Mom won't sit still

[eire]

Hello all.. I posted here last year when my Mom was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease and Lewy Body Dementia and was very grateful for the advice and welcome I received then. I'm back today looking for more advice please. The PD appears to be secondary to the dementia which seems to have progressed very quickly. My Mom moved into a nursing home in late August.. she believed she was going in for respite for a few weeks but it was actually a longterm move. Even though she had home help and family dropping in during the day, there was no way we could leave her at home alone any longer. She appeared happy and very contented in the home and is definitely well cared for but she fell last month and broke her elbow which resulted in a short hospital stay. Since then, she seems to have regressed, she now needs to be fed and does not make much sense any more when she speaks . Mom was always a big lady but has lost so much weight in the past few years it's frightening. She eats well but .. and, at last, I'm getting to the reason for my post... she appears to be agitated a lot of the time and just can't stay still. She needs a carer with her at all times and they cannot take their eyes off her or she darts away. They are afraid she will fall and hurt herself again. They called this morning and asked us to come in to discuss the possibility of using restraints on her... not all the time but maybe to try to get her to sit still for a while and see how it works. A carer would be with her still. We love the home she is in and all staff/carers are wonderful with all the residents.. we know they are interested in Mom's welfare ... but have some reservations. Has anyone any experience this "walking frenzy" my Mom seems to have? How have they dealt with it? Is it part of the progression of Lewy Body dementia? What comes next? This is so hard ... I hate this disease . Thank goodness my Mom seems to be oblivious to what is going on with her. Any advice/ words of wisdom greatly appreciated. Sorry this is so long.

 

[merlin]

Hi Eire

Advice and wisdom, I could use some as well because I have a related problem with my wife. I say related because my wife cannot walk unaided like your mother but gets restless and keeps sliding off her chair. Now this is where our two homes differ because the home she is in says that they cannot use restraints because she might injure herself with them. On the other hand if she slides off the chair although she is unlikely to injure herself, under the health and safety act it might cause injury to a carer if she tried to lift a dead weight off the floor.

Its called a 'catch 22'.

In my case the solution seems to be that in busy times at the home they put her to bed with the side bars up. This is not particularly satisfactory but fortunately I am able to rescue her and spend quite a bit of time with her and as I said in a previous thread, all she seems to need is a bit of excersize and she calms down. Could this work in your case assuming the carers have the time?

Incidently this all started in my case with a change in medication from haliperidol to a parkinsonian type drug. Not sure it was a good move but on the other hand anything is better than the former.

As for the weight loss this of course has resulted in a better power to weight ratio and she would of course be a bit more lively. Seems to me the metabolism changes with AD as my wife has plateaued out about 1/1.5 stone lighter despite eating about twice as much as she used to.

Hope we will get some of this advice and wisdom we both need.

Merlin

 

[merlin]

Eire

Check out thread headed 'continuous walking' dated 16.11.2009. Similar problem to yours.

Merlin

 

[eire]

Merlin, thank you for taking the time to respond to my query. So sorry that you are going through similar issues. As for exercise, I believe everyone around my Mom is losing weight at the moment the staff in her home are really good and spend their days walking the halls with her. The family take over when they can. Obviously, the staff can't keep their eyes on her every moment (altough they try!) hence the need for some kind of restraints, which may get her used to sitting down again - we think it may be worth a try.

I'm off to check the "continuous walking" thread, thank you for directing me there. Best wishes and I hope we all manage to get the advice and wisdom we need to help us through this!!!