Hi everyone, my wife posted on Sunday for the first time regarding her father. We seem to be going through quite a rapid change in his capacity at the moment and my mother in law (MIL) is really struggling to cope.
We received a phone call at about 0630 this morning from MIL saying that he was starting to be quite aggressive with her. He had told her that she didn't belong there and to get out of the house and taken all the keys. He had threatened to hit her but I am not sure that it was a genuine threat as much as the frustration and confusion however I wasn't there so its hard to tell.
He has only been recently diagnosed with Vascular dementia and Alzheimers and the changes in him seem to be so rapid at the moment that we are bouncing from one crisis to the next.
Does anyone have any advice on what she should do if he acts like this again, especially in the night. My wife has spoken to the dementia nurse this morning who has not really been of any help, She has been told by the nurse that the only way to deal with this if she feels threatened is to call the police but that would result in them taking him away, and that would be awful for everyone. There doesn't appear to be any support for MIL, other than to ring us so that we can try to calm him down.
Up to now he recognises both me and my wife which has meant that we could calm him and separate him from MIL long enough for her to be re introduced as his wife, which has worked since Sunday.
We just worry that if this escalates again in the night MIL may end up outside in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night waiting for us to arrive. or even worse he could follow through on his threats.
Any strategy or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
We received a phone call at about 0630 this morning from MIL saying that he was starting to be quite aggressive with her. He had told her that she didn't belong there and to get out of the house and taken all the keys. He had threatened to hit her but I am not sure that it was a genuine threat as much as the frustration and confusion however I wasn't there so its hard to tell.
He has only been recently diagnosed with Vascular dementia and Alzheimers and the changes in him seem to be so rapid at the moment that we are bouncing from one crisis to the next.
Does anyone have any advice on what she should do if he acts like this again, especially in the night. My wife has spoken to the dementia nurse this morning who has not really been of any help, She has been told by the nurse that the only way to deal with this if she feels threatened is to call the police but that would result in them taking him away, and that would be awful for everyone. There doesn't appear to be any support for MIL, other than to ring us so that we can try to calm him down.
Up to now he recognises both me and my wife which has meant that we could calm him and separate him from MIL long enough for her to be re introduced as his wife, which has worked since Sunday.
We just worry that if this escalates again in the night MIL may end up outside in the middle of winter, in the middle of the night waiting for us to arrive. or even worse he could follow through on his threats.
Any strategy or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.