What to do?

coloradobear · March 12

My DW is now fully involved with her dementia/delusions. She is getting angry and physically violent.

So, what is the next step? Do I need to look to have her committed?

M1 · March 12

She may need hospitalization on a geriatric psych unit for medication stabilization. I would find out what hospitals near you have such units and either take her to the ER there or call 911 to have her taken. I'm sorry, having had to do this myself i know how difficult it is.

coloradobear · March 12

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/201809#Comment_201809

thank you for your advice; I'm sorry you had this experience too.

Ed1937 · March 12

M1 gave you excellent advice. I'd just like to add that if you haven't already, please check out the available facilities now. You don't want to get to the point where you have an emergency, then have to take whatever place you can get on the spur of the moment. But seeing a geri-psych is the first place to check. I wish you luck.

fesk · March 12

I do not know the background, but recommend calling her doctor. I don't know if she is seeing a neurologist, geriatrician or geriatric psychiatrist. If recent tests have not been done, recommend bloodwork and urine tests. The doctor can advise whether there is an underlying issue, medication can be prescribed to help or hospitalization is warranted as M1 mentioned.

ghphotog · March 12

Calling her doctor is a good idea and a quick UTI urine test will tell if a UTI might be exacerbating her delusions. If she tests negative for a UTI and she's not on any medications yet the her doctor / neuro can prescribe medications that can calm those down but might require an in person visit and scheduling that could take weeks to be seen. I would call her primary and order a UTI test. It's an easy first step in troubleshooting extremes. All I had to do was call the PCP office and say I think my wife has a UTI. The doctor would just send the order to the lab and we were in and out and had the resultes in a day or two.

PS. When she was at the point where it wasn't really able to go to the lab in person I would just pick up a specimen cup, have her pee at home in a urine catch and take the urine sample straight to the lab and drop it off.

After that then a ER / Geripsych visit might be the fastest route.

I never had the heart to have my wife hauled of by ambulance or commited to a psych ward even if it's temporary. Her last extremes were related to a UTI and since she was dbl incontinent they were becoming quite frequent and I knew that an MC should be able to care for her better than I could. So far she is doing much better than expected at MC but I'm still not ready to call it a victory just yet but so far the seem to be doing a very good job with her.

Carmen M · March 12

Have been gone from site for few months but this string really hits home.

My LO has been in the hospital and now rehab for 4 weeks. the worse part is we were out of town at our vacation home. my LO had a UTI and did not have any energy to stand. Went to emergency, admitted to hospital and on IV for antibodics and other stuff. We left the hospital after a week, but he fell again at the vacation home. So went back to emergency, admitted and stayed almost 2 weeks to get strength back with physical therapy. After 2 weeks, went to rehab and still there. Discovered he had another UTI which really impacted his ability to do physical therapy and respond to medical team. These UTI's really affect the dementia in such an adverse way. He is now improving with another dose of antibodics and participating in physical therapy. However, doctor had to prescribe an anti depressent which also helps with appetitute since he wasn't eating. All is improving but its day by day.

Don't hesitate about calling ambulance. I had to do it 3 times within a week and half. And had him hospitalized twice. It was the best decision becos you cannot do it all by yourself. I learned that lesson these last 2 months.

coloradobear · March 22

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/201868#Comment_201868

Thank you for these notes. We did get her tested for a UTI, which came back negative. On the medication side, though, she has been on 25mg of Seroquel for about a month now and it seems to have dampened her delusions considerably. She was waking up every night with those and getting her calmed down was hit or miss. Now, she is pretty much sleeping through the night, but still wakes up (groggy) asking about something; I'm able to gently suggest going back to sleep and that works. We see her neurologist in a couple of days.

FTDCaregiver1 · March 22

good advice above, nothing to add other than I went through a couple ER room-based referrals with DW, I feel for you, though necessary at the time, it was very painful to go through.

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