Aging Mum

Gemma O

New member
Jun 14, 2020
1
0
Mum is 88yrs and lives alone. 2 years ago she started complaining of knocking on her bedroom window in the middle of the night( bungalow). Then about a year later she said that te people off the TV talk to her, and she was worried about getting undressed incase they saw her. Dr did a test on her but she was very upset that I took her. Someone then rang her from the memory clinic and she said they said she was ok. During lockdown this has got worse, calling us out saying a man was looking through the window. My husband went and eventually put a camera up, but no such person emerged. Reported to gp and he referred hr back to mental health who said they cannot assess due to lockdown an referred back to the gp. We now have a situation where she is in 'meetings' all of the time (tv) and finds it hard to get away to have her tea etc. Last night it was comedians in the house using her gas. You can start to have a normal conversation but then it turns into fantasy. Should we go along with it all ?
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
Hello and welcome @Gemma O.

Yes, go along with it in a distracting way but try to take measures such as that which you have already done. The events like people looking in windows can be what's called sundowning when shadows and reflections in mirrors and windows etc can be mistaken for people. My wife suffered with this and so from an early stage I closed the curtains and put the lights on earlier than the norm.

I'll put up some links that may be useful in a minute.
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
The full list of the very informative Factsheets, covering all aspects of dementia such as behaviours like sundowning, can be found with this link https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-factsheets-full-list

As to communicating, a few handy tips can be picked from the useful thread that can be reached with this link https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/threads/compassionate-communication-with-the-memory-impaired.30801/

I wish all of you all the best. Oh, do keep the pressure on in relation to diagnosis as that can drag on.