Can anyone please help me

[Jan69]

Hi everyone,
You all have such experience and I am floundering. My mum is 81 and, aside from a mild cognitive impairment (problems with bank books etc) has been fine. Late January this year she suddenly became unable to tell the time (recovered after a couple of days) and then the problem returned. I took her to the doctors as an emergency appointment because I thought she'd had a stroke - he did all the Mini Mental Health thing (she passed) and snapped his fingers near her ears to prove no stroke before diagnosing a UTI (white cells in urine). Since then she has deteriorated. No concept of time altho she can tell the time. Appt at memory clinic being processed. I am 47 and in full time employment - boss very understanding at the moment. Her memory is pretty good - she remembered I needed to buy cakes for a fundraiser for Alzheimers and I don't doubt she will again pass the mini health exam.
She is getting buses at strange times because she knows there is a chance of meeting me from work (she always got the three o clock bus to meet me) but now she gets the 11 o clock bus because she thinks it is the three o clock or two o clock. Please, does anyone have experience of this. Mum's GP says depression and has prescribed sertraline.
Thank you and all my best wishes
Jan

 

[netsy22]

Hi everyone,
You all have such experience and I am floundering. My mum is 81 and, aside from a mild cognitive impairment (problems with bank books etc) has been fine. Late January this year she suddenly became unable to tell the time (recovered after a couple of days) and then the problem returned. I took her to the doctors as an emergency appointment because I thought she'd had a stroke - he did all the Mini Mental Health thing (she passed) and snapped his fingers near her ears to prove no stroke before diagnosing a UTI (white cells in urine). Since then she has deteriorated. No concept of time altho she can tell the time. Appt at memory clinic being processed. I am 47 and in full time employment - boss very understanding at the moment. Her memory is pretty good - she remembered I needed to buy cakes for a fundraiser for Alzheimers and I don't doubt she will again pass the mini health exam.
She is getting buses at strange times because she knows there is a chance of meeting me from work (she always got the three o clock bus to meet me) but now she gets the 11 o clock bus because she thinks it is the three o clock or two o clock. Please, does anyone have experience of this. Mum's GP says depression and has prescribed sertraline.
Thank you and all my best wishes
Jan

I think that dementia affects people in different ways. When my mum had a memory test she had a scan which showed which parts of the brain were affected, but also that she may have had a couple of undiagnosed strokes in the past, so maybe you will find out more when you go to the memory clinic. You will also get help yourself to help you cope. Good luck xx

 

[WORRIER123]

My dad has trouble telling the time too. He isn't mobile anymore as could fall so doesn't use buses but he finds it difficult to tell the time on all clocks apart from his wrist watch even though they all say the same time
The Alzheimer's clinic said its just the part of the brain affected which can cause issues like this in addition to knowing how to use a remote control etc

 

[Spamar]

I found OH could use a normal clock with hands far longer than he could understand a digital clock. Eventually the ability to understand either disappeared.

 

[The Watcher]

When my aunt first started showing signs of dementia, I had a real battle with her GP to get her referred for a formal dementia assessment. He did not have a pro-active attitude and basically said to me "well, she's 88 what do you expect?"

I really had to insist that he refer her for formal assessment. After various tests and scans it showed that she had vascular dementia, which meant that she was having a series of mini-strokes so would do downhill suddenly, then slowly recover - but never quite got back to where she was before, so there was a cumulative deterioration over time.

She has full dementia now, but still has occasions when there is a sudden downturn. This has sometimes been because she has become dehydrated or has a had a UTI - both of these can have quite a big impact on their cognitive ability.

I found that you really have stand your ground and insist that you want a referral, because without the formal diagnosis you won't have access to the range of help and support that's out there

 

[Linbrusco]

My Mum has Alzheimers.
Since Xmas and two UTI's she can no longer comprehend days, dates, weeks, months or time, but can still tell the time when looking at a clock ( not digital)
Although she can tell the time, the concept of whether its morning, afternoon, or night is lost.

 

[Nellybell]

My dad has vascular dementia and cannot tell the time on either a normal clock or a digital one. He does wear a watch though but if anyone ever asks him the time he always says its twelve o clock whatever time of day or night it is. He has no concept of time at all, whether it is morning, afternoon, evening or nighttime and will get agitated and angry if people try to tell him the time, so we have learnt to just go along with him now as he is now in a care home. I think telling the time and concept of time is quite a common issue amongst PWD, which in turn gives rise to other problems, ie going out in middle of night for appointments etc, I had all that with my dad. I did try a day click or sometimes called an Alzheimers clock which just displays whether it is morning, afternoon, evening or night and also the day of the week but not the actual time. Some people find this really helps, unfortunately it didn't for my dad, he just thought it was lying to him.

 

[fizzie]

Would she remember if you said to her that you would phone her to remind her when to get the bus and not to leave before you ring?

Has the UTI returned? we had to put mum on daily antibiotics to knock it on the head completely. They can give them a low daily dose

If that doesn't work I might be inclined to ask doc for a brain scan poss via a referral to the memory clinic just to check if there is anything going on. It is an unusual pattern

 

[Jan69]

Would she remember if you said to her that you would phone her to remind her when to get the bus and not to leave before you ring?

Has the UTI returned? we had to put mum on daily antibiotics to knock it on the head completely. They can give them a low daily dose

If that doesn't work I might be inclined to ask doc for a brain scan poss via a referral to the memory clinic just to check if there is anything going on. It is an unusual pattern

Thank you to everyone for all your help. Yes, she remembers that I've said I'll ring, but won't wait for me to actually do it before she's texting me to say if she doesn't go she'll miss the bus. The frightening part is the speed of her decline - the appointment where her GP said it was a UTI was only the 22nd February. In less than two months she's gone from my mum to a near stranger, yet other times she is pretty much herself. When I'm with her she's basically ok.
Thank you again for taking the time to offer help and advice xx

 

[arielsmelody]

I was going to try to suggest different ways of telling your mum to get the bus, but even if something works for a while, it wont work forever. My feeling is that if it already causing problems, you need to try to persuade your mum to stop taking buses and find another way to meet up with her - otherwise, it might become such an ingrained habit she'll carry on and in a few months/years time you will have a new problem as she takes buses to goodness only knows where.

With telling the time, have you tried an dementia friendly clock?
http://shop.alzheimers.org.uk/category/clocks-and-watches

 

[BR_ANA]

I used to phone mum from job asking what she was doing and trying to know what she was up to. Maybe a GPS gadget could help if she got lost.



Fast decline can be delirium or UTI.