Hi.
I’m new and looking for some advice and guidance.
My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s back in November. To be honest she should of probably spoken to someone earlier than she did but due to a long and hard family history with the disease she was too afraid to seek help.
She lives with my dad and I am currently there all day every day.
Other than memory and concentration problems she was doing not bad at first. Then in June one evening she went to the bathroom and when she came back downstairs she no longer knew my dad or her house. It was like someone flicked a switch and everything changed in that moment. At this time she was not being seen by anyone other than the occ therapist and was on no meds. Due to the distress she was under the ot passed along the new info to the consultant psychiatrist and she was given 0.25mg of rispiridone twice a day. They also suggested introducing setraline at 25mg. We understood the antidepressant can take a few weeks to get into your system but her symptoms worsened every day and a couple of weeks in we were given 2mg of diazepam that could been given twice daily if required. I really have to emphasise that her distress levels at this point were extremely difficult to manage. Not wanting to be in her own home and having less time recognising my dad made living conditions very hard. Around 2 weeks ago she started crying and hasn’t stopped. It is possible there is something physically wrong with her also. She was scheduled for a colonoscopy and an ultra sound to check her liver kidneys and ovaries. Due to the recent constant distress she can’t even leave the house never mind go through tests. Her behaviour has become very aggressive also. We now spend our days putting on coats and shoes while she’s trying to leave and then becomes very agitated when she asks us if she will need to come back. This then completes the cycle when she starts throwing things and trying to use her stick against us. At the moment there is almost 3 of us with her during the day and 2 until bedtime. She’s practically stopped eating and drinking and taking her medication the last couple of days has been difficult. She thinks and is afraid of other people (imagined) are in her house and now she’s even thinking the tv is real so we can’t even have it on. The cpn and psychiatrist have said that there must be something causing the distress so we had to find out the reason and in the meantime advised they couldn’t do anything else. Two days of hell later I called the gp who increased the rispiridone after a house call. He explained that even although the severity of things only started around 3 months ago it may just be progressing quickly.
I’m just wondering how other people deal with quick changing circumstances. And can anyone offer advice on anything else I’ve mentioned. At the moment the family feels at crisis point. We also feel that we are receiving little to no help or advice.
Sorry for the very long post. I appreciate your time.
I’m new and looking for some advice and guidance.
My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s back in November. To be honest she should of probably spoken to someone earlier than she did but due to a long and hard family history with the disease she was too afraid to seek help.
She lives with my dad and I am currently there all day every day.
Other than memory and concentration problems she was doing not bad at first. Then in June one evening she went to the bathroom and when she came back downstairs she no longer knew my dad or her house. It was like someone flicked a switch and everything changed in that moment. At this time she was not being seen by anyone other than the occ therapist and was on no meds. Due to the distress she was under the ot passed along the new info to the consultant psychiatrist and she was given 0.25mg of rispiridone twice a day. They also suggested introducing setraline at 25mg. We understood the antidepressant can take a few weeks to get into your system but her symptoms worsened every day and a couple of weeks in we were given 2mg of diazepam that could been given twice daily if required. I really have to emphasise that her distress levels at this point were extremely difficult to manage. Not wanting to be in her own home and having less time recognising my dad made living conditions very hard. Around 2 weeks ago she started crying and hasn’t stopped. It is possible there is something physically wrong with her also. She was scheduled for a colonoscopy and an ultra sound to check her liver kidneys and ovaries. Due to the recent constant distress she can’t even leave the house never mind go through tests. Her behaviour has become very aggressive also. We now spend our days putting on coats and shoes while she’s trying to leave and then becomes very agitated when she asks us if she will need to come back. This then completes the cycle when she starts throwing things and trying to use her stick against us. At the moment there is almost 3 of us with her during the day and 2 until bedtime. She’s practically stopped eating and drinking and taking her medication the last couple of days has been difficult. She thinks and is afraid of other people (imagined) are in her house and now she’s even thinking the tv is real so we can’t even have it on. The cpn and psychiatrist have said that there must be something causing the distress so we had to find out the reason and in the meantime advised they couldn’t do anything else. Two days of hell later I called the gp who increased the rispiridone after a house call. He explained that even although the severity of things only started around 3 months ago it may just be progressing quickly.
I’m just wondering how other people deal with quick changing circumstances. And can anyone offer advice on anything else I’ve mentioned. At the moment the family feels at crisis point. We also feel that we are receiving little to no help or advice.
Sorry for the very long post. I appreciate your time.