Help Me.

Blondi3433

my name is Denise. I am a care partner to my husband who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease recently. I find myself getting very impatient with him with his Tourette’s type syndrome weird sounds. I don’t know if anybody else is experiencing this. Would or assistance with how to stay calm. Once again, it’s 2:30 in the morning here and I cannot sleep because my mind just wonders and can’t concentrate on anything so therefore I cannot sleep. I welcome any replies to this to help me through this thank you.

harshedbuzz

@Blondi3433

Hi and welcome. I am sorry for your reason to be here, but pleased you found this place.

My dad had what I would describe as a vocal tic starting in the middle stages of the disease. I found it was most profound when he was not being actively engaged by someone else. Initially, it seemed to have a kind of self-soothing feel to it. He often subvocalized nonsense sounds while he was reading or watching TV. Later, it seemed to have more of an anxiety and urgency to it. It was especially pronounced when I was at their house and talking with my mom in another room. We were selling and moving 2 of their homes and dealing with all manner of logistics, so this happened a lot.

She was his personal security blanket; he shadowed and got needy if she was on the phone, so in-person was simpler. On one visit, I timed him making an “uh-Oh!” Every 20 seconds for almost an hour. This was peppered with requests for something to eat, drink, a blanket. Each time I attended to his request, he sulked and said mom was supposed to do it like some sort of petulant toddler. I think he was feeling vulnerable. Although his anosognosia prevented him appreciating his degree of impairments, I believe he could sense mom’s changed feelings as she transitioned for loving partner to caregiver. The sad irony was that the more he shadowed and vocalized, the more she made excuses to avoid him choosing to do tasks anywhere but where he was. When she engaged with him, they mostly faded.

There are meds that sometimes raise the threshold for tics— usually an SSRI is given first although I know of someone who had PANDAS (strep-induced tics) who did really well on Lactimal. Dad was already on an SSRI and a couple other psychoactive meds so I suspect things were as good as they were going to get. They did seem to fade in late stage 6.

A friend’s mom developed a denture clicking tic where she’d idly break the suction holding her top dentures in place. My friend is the most patient and kind woman on the planet, but this was nearly unbearable for her. One consequence is that her mom’s tic was so off-putting to others that my friend found people starting making excuses to avoid visiting for long. I stayed with her mom one afternoon for a couple hours while friend took her cat to an emergency appointment and can concur that this simple behavior could test a saint. This tic, too, did fade entirely in the later stages but before that an SSRI did lessen the frequency a bit.

Good luck.

SDianeL

it’s very common in dementia to make repetitive sounds it’s caused by anxiety. I would speak to the doctor about medication for anxiety to see if that helps. Your DH is unable to stop doing it.

Blondi3433

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/245335#Comment_245335

Thank you for your reply. It was very interesting and well help me deal with this. I try so hard to be patient. This morning, after being up all night will be difficult. But my feelings are I can do it. Thanks again.

SusanB-dil

Are you getting some respite for yourself? Maybe look into some adult daycare for him a couple days a week…

sorry you are dealing with 'this'.

Blondi3433

Nope. I can leave for a couple hours with girlfriends and he’ll sleep. Thank you for your support though.