Deafness & Dementia

[Chemmy]

Thanks so much Adrian. I did suggest to mum that we should consider something like sheltered accommodation but she went off the deep end.

Hello Sheenagh

Sheltered accommodation is only ever going to be a temporary fix, even if your mum manages to cope with the move to somewhere new. Take your time to look at all the options, and in the end, trust your gut instincts. She is probably in no position to decide what's best for her...or your dad.

 

[Rosalie]

Hello

My mother has hearing problems and has had a hearing aid for one ear for some time - and certainly before we started to suspect she was suffering from dementia. Most times I visit she will go through a routine of saying she feels very deaf today and wonders whether her hearing aid is working properly - but sometimes you can see that she is either finding it hard to understand what is going on around her or she can't keep up with things.

On recent visits to the memory clinic when it was explained to her that she was going to be asked some questions to test her memory she would actually say she didn't need that because she had a hearing aid and didn't know what the problem was. Almost a defence mechanism to avoid something she thought was unpleasant.

It's not always easy knowing when the deafness is the real problem or when the dementia is making her withdraw from things. I think all you can do is keep the hearing aid in good order and take it a day at a time. I have found that if she is having a bad day and is especially confused it's best to find something that will distract her. I'm lucky - she still seems to enjoy reading the newspaper and if I give her a paper she will generally sit down quite happily to look at it. Then something in the paper might trigger a conversation that takes her out of it. Sometimes it works better with pictures - old photos or a magazine with lots of pictures.

Good luck.

 

[safetyboots]

Thank you

Thank you to everybody who have replied. It has helped me realise that Mum is just not aware, a lot of the time. Today I took her out in the wheelchair & showed her some snowdrops, she said Oh yes. When we got back to the home she just stares at me, & at the staff, there is no smile.
I have decided to take in books on old film stars next week,as she used to to love the old films.
I realise now after your replies, that this is what I have to do, just point things out & talk about anything and nothing.

Plus point isher ears are having drops put in, & the district nurse will syringe soon, so hopefully this may help, but somehow I doubt it.

 

[haggis1938]

what have you got to lose?

does anybody know if deafness is a sympton of dementia,
my mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia in june, & is now in a care home. Her hearing is getting worse & worse, & now she is just staring at me when i talk to her, even when i go really close to her ear. Audiology have checked them, & her aids.
How do you talk to somebody who just looks at you? .

my wife betty 78, has vascular dementia and deafness through having tb treatment when she was a teenager? But with the grace of god and the wisdom of health on the net... do not be lead by the medical mafia in every thing they say regarding your mothers health , be like millions are now doing .....ask google ? It amazing what you will find about cures for health etc ...praying for your mother

 

[Lyn Clark]

Just Be There

Does anybody know if deafness is a sympton of dementia,
My Mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia in June, & is now in a Care Home. Her hearing is getting worse & worse, & now she is just staring at me when I talk to her, even when I go really close to her ear. Audiology have checked them, & her aids.
How do you talk to somebody who just looks at you? .

I thought my mother was going deaf as I got no response when I spoke to her. I went and asked one of the head carers at the home if they could arrange a hearing test for mum and was told very bluntly that mum wasnt going deaf she was entering the final stages of dementia and that was affecting her ability to understand what was said to her. I hadnt realised this would happen and I was so very upset. Now when I visit I still chat to mum but like you I get the vacant look. I just tell myslef that deep down inside her brain somewhere perhaps she can understand a few words I say to her hoping those words are I Love You Mum. No matter how much we are told about alzheimers and dementia when we see those we love losing the ability to hold a conversation it is upsetting. All we can do is be there for them I am sure deep down they know how much we care.

 

[chucky]

I sometimes thought my dad was having difficulty hearing but i found out that actually his vacant look and non response was usually because he didnt understand. If i call him dad or shout out to him dad he wouldnt even blink an eye. If i call him with his name he responds immediately. If im asking something like what did you have for lunch today he doesnt even acknowledge the question never mind try to answer. If he looks out the window and i say oh look its snowing he'll reply so it is. Its almost like whatever you say just floats by him till something registers and its more his awareness that has deteriorated not his hearing. Gladly thats the case at the moment because i know theres no way he'd tolerate a hearing aid. It would be flushed down the loo along with his glassess, teeth and everything else thats met a watery grave since he went into the CH.

 

[eilsallan]

Dementia deafness

Hi - you may have already read this, however I found the book "Contented Dementia" by Oliver James invaluable in terms of how to communicate with those who have dementia. My father is also deaf and this book has greatly helped me. The website address http://www.specal.co.uk/what/special.html.

 

[fizzie]

deafness

My Mum also has vascular dementia and she has had a hearing loss for years. She is not aware when her battery goes although she gets understandably very stressy and this clues me in!! However, one example of how important it is to have regular checks...firstly my mum's ear was completely blocked with wax and some warm olive oil and a good nurse sorted that out; secondly she cried this evening because she thought she had lost her hearing aid. She said to me that I couldn't imagine how frightened it made her feel, that she would be lost without it and that she would lose all her contact with us. She also said that the lunch club she goes to (my life saver, run by angels) would be awful because she would lose her friends. It is the most clearly articulated speech she has made for a few months and I'm so glad she did because it made me realise how mindful I must be of her hearing aids.
Scary.........but thank goodness she told me how she felt now before she is unable to do so....now it is just down to me lol

 

[OldKH]

Deafness and dementia

I have been a 24 hour carer for my wife for over 4 years. She has Vascular Dementia and Lewy Body Disease. About 2 years ago she suddenly became unresponsive in the way described in other replies - just staring, wide-eyed when I talked to her. A few crude tests like shouting her name from just out of view and obtaining not a sign of reaction showed that she was VERY deaf and that this had developed over a few weeks. A conventional hearing test proved impossible to conduct but a very patient audiologist, after taking casts of her ears, made aids which could be set to amplify in steps until it provoked a response. This changed her demeanour immediately and, although I can hear the aid's output from the leakage of sound from my wife's ears, she now responds and converses. I am delighted that somone was prepared to spend the time and skill in addressing the problem and has given me back my wife.

Best wishes

Ken

 

[fambrooks]

deafness

Hi My father-in-law is profpoundly deaf and is in a care home he has dementia, he has had a cochular implant a few years ago, so we know he can hear but I think he has got all the more confused, since being in carehome.
He seems to be listening but makes no sense when answering back, it is all becoming increasingly hard to bare.