Hello all
My mum is 70 years old and started showing signs of dementia last June.
Within four months she was put on medication for early Alzheimer's onset.
In March this year my mum was hearing voices and thinking people were in her flat with her. She thought she was in a shared house and they were trying to evict her. She was put into hospital for a month and then moved into a block of flats with carers. This didn't work. She phoned me daily, four or five times a day, to say that people were talking about her and stealing things from her flat.
Last week she went missing from her home. The police found her seven miles away in her nightie. She had walked for miles. We had a gps which we put in her bag because this wasn't the first time she had gone missing, but my mum had noticed this and taken it out of her bag. She always says that she is trying to walk to my house. I took her out of her flat two weeks ago and cared for her at my house for four days because she was threatening to leave. I was shocked that this wasn't my mum anymore. She followed me around the whole time. Whenever there was a movement in the night, my mum was knocking on my bedroom door to ask if it was morning. Is it normal to forget the time of day?
When the police found my mum, they took her into temporary emergency respite care. The care home they have put her in is disgusting and does not cater for mental illness. They have put her in a shared room next to the front door. Every time a visitor comes to the home, she has her bags packed and trying to 'tail gate' out of the door. We are looking for a permanent placement now somewhere safe.
I know this is a long-winded story but it would be lovely to hear whether other peoples' parents and loved ones have experienced delusions, hallucinations and feelings of wanting to escape because I have never associated these symptoms with Alzheimer's before. My mum still knows who I am. She's a bit confused and forgetful with other names but remembers as soon as I prompt her. She has also started to become incontinent. She's a proud woman so is hiding her underwear in her bag and under the bed so that no-one notices, but she tells me so that she doesn't get told off by the carers.
I am looking for a permanent care home for her now but don't know whether it will hurt her to be living with people who are further on their Alzheimer's illness. Can people with different stages of Alzheimer's relate to each other? Will she make friends or is every day a new day? I cry myself to sleep at night because my mum isn't the same person she was a year ago. I never thought to ask for help or speak to anyone because I think it's my mum who is suffering not me. Now I'm at the point where I think I need to speak to people who are or have been in the same situation as me.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Sorry for the long post.
Jo
My mum is 70 years old and started showing signs of dementia last June.
Within four months she was put on medication for early Alzheimer's onset.
In March this year my mum was hearing voices and thinking people were in her flat with her. She thought she was in a shared house and they were trying to evict her. She was put into hospital for a month and then moved into a block of flats with carers. This didn't work. She phoned me daily, four or five times a day, to say that people were talking about her and stealing things from her flat.
Last week she went missing from her home. The police found her seven miles away in her nightie. She had walked for miles. We had a gps which we put in her bag because this wasn't the first time she had gone missing, but my mum had noticed this and taken it out of her bag. She always says that she is trying to walk to my house. I took her out of her flat two weeks ago and cared for her at my house for four days because she was threatening to leave. I was shocked that this wasn't my mum anymore. She followed me around the whole time. Whenever there was a movement in the night, my mum was knocking on my bedroom door to ask if it was morning. Is it normal to forget the time of day?
When the police found my mum, they took her into temporary emergency respite care. The care home they have put her in is disgusting and does not cater for mental illness. They have put her in a shared room next to the front door. Every time a visitor comes to the home, she has her bags packed and trying to 'tail gate' out of the door. We are looking for a permanent placement now somewhere safe.
I know this is a long-winded story but it would be lovely to hear whether other peoples' parents and loved ones have experienced delusions, hallucinations and feelings of wanting to escape because I have never associated these symptoms with Alzheimer's before. My mum still knows who I am. She's a bit confused and forgetful with other names but remembers as soon as I prompt her. She has also started to become incontinent. She's a proud woman so is hiding her underwear in her bag and under the bed so that no-one notices, but she tells me so that she doesn't get told off by the carers.
I am looking for a permanent care home for her now but don't know whether it will hurt her to be living with people who are further on their Alzheimer's illness. Can people with different stages of Alzheimer's relate to each other? Will she make friends or is every day a new day? I cry myself to sleep at night because my mum isn't the same person she was a year ago. I never thought to ask for help or speak to anyone because I think it's my mum who is suffering not me. Now I'm at the point where I think I need to speak to people who are or have been in the same situation as me.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Sorry for the long post.
Jo