Hi everyone!
I'm new to this thread, so bare with me.
My nan is 79years old, and suffers from a horrible disease called frontotemporal dementia! We are coming up to her 5year, with this disease! By the time she was diagnosed with FTD, it was too late to administer medication to help. My granddad died last year, of vascular dementia! we had no idea he even had it. My nan also suffers from swollen painful legs... (DR says it fluid but not sure what the problem is)
My nans disease has become pretty progressive, within the space of a year she's been moved from home, to sheltered accommodation and is now in a nursing home. We thought this would agitate her but hasn't. The reason we she moved from sheltered accommodation was because she kept wondering and actually went missing one evening! 3 hours later she was found in someone's garden (3miles away).
About 2 weeks ago my nan was getting up, talking, had a great appetite and toileting herself(occasional accident). About a week ago, nan developed a chest infection.. she was put on antibiotics and completed her course, which did seem to help. A couple days before she was meant to come off the tablets, nan began to be sleepy! unable to mobilise herself, being incontinent frequently and not eating great. The nurses said, chest infections take it out of elderly people especially with dementia, let the tablets kick in. So we said fine, okay. So its been a couple days, since she has been of the tablets and again all she does is sleep! You can't wake her up, no matter how hard you try. You can't have a conversation with her! She's lost a great deal of weight! When she is awake, she does eat well but then she falls asleep! and its impossible to wake her up. Sometimes, the nurses struggle to wake her up. her mobility is still very poor and is incontinent. She looks so pale and fragile, her face is always warm but her hands are always cold!
I asked the nurse today and she said, she doesn't know why she is sleeping. As she is off the anti-biotic. ITs been a good few days.
Now, normally I understand its normal for people with dementia to sleep a lot! but my nan isn't the sort of person to sleep without a reason! she's always up and about, you can never get her to sit down! We've explained our concerns to the manager and she's going to get the DR to come in tomorrow. It's beyond out of character for my nan.
We got her to comes to ours for Christmas yesterday, but all she done was sleep! we couldn't even wake her up for Christmas dinner.
I would just like some advice on if anyone has experienced this? or whether time is short. No one really knows what is going on. All I know is me and my family are extremely worried.
Thank you!
I'm new to this thread, so bare with me.
My nan is 79years old, and suffers from a horrible disease called frontotemporal dementia! We are coming up to her 5year, with this disease! By the time she was diagnosed with FTD, it was too late to administer medication to help. My granddad died last year, of vascular dementia! we had no idea he even had it. My nan also suffers from swollen painful legs... (DR says it fluid but not sure what the problem is)
My nans disease has become pretty progressive, within the space of a year she's been moved from home, to sheltered accommodation and is now in a nursing home. We thought this would agitate her but hasn't. The reason we she moved from sheltered accommodation was because she kept wondering and actually went missing one evening! 3 hours later she was found in someone's garden (3miles away).
About 2 weeks ago my nan was getting up, talking, had a great appetite and toileting herself(occasional accident). About a week ago, nan developed a chest infection.. she was put on antibiotics and completed her course, which did seem to help. A couple days before she was meant to come off the tablets, nan began to be sleepy! unable to mobilise herself, being incontinent frequently and not eating great. The nurses said, chest infections take it out of elderly people especially with dementia, let the tablets kick in. So we said fine, okay. So its been a couple days, since she has been of the tablets and again all she does is sleep! You can't wake her up, no matter how hard you try. You can't have a conversation with her! She's lost a great deal of weight! When she is awake, she does eat well but then she falls asleep! and its impossible to wake her up. Sometimes, the nurses struggle to wake her up. her mobility is still very poor and is incontinent. She looks so pale and fragile, her face is always warm but her hands are always cold!
I asked the nurse today and she said, she doesn't know why she is sleeping. As she is off the anti-biotic. ITs been a good few days.
Now, normally I understand its normal for people with dementia to sleep a lot! but my nan isn't the sort of person to sleep without a reason! she's always up and about, you can never get her to sit down! We've explained our concerns to the manager and she's going to get the DR to come in tomorrow. It's beyond out of character for my nan.
We got her to comes to ours for Christmas yesterday, but all she done was sleep! we couldn't even wake her up for Christmas dinner.
I would just like some advice on if anyone has experienced this? or whether time is short. No one really knows what is going on. All I know is me and my family are extremely worried.
Thank you!
