed.

She is able-bodied and still taking care all of her personal need by herself. So unless she is still aggressive, we might not want to go to care home yet. Also I am not sure how care home take care of aggressive behaviour. They probably won’t take her in this stage.

KVinPDX

I'm having the same issue. Just lost my Dad this week and no time to mourn. My mom wasn't medicated before or properlly cared for. She 85. The aggression and memory is getting worse everyday. I've had 4 Dr visits, and a dissmissive ER doctor. We are literally at the end of our ropes. We are not finding educated Dr's and the geriatric doctors are booked out until April. I'm at a loss
The memory care assessment nurses said she needed 24 hour consistent levels vs just at night.