Problems with Appliances? Any suggestions re strategies?

[MrsMoose]

I am assuming this is a common issue with dementia sufferers. But my partner and I are not sure how best to cope.

My father in law is becoming increasingly deaf - on top of the memory problems - and about six months ago was fitted with an NHS hearing aid. (I gather these are easily as good as anything that can be bought privately and are worth about £2,000.)

He has never really got the knack of putting the aid in his ear - or replacing the batteries. So he normally says it isn't working. So we change the batteries. But in any case he will only wear the gadget when he comes out with us, and my husband helps to put it in. He claims that this hearing aid is 'just a cheap one' - and that when he can afford it he would like to get 'a proper one', that he will then wear all day. Apparently these 'proper ones' magically sit inside the ear without any visible loop on the outside. (Having a visible hearing aid apparently makes you look old, and at 93 he has no wish to look old.)

Now we are getting similar problems about his TV/DVD player. He has lost the ability to use the remote control and also struggles to put the DVDs in manually. He has decided that the TV and DVD are broken, and wants us to take them back to the rental company and get a replacement. Both the TV and DVD are fine, but I don't think we can convince him of this. As watching old DVDs seems to be one of his few remaining pleasure, it's a shame that he doesn't seem to be able to work the machine any more. (He lives in sheltered accommodation, but is currently refusing to have a carer on the ground that he doesn't need one, and is managing fine...)

This rather depends on your definition of fine. Certainly he is forgetting to eat, leaves food lying around to go off, gets faint and dizzy and is having falls.

 

[Lindy50]

Hello Mrs Moose

This is so frustrating, isn't it, especially when care is available but the person won't have it! ( like my mum)

Regarding care, we are just about keeping one 15 minute visit a day going, on the basis that mum doesn't need it, but i do, as I am such a worryguts about her

Mum can no longer use the TV remote, DVD player, radio, cooker or microwave. Nor can she set her heater or hot water....and opening her door with a key is tentative at best. There seems no way, once these abilities are lost, of regaining them My attempts to simplify things a few months back tended to backfire as she couldn't adapt to the new, simpler appliances.....

My only suggestion would be not to introduce new devices, as they will certainly prove difficult (or impossible) to learn to operate. Stick with what dad knows best and work from there. And introduce carers / helpers / friends even, as soon as you can!

Sorry if this sounds a bit unhelpful.....I hope others will be along soon with better ideas

All the best

Lindy xx

 

[Kevinl]

Hi
A couple of things, do you know the tubes on the hearing aids need changing every 6 months or they become brittle and the aid doesn't sit properly in place and if you want to test the hearing aid turn it up and cup it in your hands, if it starts to whistle (feedback) then it's working fine. The NHS ones are as good as anything particularly if you get the digital ones, I don't think you can get the pop in ones on the NHS but it might be worth asking. A combined TV & DVD might be a solution, when you put the DVD in they switch over automatically and eject the DVD when it finishes (check the spec, most do but not all) alternatively see if he might like to watch some of the others like the history channel or challenge, there are so many channels out there but so many people seem to stick to the standard 5,
K

 

[MrsMoose]

We'll check the hearing aid tubes, in case they are adding to the problem. (Though he found the aid hard to put in, right from the start.) Thanks for that.

We are not even sure how many TV channels he has, but are going to check today. (Suspect the thing of scrolling down and choosing may be a problem, if he does have Freeview.) Not even sure if he can read/understand Radio Times and use it to choose programmes any more. Perhaps leaves it on the one channel?

I think things are beginning to fall apart quite fast.

 

[malc]

does he actually watch telly or is it just on,i know my wife struggles to remember or follow a program sometimes,why not find a channel that mostly suits and leave it on for company.

 

[Amber02]

Hi
We are having same problems with my mother in law. We have to go in several times a day just to sort tv . It's not that she even watches it.....it's just a noise in the room. Also keeps putting washing machine on then stopping it mid programme. Don't know what to do about it. Just seems to be a common problem but not easy when you're having to deal with it continually every day.

 

[MrsMoose]

Went to visit today. Despite an earlier tutorial from my husband, he appears to be trying to operate the DVD player with the TV remote, and then when things don't work putting in DVDs manually and not doing that quite right so the little drawer sticks halfway.

I have drawn him an enlarged picture of the DVD remote with the relevant buttons highlighted and explained. Whether it will work I don't know. But all the little buttons are confusing and fiddly - and if the rental people supplied a guide, it was not in evidence. Also I've labelled the DVD remote DVD in big letters

He seems to have quite a lot of different channels but not want to use anything other than 1-5 (the terrestrial ones). It's a shame because I found a channel called Yesterday - I'm not a TV watcher - that seemed right up his street, and we spent a happy 30 minutes or so watching a programme about gorillas in the jungle.

(Just don't get me started on what was in the fridge!)

 

[Lindy50]

I bought one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=t&ref=pd_sl_4pdg604emd_b

It helped mum for a while but even that is beyond her now. I think part of the problem is trying to be ahead of the curve, ie if we don't introduce something before the ability to master it is lost, it's useless

Thought I'd mention it in case if helps, though

Lindy xx

PS Don't talk to me about the contents of fridges, either!!!

 

[turmoil]

Hi, I have been through the TV and mobile thing, I bought a doro TV remote and a doro mobile, do no be fooled to pay top prices but search the net, big online retailer do them.
Dad managed with the mobile for about a year after I got it or him, now he is having problems, however I no longer get 20+ calls a night. The Doro TV remote is still very helpful and have not had to sort his TV out for again 12 months, they are life savers.

Turmoil





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[Kevinl]

We'll check the hearing aid tubes, in case they are adding to the problem. (Though he found the aid hard to put in, right from the start.) Thanks for that.

We are not even sure how many TV channels he has, but are going to check today. (Suspect the thing of scrolling down and choosing may be a problem, if he does have Freeview.) Not even sure if he can read/understand Radio Times and use it to choose programmes any more. Perhaps leaves it on the one channel?

I think things are beginning to fall apart quite fast.

It's more "comfort" TV than actually content. Ironically my OH will watch the news channel or quizzes on Challenge TV for hours, unfortunately now all the TVs and things are just too complicated.
K

 

[Lindy50]

It's more "comfort" TV than actually content. Ironically my OH will watch the news channel or quizzes on Challenge TV for hours, unfortunately now all the TVs and things are just too complicated.
K

I had to get a new TV for mum recently as her old one 'went for a burton' ...

I struggled to find one simple enough, they all have built in this and that, or are smart TVs If only you could buy a TV that just did BBC, ITV and maybe a couple of other channels. But nooooo, you have to have a 'choice' of 140 channels or whatever it is, and a planner, and iPlayer, etc, etc....aaargh.......

Perhaps it's best if I get to bed now x

 

[Redpoppy]

So many elderly people struggle with the hearing aids. One of my neighbours has spectacles which somehow have a hearing aid included. If you don't need specs.they put plain lens in. Unfortunately I think they are pretty expensive,but perhaps worth looking into.My husband has his own remote control(a simplified version from Amazon). If he gets his hands on the other one,he presses so many buttons it takes all day trying to get the picture back. If I go out I usually plan programmes to change channels automatically --the short programmes are best now. He's often watching the same programme as the day before,but it doesn't matter--he still watches as he's forgotten it

 

[nmintueo]

As Lindy50 posted, a simplified remote control for the TV helped for a while.

See also previous posts, such as:

Ideas for a simple to use TV
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?54333

Help with the TV?
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?61239&p=835451&viewfull=1#post835451

That may help where, for example, the user hits the wrong button on an ordinary remote, putting the TV into the wrong mode so you get no picture -- very easy to do -- or where one has to control both a TV and a cable or satellite box (though if you can do without extra boxes, so much the better).

If he also has trouble actually putting in a DVD, that's harder. If it's a very borderline problem, such as he has trouble seeing a black button on a back box, something as simple as a bright sticker might just help (again: for a while).

Other than that, if there is noone around to help, you're probably left with only tecchy-enthusiast solutions involving PCs that you control from afar for him, or expensive bespoke solutions.

 

[MrsMoose]

Definitely going round in a loop here.

My husband rang his Dad today. To be told in an agitated voice that there's a problem. His DVD player doesn't work. The drawer sticks when he puts the discs in and out by hadn.

No memory of both of us having explained to him how to use the remote.

I think one issue is that he prefers DVDs to TV. Perhaps because he can watch familiar films where he knows the story. I suspect some TV programmes may baffle him now. (Also he only knows how to use the TV remote to move between the 5 terrestrial channels, and how to gain programme information via the Radio Times.)

One of the things we put on the Attendance Allowance form was that a carer would help him to put DVDs in as he'd forgotten how to do this. But, of course, he doesn't need a carer and is managing fine...

 

[Saffie]

You could always programme the TV so that only his favourites are selected.
I think you can do that with most TVs now.

 

[Insomniac]

Common problem! I took photos of the remotes etc or appliances and did instruction beside the photos. Having a photo of the remote also helps us when trying to explain how to use it over the phone! These helped for a bit, but unfortunately now even those don't help as the disease had progressed. You may be lucky in that they may work for you for longer. We can live in hope! We also bought a Flipper remote control which is much easier to use than one with loads of buttons. Good luck!


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[ASH74]

We have downloaded all the manuals so that we can remotely give advice. We gave them our old washing machine as you only have to press start ( they never use it) and I have explained till the vein in my head throbs how to use the mobile ( I am patient but this gets to me I don't know why) when digital TV came in my goodness that was stressful with an extra remote.

FIL's favourite trick is putting batteries in the wrong way then complaining things don't work .

We are going for a mobile with pictures on now.


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