Can't sit still

[caincat]

Hello, this is my first visit to the society forum, and I must say I'm heartened by the discussions taking place, I think I'll really get a lot out of this.

I'm 36, and my father who is 68 was diagnosed with Alzheimers just under 3 years ago. He was immediately prescribed Aricept, 5mg. My mother who is 72 is his main carer. Approximately 4 months ago, his memory did decline (as expected) but his specialist increased his Aricept dose to 10mg per day - taken in the evening. However, over the past month, my mum and I have noticed that his behaviour is starting to change slightly - he simply can't sit still for 5 minutes. He now seems to constantly walk around the house, and is almost like a retriever, bringing articles he has 'found' in the house and giving them to my mum. We're both concerned about this behaviour - he will watch the odd film on TV, and goes through the daily ritual of taking the dog for a walk for the newspaper (but just thumbs through it and doesn't read it, but we don't mind, as his routine is vitally important). Today, after visiting for sunday lunch he kept on getting up in the middle of lunch to see what the dog wanted.

I guess I just wanted to ask if other people had encountered this behaviour too. He has a specialist appointment in a few weeks and we'll mentioned this behaviour, just for re-assurance if this is a normal progression with Alzheimers, or maybe something more.

Thanks everybody

 

[dmc]

hello caincat

welcome to TP i think you'll find that this constant need to keep on the go is quite normal with this disease, i know in my mums ward there are a few patients who cant keep still for five mins, my mum tries to get up but at the moment her legs aren't that strong and she needs help but otherwise she'd be the same.
just wondering if youve been to the factsheets that is in the left hand corner in the grey stripe there is a lot of info there about the different behaviour you can expect, good luck with the specialist hope you get the answers you need
take care

 

[twink]

Hi Caincat,

Can't be much help I'm afraid but just to let you know that my husband did this too. It started in August and he walked around the house, upstairs and down for about three weeks. If I tried to get him to sit down, he'd sit and then jump up immediately and he was also bringing things to me, towels from the bathroom and cutlery from the kitchen. Steve was diagnosed in August 2005 and wasn't too bad at all until August 2006 when he really went downhill and was admitted to hospital in September. He's still there and waiting to go into a home. As you will have read on here many times, no two people are alike with this illness but he is still walking about most of the time in the hospital and a lot of the other patients do too so as Donna says, it seems to be quite normal. There are times when he's very upset for a few weeks at a time and is crying when I go and see him and then he sits down and doesn't walk about.

Sue

 

[Margarita]

Same hear my mother 4 years in to AZ now her walking is not so good so does not do that any more so much , unless she is worried that I am not around then she will go looking for me .

I found it all very strange behaviour in the past when it uses to happen also, its just learning to live with it undertanding it , till its passes that hard , but you've found TP now so should be of great help like it is to me .

 

[mel]

Hi Caincat
yes my mums the same(or was until 3 weeks ago when she broke her hip....still in hospital at the moment and can't walk at the moment)......especially in the evenings.....she paced to and fro.....not particularly anxious but unable to sit still for 5 minutes.....this would go on for hours....collecting bits and bobs from around the house as she goes.....I think it is just a case of understanding that yes it does happen and you will get used to it!
Love xx

 

[sandy25]

Yes my dad does that during his sundowning period between 7-9. He'll get up, go to the toilet, thing come back in the living room with random objects. Or he'll just get up and wonder round the living room. I tried to get him to sit back down a few times, then just thoguht sod it, it might do his circulation a bit good by walking round!

We did start locking the back door though as he did wander out of the house once...

 

[caincat]

thanks everybody for the replies to my message - it makes me feel better that this is a normal side effect - I'll certainly look at the factsheets.

 

[Nell]

Same hear my mother 4 years in to AZ now her walking is not so good so does not do that any more so much , unless she is worried that I am not around then she will go looking for me .

I found it all very strange behaviour in the past when it uses to happen also, its just learning to live with it undertanding it , till its passes that hard , but you've found TP now so should be of great help like it is to me .

Exactly the same with my Mum, Margarita. Now she is not as mobile, she is less active generally, but previously would wander around everywhere!! For the first 6 months in the NH (before she broke her hip) she would wander endlessly "doing things" (none of which made much sense.) When we spoke to her she'd tell us she was tired because she'd been "so busy"!!! The brokenn hip slowed her down and now she doesn't seem sop obsessed by movement. However she now gets obsessed about specific things (some important, some trivial) and is "struck" on these for days or weeks until another one comes along!
Oh the joys of AD . . . . !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jann]

Hi - sorry - I've been away from here for ages.

My mother fidgets and wanders in and out of rooms incessantly so it would seem by all who have posted that this is par for the course with AD.

Mum seems to have an obsession too with collecting various objects, shuffling them, putting them down, picking them up and doing this any number of times. It is rather like an obsessive compulsive disorder and is very upsetting and hard to deal with initially but as time goes by, you just have to get used to it.

 

[Splat88]

I'm glad this has been experienced by others, this started happening to Mary (MIL) about Firework night and coincided with a chest infection. She kept saying she couldn't breathe and was constantly opening windows and doors to get her breath. For about a month, she did not sit down, even standing up to read newspapers, until I ended up taking her to her GP who referred her to the hospital assesment centre as she was so short of breath from lack of rest. Of course, they couldn't find anything wrong, decided she had asthma and prescribed a pump she couldn't use. The restlessness seems to come in waves, and if you ask her to sit down and rest, she says she's been sitting down all day ( not a chance) and what do I want her to do?

Eventually, the GP realised that with AD she couldn't use the pump and refererred her to the physical Geriatric specialist at the hospital, after realising that the notes from her Psycho Geriatrician were going to her old GP ( we moved 4 years ago, and they made us move memory clinics because of it, yet couldn't get the new GP right!!!)

Still, I should be grateful she hasn't started doing this at night ( yet????)