Elderly relative showing signs of dementia

[Steven Joseph]

Hi everyone,

We have a family situation that I'm not really sure who to ask for guidance. Our family stay in Scotland but my wife's 78 year old auntie stays alone in Derby. My wife's parents are also getting on in life and only travel down there maybe once a year now. Auntie has a good friend who stays on the opposite side of the city but visits her once a week or so. She has been feeding back that Auntie is forgetting things, doesn't know what day it is, what season it is , goes for walks at night, unplugs things and then wonders why they don't work - signs of dementia. When on the phone to auntie we can also tell that things are getting worse. It is unfair to ask anymore of the friend but what would be the first steps for us to either get her assessed or get someone to visit her. The problem is (as is sometimes with people with dementia) she doesn't know there is a problem. We will be going down soon but I thought better having a plan and being prepared.

Any advice would be grateful

Steven

 

[BR_ANA]

I don't know. I am bumping your post

I would write what you know about her problem and send to her GP for diagnosis or to SW for protection.

 

[1mindy]

There should an adult social care team in the area. I would contact them She is clearly a vulnerable adult and they will look at her from a safeguarding issue. If she is wandering it is serious so get onto it now ,if they need you there for their initial contact bring your trip forward .Has anyone got power of attourney all ready for health and welfare?

 

[Steven Joseph]

I don't know. I am bumping your post

I would write what you know about her problem and send to her GP for diagnosis or to SW for protection.

Thanks. We are in contact with her doctor now

 

[Steven Joseph]

There should an adult social care team in the area. I would contact them She is clearly a vulnerable adult and they will look at her from a safeguarding issue. If she is wandering it is serious so get onto it now ,if they need you there for their initial contact bring your trip forward .Has anyone got power of attourney all ready for health and welfare?

Thanks for you help. I maybe overstated the walks during the night. She has taken to going out to the local Tesco, which is within walking distance, at night instead of during the day. But this is a concern as it is a change in her behaviour as she would hardly ever go out after 6pm. We are in touch with her doctor who will start the ball rolling. We are visiting her within a few days.

 

[sinkhole]

Wandering doesn't have to be aimless to be a problem. My aunt was going to her local supermarket and Argos store and getting back home fine, but at the stores she would buy useless items she didn't even need or multiples of the same item when she already had plenty of them at home.

When we tidied her house recently, we found 75 (yes, seventy five) tins of salmon, all out of date, so I don't know how long she'd been stocking up on those!

She is still very good at getting to places under her own steam, but once she gets there she doesn't know why she is there and may not know how to get home.

I would suggest when you see her next you broach the subject of outside help to see how she is going to react to that. Some refuse it and don't admit there's a problem, so you have to be prepared for that response. All you can really do then is make her environment as safe as possible to minimise the risk to herself.

If you can't stop her from going out on her own you might want to think about some kind of alert system (CCTV, GPS tracker, door/PIR sensors) so at least you know when it's happening. I use a GPS tracker with my aunt and it's been a lot of help.

 

[Steven Joseph]

Alarm system for door

Hi everyone,

I have been looking for an alarm that will send an audio message if my wife's auntie tries to leave the house during the night. Looking on the internet there are an abundance that do various things but I can't seem to find one that does everything I need. I am looking for an alarm:

1. Where a message can be recorded
2. It can be linked to door sensors
3. It can be operated off a timer so the alarm only operates if the door is opened between certain times

Any advice or help would be appreciated

Steven

 

[Shedrech]

Hi Steven Joseph
get in touch with your aunt's LA Adult Services and ask abut their carephone system - dad had a timed sensor linked to an alarm to the carephone operators who called him and spoke to him and also called me - the fact that a real person spoke to him and answered his questions/comments made a lot of difference to him
sorry should have read your first post too
I'd send a list of all your concerns and everything the friends have noticed to her GP so that they are aware of your worries - the GP might then find an excuse to visit your aunt or call her in, eg for a flu jab, then take the opportunity to consider dementia, stress, depression, vitamin deficiency .... oops again, sounds as though you've done this
I'd also contact her LA Adult Services with your concerns, though you may not get very far at least she will be flagged up to them
hope you have a productive and positive visit
best wishes and welcome to TP