My mum is 54 and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in January 2018. To start with she was very forgetful, repeating things all the time and not able to do things she would normally do every day like use her banking app or order the families drinks at Costa. The past couple of months she has got worse, not being able to use her bank card on the odd occasion, forgetting where she was sat in a restaurant after using the toilet etc. Then a few weeks ago things took a very dramatic turn. She was crying and shaking one day and said there was a lady that lived in the house with her (she only lives with my dad) and she wasn’t allowing her to go to the toilet. She was really confused and upset. Since this she has cried several times a day and we’ve established she’s talking about herself. She says she’s wearing what she’s wearing, she’s horrible and not allowing her to go to the toilet. My mum has wet herself quite a few times because she keeps trying to hold herself. My mum is one minute crying and then she smiles and she says look she’s laughing now. She says the lady that lives with her is her. She says she is called the same name as hers. I was in the car with her in the front and she was telling me about the lady and I said what is she going to do, she can’t do anything and she had a different look on her face and said you do no i can hear you because I’m sat in the front. And I asked what she meant and she said she can hear what your saying about her. When my mum tells me she’s done something she’s been told not to do by the lady she always says,’I’m going to pay for it when I get home, she is not happy’. She says she sits on the sofa next to her. When my mum was on her iPad on the banking app she then got upset and said that the lady is on her banking and is trying to take their money. My dad said he was going to take my Mum to see her Mum in Manchester and my mum told me that the lady had already told her she was going to go aswel. My mum said she didn’t want her to go. On a few occasions my mums been crying and then she will say, look she’s crying now and then she will be smiling again in a minute. It’s like she has got a split personality. She said the woman talks to her through thoughts in her head. If I ask her if she’s seen she says yes she’s in the house but if you ask what she looks like etc she says it her and then she gets really confused and says she doesn’t no what’s happening and what’s going on she just can’t cope anymore and wants it gone. In the past few weeks even the simplest of tasks isn’t simple anymore. My mum can’t get in the car without directions, opening doors is hard to grasp, she’s is very easily confused. Is this sort of behaviour normal? Myself and my dad are so upset with the whole situation but more so that it’s only been 6 months since diagnosis and she seems to be at the very later stages of Alzheimer’s already. Is the split personality thing normal? She has had blood tests and urine test and they were all clear. They also stopped her gelantamine to see if it was side affects of that but 2 weeks later and still no change. She’s now been prescribed an anti psychotic drug and she’s been on it 4 days and still no change. In fact she appears to be getting worse. She doesn’t even want to be left in the house on her own anymore because she is scared of this lady. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Diagnosed 6 months ago and gone downhill very quickly
- Thread starter Natalie1987
- Start date
Hi Natalie, welcome to TP
We had another woman living with us for a while, the woman in the mirror. Her and my wife got on quite well to begin with but then the fell out over something and my wife used to scream at her to get out of the house. Mirrors, reflections in glass and not recognising them as yourself is one of the common traits in AZ for some people.
I had to take down all the mirrors and remember to close all the curtains when it got dark so she couldn't see herself. She could recognise me if I faced her but if we both stood in front of a mirror she couldn't recognise me or herself.
As people on here will tell you EMI nursing homes for people who are more advanced never have any mirrors and it's standard for someone to go and close all the curtains each evening.
I took away all the picture of faces in the house as even those set her off sometimes.
Next off came the people on the TV being real and in the house but that's another story.
K
We had another woman living with us for a while, the woman in the mirror. Her and my wife got on quite well to begin with but then the fell out over something and my wife used to scream at her to get out of the house. Mirrors, reflections in glass and not recognising them as yourself is one of the common traits in AZ for some people.
I had to take down all the mirrors and remember to close all the curtains when it got dark so she couldn't see herself. She could recognise me if I faced her but if we both stood in front of a mirror she couldn't recognise me or herself.
As people on here will tell you EMI nursing homes for people who are more advanced never have any mirrors and it's standard for someone to go and close all the curtains each evening.
I took away all the picture of faces in the house as even those set her off sometimes.
Next off came the people on the TV being real and in the house but that's another story.
K
