Hello
@Joyful
I am glad that you have organised an appointment with the GP to look at medication.
Hopefully they will also check for a UTI because, although this 'clingy' behaviour is a common manifestation of dementia, sometimes the increased anxiety can also be a sign of infection.
My husband used to have episodes where he didn't let me out of his sight but it wasn't a running theme throughout his illness, it just cropped up here and there, so don't think that because this is what is happening now, this is what is going to happen for ever more.
in fact, as things progressed, my husband thoroughly enjoyed his time away from me when he went to a day centre one day per week (later two days per week) and was very relaxed there. The extra stimulation he enjoyed away from me was good for both of us and helped build his confidence and happiness.
I found that making sure my husband still felt he was useful also helped build his confidence - so I would involve him as much as possible with household chores, even if it meant I had to do them again (properly) when he was out of sight.
Repetitive questions can be wearing and I do feel for you. In our case I found it helped a little if I kept reiterating things in my general conversation without waiting to be asked a question.
For instance, I knew my husband would always be confused on waking up, not knowing what the day held. So, instead of waiting for the questions I would say things like 'good morning, we are off to the park (shops, cafe, bank etc) today'.
Then when it was time to shower, I would would reinforce the memory with 'let's get washed and showered so we can go to the parks, shops, cafe, bank etc.
Likewise with breakfast I would say ' let's have breakfast and then we will be ready to go to the park (etc, etc).
It won't work for everyone, and being repetitive ourselves can be tiring in itself, but the regular reinforcement was something that worked for us and seemed to keep my husband stress free for the most part. It also stopped me sitting with gritted teeth waiting for the constant repetitive questions that would have followed had I not been pre-empting them!
Needing help in choosing what clothes to wear is also a common part of the dementia progression. For years, my husband was able to sort out trousers, socks, underwear for himself but I would then offer him a choice of two suitable tops to choose from. Eventually, making a choice between two tops in itself would become a struggle, so instead I just took to laying a complete set of clothes for him to change into once he was out of the shower. It removed the stress for him and he maintained his feeling of independence in being able to get himself ready for the day.
Of course, all these approaches had to be adapted as the disease progressed. In time I had to use much shorter sentences when speaking about our day, but I still found a way of using key words to remind him what was planned.
Likewise, with dressing, my husband eventually needed help with putting clothes on. At that point there were days when I went back to giving him a choice of two tops and days when I made the choices for him - depending on how confused he was at the time.
It is very much trial and error to find out exactly what will or won't help for each individual.
