Dear Friends
My father in law is living with AD (diagnosed 2 years ago) and has been steadily declining over the past few months. He is very difficult to get out of bed in the morning, spends his day in his arm chair, is only occaisonally interested in the television but changes channels every few seconds, doesn't read and mostly dozes. He sits there until lunch and then returns to his chair for the afternoon. He sneaks back to bed if he can get away with it. He has trouble moving around and is exhausted by even a small physical effort. He would happily spend his day under the covers, no matter how hot it is here in the summer. He is in bed and asleep straight after the evening meal. He constantly complains of being tired and sighs a lot. He has 2 phrases he repeats ad infinitum "I'm old" and "I'm tired". Otherwise he doesn't intiate any conversation. My husband and I feel that he does genuinely seem fatigued (rather than just saying so) and we are wondering if this is a common symptom of the disease. It seems to be getting worse and worse. My mother in law is in poor health and is very srtessed by her husband's behaviour. She is trying her best but lacks patience and understanding and feels he is just whining and being lazy. We are fidning it very difficult to make her understand he is ill. Should we be forcing him to do things or let him be as he seems to prefer. This stage seems to correspond to stage 5 or 6 in the scale mentioned on this site. We don't want to stress or upset him but we are a bit lost as to how to deal with this change in his behaviour. And we are equally challenged by my mother in law's hostility and lack of compassion towards her husband. We live on their property (independently) and want to play a very active role in trying to keep him at home for as long as possible. Bit of a rant I know......... Just needed to let off some steam. Maybe someone has some insight or common experience to share. Kind regards
My father in law is living with AD (diagnosed 2 years ago) and has been steadily declining over the past few months. He is very difficult to get out of bed in the morning, spends his day in his arm chair, is only occaisonally interested in the television but changes channels every few seconds, doesn't read and mostly dozes. He sits there until lunch and then returns to his chair for the afternoon. He sneaks back to bed if he can get away with it. He has trouble moving around and is exhausted by even a small physical effort. He would happily spend his day under the covers, no matter how hot it is here in the summer. He is in bed and asleep straight after the evening meal. He constantly complains of being tired and sighs a lot. He has 2 phrases he repeats ad infinitum "I'm old" and "I'm tired". Otherwise he doesn't intiate any conversation. My husband and I feel that he does genuinely seem fatigued (rather than just saying so) and we are wondering if this is a common symptom of the disease. It seems to be getting worse and worse. My mother in law is in poor health and is very srtessed by her husband's behaviour. She is trying her best but lacks patience and understanding and feels he is just whining and being lazy. We are fidning it very difficult to make her understand he is ill. Should we be forcing him to do things or let him be as he seems to prefer. This stage seems to correspond to stage 5 or 6 in the scale mentioned on this site. We don't want to stress or upset him but we are a bit lost as to how to deal with this change in his behaviour. And we are equally challenged by my mother in law's hostility and lack of compassion towards her husband. We live on their property (independently) and want to play a very active role in trying to keep him at home for as long as possible. Bit of a rant I know......... Just needed to let off some steam. Maybe someone has some insight or common experience to share. Kind regards
