concerned

LisaLH

My dad is in a MC. He is probably stage 6 but I don't know for sure. When the aide took him to his room to clean him and change him(he is totally incontinent) he tried to choke her. He has not shown any violence before. She said she was squatted down at the time so I wonder if he thought she was some sort of animal. He does hallucinate some. Concerned

Marta

Lisa: you need to act with some urgency as a second incident may result in his discharge from the facility. Once he has a description of violence in his records, other facilities may refuse him admission. This is what you do: leave an urgent message for his PCP, through the patient portal. S/he may be willing to prescribe Seroquel before he can be referred to a geriatrician or geriatric psychiatrist. I say use the portal because then your concerns are documented. These days more and more clinicians respond to messages in the portal before answering a phone message. Also the telephone may be answered by a non medical person; thus the message can be potentially lost in translation after passing down the chain of communication. Be a squeaky wheel.

I have prescribed Seroquel in my PCP practice, and now as an operator of an adult family home for dementia patients, as I know what the consequences are of anger/violence, beyond the incident itself.

Marta

M1

Lisa, does the MC have a doctor they work with affiliated with the facility? That may be your most efficient route. Absolutely address right away with the director of nursing and the director of the facility. Many places, including the MC where my partner is, have a zero tolerance policy. A single incident with a staff member or other resident can result in a request to leave.

LisaLH

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/210247#Comment_210247

Everyone in charge are aware. He sees the facility doctor there. They are going to check him for a uti and then go from there. They are very good and on top of things. I was curious why this is coming on so late in the disease. Of course I hope its a one time occurrence.

elhijo

Hello,

I am so sorry you're going through this but I agree with your comment about the UTI. UTI's can make Alzheimer's sufferers worse and aggressive. That was the case with my mom when she had one. It was hard for even to doctor to know when she had one but a tell-tale sign was aggression. That may be with your dad. He may need a general antibiotic to cover different strains of bacteria or maybe just one if they can isolate which one is causing the UTI. They're kind of hard to get rid of but they do go away once treated. They can come on somewhat suddenly, especially if your loved one had been dehydrated and not cleansed properly. Maybe your dad could relate better to a male CNA for some things while still having a female CNA present to assist, just a thought. Best of luck to you and your dad.

Anonymousjpl123

I’m glad that everyone’s on top of it and he’s seeing the facility doctor. My mom had to have two er visits for psych reasons and it was very alarming, but now we’re beginning to understand her triggers etc. The good thing about him seeing the facility doctor too is that they have an incentive to find good solutions. My mom was not violent but did have suicidal ideation which is also scary, and medication and regular Geri-psych visits are helping a lot. Hoping things settle down for both of you. Let us know how it goes.