Corona virus if you live with dementia patient?

[gjjh]

Hi all

There are 5 of us in this house, me and my husband, our 2 children (ages 11 and 15) and my father in law who is 83, has mixed dementia & Alzheimers, COPD and diabetes - I think he is very high risk. If one of us gets symptoms, what are we supposed to do when we all live together?
Thanks x

 

[nae sporran]

Sorry, I am only adjusting to it myself just now, but the Alz Soc has this advice on the website https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/blog/coronavirus-covid-19-information-people-affected-dementia.

 

[chappers1990]

I don’t have the answer but would love to know it. I live with my husband, my one year old and my 71 year old father who has mixed type dementia. They are talking about over 70’s and high risk people self isolating but how can my dad self isolate when my husband works full time and I work a few hours 3 days a week? I cannot shut him in his room for the foreseeable future as I think that would cause him to go down hill pretty quickly and with his medication we are in quite a good place at the moment and seem to be on a plateau. I am luckily that he can still take care of his personal hygiene so can distance myself or a certain extent but I do all his washing, cleaning and cooking. It also complicate things having my daughter as she doesn’t understand so will put something in her mouth then go give it to her grandad and as much as we try to stop her it is impossible to 100% of the time. I just don’t know what to do for the best, so I completely understand where you are coming from.

 

[gjjh]

Thank you for your replies x

 

[totallyconfused]

There are 3 of us in the house, my mother has severe dementia. If one gets it, the others will also. You could have it a while before you even know about it.

I dont see how we can prevent my mother from getting it-we are limiting our time out of house, no family visits, washing and cleaning often. We are trying our best but it may still happen.

 

[Woo2]

Hi @gjjh and @chappers1990 , welcome both from me . I am in the same situation as you , as a lot of people on here are , what can we do ? Not a lot in my opinion , unless you stop your children from going to school and adults stop working then there is no way of completely self isolating . I have to do just do my best to try and keep things clean , disinfect door handles , light switches , worktops etc and hope . They are extremely vulnerable to this and any other virus /infection but you can only do your best. Let’s hope we can all get through it ok .

 

[Vickyo]

Hi, I'm in the same position. I'm 63, my husband is 70 with COPD my mam lives with us who is 87 with dementia and other underlying health conditions and my son 29 lives with us. I'm finding it difficult to sleep as I worry about my mam and husband getting corona virus, if i get it I can't self isolate. If my husband or mam gets the symptoms I'm going to ring 999 and ask for an ambulance to treat them in hospital as they are both at risk.

 

[Starting on a journey]

My student son will be in isolation with us (we are virtually in it now). He wants to help others if it gets as bad as we think.... Luckily he has two sisters and will go and live with one of them. He was originally “saving himself”in case me or my sister in law needed “safe”help but we had a discussion about the greater good and decided that when/if the time was right he should go.

 

[Buzzybee77]

I as a lot of carers worry about this. I live with my Dad who has Parkinsons Dementia and at 85 a few other health conditions. I live with him in his house and we have carers coming in to help with his personal care and some sitting carers. As I gave up work to be his carer, I will reduce the amount of care coming in and reduce only going out for essentials to once a week. Luckily we have home delivery shopping for the next two weeks. Only thing I can say is to call 111 if you get ill or the emergency social care number for advice. They should make arrangements for the PWD if you have no family or friends they can go to. I last week I submitted a carers emergency support plan to my local social services, who are supposed to put me on a list and send a card with who to contact if I get ill, was advised to set that up last December when I contracted the winter vomiting bug and struggled to look after my Dad while being ill.

 

[Paul M]

Hi I'm new to this forum. I am caring for my mum who has dementia. She is 86. We are in self isolation as a relative of a service user at the day centre tested positive. We have no symptoms. The care agency won't send carers. I have family to get food etc but they can't enter the house. Anybody else had a care company do something similar? I understand the reasons but it means I'm doing 24 hour care. Things okay but interested in other experiences. Thanks. Hope everyone doing okay.

 

[Lucy44]

Hi everyone, thank you for sharing your experiences. I have felt very alone in this situation.

I care for my parents. My Mum is 82 and has advanced dementia and my Dad is 83 with an underlying heart condition. I was visiting every day and returning home at night, leaving my Dad to manage at night.
However, with this 12 week social distancing I am wondering if I need to stay at the house with them for the 12 weeks or visit as I used to, making sure I am distancing myself and keeping everything clean.

I am just worried that if I get ill I wont be able to isolate myself in their home and means they will be exposed even more. However, if I get ill at my home I wont be able to visit for 7 days and they will have no support at all.
There are no other family members or carers I can ask to help.

 

[wonderfulmum]

I'm struggling, mums more confused and asking more questions than ever and even written the answers down but still every half hour why can't I go out, take me to Aunties house, I want to go see my son. How am I going to get thru 12 weeks. When I'm exhausted with replying and going thru it for the upteenth time I can't even find any recharge time.

 

[TNJJ]

Hi everyone, thank you for sharing your experiences. I have felt very alone in this situation.

I care for my parents. My Mum is 82 and has advanced dementia and my Dad is 83 with an underlying heart condition. I was visiting every day and returning home at night, leaving my Dad to manage at night.
However, with this 12 week social distancing I am wondering if I need to stay at the house with them for the 12 weeks or visit as I used to, making sure I am distancing myself and keeping everything clean.

I am just worried that if I get ill I wont be able to isolate myself in their home and means they will be exposed even more. However, if I get ill at my home I wont be able to visit for 7 days and they will have no support at all.
There are no other family members or carers I can ask to help.

Hi.I also care for both parents.Divorced and live a mile apart from each other.Dad has vascular dementia mum doesn't.Although I think she might have the beginning of it.Both in heart failure.Dad has diabetes and CKD..Dad has carers 4X a day but I oversee everything.Mum refuses carers...I live 18 miles away. I was going to carry on and visit as I need to make sure they are safe.But I have decided against it.For the simple reason I am feeling on edge and exhausted.I am getting meds ,food etc delivered and talk to them on the phone once a day .But even im not invincible.So I know where you are at.I'm an only child...Whatever you decide is your decision...Only you can make it...All the best.