Hi i would be interested if anyone has experience of what my Dad is going through. Dad is 74 and was diagnosed with Alzheimers in March 2013. My Mum was looking after him at home up until 6 weeks ago. He developed shingles and a UTI at the same time and had to go to a care home to give Mum a break whilst he recoverd. He has never come out of the care home as he has declined rapidly since these infections. He is now doubly incontinent and goes to the toilet in other residents rooms on their carpets and out of the window too. He initially refused to eat anything altho in the last week he has started to eat proper meals and not just the desserts. In the last week he is constantly wandering around the care home and will not sit down. He is absolutely exhausted and the care home staff say he must walk miles in a day. He is not sleeping at night and wont sleep in his bed .he sits in one of the chairs in the lounge and naps. He is on the strongest sleeping tablets they can give him but they seem to have little effect. It's like he has a compulsion to walk around and at times he looks like he could just fall over. I noticed today that around his ankes his feet have swollen up and they look bruised with purply dots on the skin. The CH says its because of all the walking he's doing . He also now has his head bent forward when he walks , altho when i asked him he could straighten his head. He looks a frail old man now and his weight has dropped to 10 stone. The CH manager said she has never seen such a rapid decline in a patient over a short period of time. Last week Dad had a funny turn and walked into the walls and had a temperature of 41 degrees.He apparently became aggressive and pushed a couple of residents, He went to hospital and within an hour his temp returned back to normal at 36.3. They said he had a chest infection and gave him antibiotics, since then he has declined dramatically in his wellbeing. I just wondered whether anyone else has experienced rapid decline over a short period of time. Dad has Alzheimers with frontal lobe damage. I would welcome any advice
Decline so rapid
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Currently I am more concerned about his swollen purple legs. It's not the CH's place to say what has caused, he has had a chest infection, this has led to fluid on the lungs with Mum and she needed hospitalisation and intravenous diurectics. Mum's legs do this though she shuffles and can't walk far but with her it's degenerative heart disease which has now affected her kidneys other times infections getting complications. I would insist that a doctor look into the cause of the leg swelling. It may be the walking but it might not be only a doctor can figure out why they have changed.
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Thanks Noorza its more his ankles than his legs, I must admit i got a bit of a shock when i saw them today. I wondered whether it was odema from all the walking, but why are they purply
hi cockiebabe I thought someone was posting about my BIL we had exactly the same identicle infact. my BIL didn't sleep in his bed for 3mths an would just sleep /cat nap in an armchair he walked constantly his legs /ankles swelled an were purple. the home called the doctor an he said it was cellulites for which he has a few coarses of antibiotics. they said it wouldn't improve until he raised his legs i.e on a bed or on a stool to raise them an rest them. he seems to of got over the not sleeping in the bed an now goes to bed with prompting an the legs are so much better. at one stage fluid was dripping down his legs where they were so engorged with fluid. so you need to get doctor to check dads legs incase he needs antibiotics too. good luck juniepoonie.
I am no expert, not for a second, but swollen and purple in Mum and I have been there many many times, means for her, there is something medical causing it. It normally means a trip to hospital but it definitely needs checking out.
Calling 111 is no good as they won't help unless you are with the person, I'd insist on a doctor checking out the cause. I wouldn't take no. I know if I called NHS Direct (pre 111) they would send an ambulance for mum or tell me to get her to the hospital to get checked out as it is a fairly common occurrence for us. I really do miss NHS Direct. Mum's medical history is different to your Dad's, mum has several serious conditions including heart and kidney failure.
I do not wish to cause you worry as it could be nothing but can only share my experience and thoughts while having no medical training at all.
I can only say I have had the same, you could touch mum's legs and they would leak water, she couldn't put them on anything as they'd just weep water. The legs do need to be raised and not sitting wont help but it doesn't have to be the whole story.
May be of help - cant be sure without seeing the legs but causes of swelling and discoloration in legs:
1) as someone mentioned - heart failure, although that doesn't normally cause discoloration - just swelling, and to distinguish it from other causes/types of swelling, it is "pitting", when you push your finger in (and you must do this a bit hard - warn the person first, it can be a bit sore) - you leave an indent where your finger is, which is slow to bounce back. Pitting oedema needs investigation, especially if the person is not known already to have heart failure. Often treated with diuretics.
2) venous insufficiency and haemosiderosis (big word for iron deposition in the skin) - poor circulation due to incompetent veins - fluid and blood get pushed out of the vessels and legs can take on a purple/bluish appearance due to iron being deposited under the skin. Legs sometimes take on a "champagne bottle" appearance - thicker in the calves then much more narrow at the ankles. Check for signs of varicose veins further up - the two often go together.
3) Discoloration can be due to long-standing diabetes.
4) Swelling that is NOT pitting, can be due to "lymphoedema" - similar to poor venous return, the lymph system which drains into your lymph nodes is blocked and sluggish. This kind of swelling appears more fatty/spongey and not pitting.
Hope that's helpful. Get them checked out. A few tests can rule in/out the different causes.
1) as someone mentioned - heart failure, although that doesn't normally cause discoloration - just swelling, and to distinguish it from other causes/types of swelling, it is "pitting", when you push your finger in (and you must do this a bit hard - warn the person first, it can be a bit sore) - you leave an indent where your finger is, which is slow to bounce back. Pitting oedema needs investigation, especially if the person is not known already to have heart failure. Often treated with diuretics.
2) venous insufficiency and haemosiderosis (big word for iron deposition in the skin) - poor circulation due to incompetent veins - fluid and blood get pushed out of the vessels and legs can take on a purple/bluish appearance due to iron being deposited under the skin. Legs sometimes take on a "champagne bottle" appearance - thicker in the calves then much more narrow at the ankles. Check for signs of varicose veins further up - the two often go together.
3) Discoloration can be due to long-standing diabetes.
4) Swelling that is NOT pitting, can be due to "lymphoedema" - similar to poor venous return, the lymph system which drains into your lymph nodes is blocked and sluggish. This kind of swelling appears more fatty/spongey and not pitting.
Hope that's helpful. Get them checked out. A few tests can rule in/out the different causes.
my mother has had the same decline in the roughly the same time, since she went into the home she has become very aggresive, shouting, hitting and doing some of the things you have said about your dad., and alot worse too.So yes it seems it can happen and its taken alot to get it into my head but i think ive finally accepted it now. she is so different to what she was early in this year and it seems unreal that we could go out and walk around etc without a problem before.
I feel that health is just a very very delicate balance of many many processes.
When some processes start to go wrong, it is difficult to catch what is influencing what.
My mother improved beautifully several times in these two and a half years of weakness,
or year and a half of vasc/alz... She was near the end several times,
but I am never sure what helped; I did everything possible for us,
and she recovered every time until now, but anyhow, she is weakening
However, I cannot know what is to come, and I started feeling pains in my body...
When some processes start to go wrong, it is difficult to catch what is influencing what.
My mother improved beautifully several times in these two and a half years of weakness,
or year and a half of vasc/alz... She was near the end several times,
but I am never sure what helped; I did everything possible for us,
and she recovered every time until now, but anyhow, she is weakening
However, I cannot know what is to come, and I started feeling pains in my body...
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history repeating itself for many of us
Hello, what you are describing to me is exactly what alot of people have experienced with this awful desease...my Dad was healthy and at home until march last year..he has vascular dementia...after being hospitalised for constipation he never went home again, became doubly incontinant overnight virtually, aggressive and the weight loss was terrible...22lb in 16 days....we were more in shock than anything, but it took a long time to realise this was a common path....this dreadful desease changes everything...and now as we are now entering the final hurdle ( he is 90 and deteriorating fast ) we still talk with shock how he went downhill so fast....we found a wonderful nursing home, we know we have been lucky, he is loved, clean and cared for...that's all you can do.
Hello, what you are describing to me is exactly what alot of people have experienced with this awful desease...my Dad was healthy and at home until march last year..he has vascular dementia...after being hospitalised for constipation he never went home again, became doubly incontinant overnight virtually, aggressive and the weight loss was terrible...22lb in 16 days....we were more in shock than anything, but it took a long time to realise this was a common path....this dreadful desease changes everything...and now as we are now entering the final hurdle ( he is 90 and deteriorating fast ) we still talk with shock how he went downhill so fast....we found a wonderful nursing home, we know we have been lucky, he is loved, clean and cared for...that's all you can do.
