Anxiety confines him to house

DazeyDoris

Registered User
Jul 9, 2020
44
0
My 66 year old husband was diagnosed with Alzheimers last year but had been showing symptoms for years. He is in total denial about it and any related problems. He doesn't leave the house much apart from walking in our local park on a route he knows well, but seems happy for me to go out leaving him on his own. (Something I've done for years as our interests have diverged).
The problem is on the rare occasions we have plans to go somewhere, he always gets agitated and usually refuses to go saying he has "a bit of a bottom" which I presume is diarrhoea. This has happened even when he's initially been keen on the outing, like a lunch last week with a friend of mine he really likes. He doesn't really have any friends of his own as I think they got fed up of always being the ones to get in touch.
He won't discuss it or go to the doctor and can get quite rude and dismissive (which he also did before Alzheimers).
When restrictions are lifted we're due to make a trip to see my elderly mother who lives 300 miles away and although he says he wants to go I'm worried he'll change his mind at the last minute. Also our daughter moved to Norway last year and we want to visit her when we can, which would be even more complicated with flights etc.
Any advice would be most welcome - thank you.
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
Hello @DazeyDoris

That's an issue that may require outside assistance, with the first stop being the GP. Maybe the GP would discuss it with you if you have POA. If you are registered with your local CPN service maybe they could make a house call.

My wife is treated separately for anxiety and depression and her GP is happy to listen to my input in relation to that. I have to admit that my wife is a cooperative person so that makes a big difference.
 

DazeyDoris

Registered User
Jul 9, 2020
44
0
Hello @DazeyDoris

That's an issue that may require outside assistance, with the first stop being the GP. Maybe the GP would discuss it with you if you have POA. If you are registered with your local CPN service maybe they could make a house call.

My wife is treated separately for anxiety and depression and her GP is happy to listen to my input in relation to that. I have to admit that my wife is a cooperative person so that makes a big difference.
Thanks, maybe I should see the GP myself as a first step. I do have PoA. They were very good when he was diagnosed with Alzheimers, as he was very reluctant to go to the GP and only went to prove to me that there was nothing wrong with him! Even if he was prescribed something though I don't know if he'd take it, as he won't take his Alxheimer's medication. The memory nurse made a house call not long after he was diagnosed and he was quite rude and unco-operative.
 

Palerider

Registered User
Aug 9, 2015
4,160
0
56
North West
Its an unknown from what you have said and worth medcial investigation just to check there is nothing more. I found that my mum hid from her family in the end and she was highly anxious when she was told they would visit or she would visit them -the reality is that she struggled to remember who exactly was who and in the end when her grandchildren visited she would hide upstairs because she had no idea who they were but she felt she should do so she hid. The only person she never hid from was me in the end, but then I was familiar to her, not necessarily known to her