Inability to tell the time - advice needed please!

[Jingo27]

We are just waiting for my father-in-law's diagnosis of dementia. He has had the memory tests, and is just awaiting a brain scan.

This has all happened very quickly, we have noticed his memory impairment and other related problems really only since just after Christmas, although looking back there was the odd issue since September.

The biggest problem we have is that he lives alone, and he has lost his awareness of time and his ability to tell the time. He can't read a clock face or digital clock any more. His daughter bought him a digital clock made for dementia sufferers, but he said it keeps stopping and going wrong before putting itself right again (it doesn't!). He's now unplugged it and put it in a cupboard. He says that with the normal clock the hands just keep going round and round.

Because of this lack of time awareness he puts himself to bed sometime soon after 6pm and then gets up in the middle of the night believing it is morning. He is tired because of this, so he naps on and off throughout the day. He is alone most of the day (his daughter comes around to do his breakfast and then his dinner in the early evening) there is no-one around to keep him awake, and no-one at night time to encourage him to go to bed at a normal time and get up at the right time in the morning.

He has been known to go to the local shop to fetch the paper at 10pm at night, and was annoyed that the shop was closed. He has also gone early in the morning to get the paper 5am or similar (the neighbours tell us if they see him out at unusual times). Both times he moaned that the shops should be open, he is oblivious to what time it is and doesn't understand why they are closed because it's daytime (in his mind) when he goes so the shops should all be open.

There is no-one who can stay with him during the day and evening to get him back into the habit or normal(ish) hours - I live a distance away and his daughter looks after her young grandson every day.

We've now got him into a day centre one day a week and we're hoping that that will tire him out, and stop him sleeping in the day, but if he's tired he'll probably go to bed even earlier!

Has anyone else had this problem and found a way around it? I'd appreciate any advice.

 

[Kevinl]

Welcome to TP
Time and dementia don't go together very well sometimes. I moved onto "wife time" sometimes we'd be in the supermarket a 3am, other times we'd be in bed at 7pm, I appreciate this isn't an option and most people have to be a slave to the clock for all kinds of reasons.
Sadly my uncle, mother and wife have all done this, he'd phone up a 2am and ask why there were no busses to take him to the shops, my mum used to go out in the early hours to go to the bank and if I phoned her in the evening she used to tell me she'd just had breakfast.
I'm sorry that's not very helpful all I can suggest is a speaking clock where you push the button and it tells you the time and what part of the day it is, as used by blind people but ultimately there is no solution and it will most likely only get worse.
As with many aspect of AZ "Once it's gone it's gone" and there may be s short term sticking plaster solution but things rarely work for long in my experience.
K

 

[Jingo27]

Welcome to TP
Time and dementia don't go together very well sometimes. I moved onto "wife time" sometimes we'd be in the supermarket a 3am, other times we'd be in bed at 7pm, I appreciate this isn't an option and most people have to be a slave to the clock for all kinds of reasons.
Sadly my uncle, mother and wife have all done this, he'd phone up a 2am and ask why there were no busses to take him to the shops, my mum used to go out in the early hours to go to the bank and if I phoned her in the evening she used to tell me she'd just had breakfast.
I'm sorry that's not very helpful all I can suggest is a speaking clock where you push the button and it tells you the time and what part of the day it is, as used by blind people but ultimately there is no solution and it will most likely only get worse.
As with many aspect of AZ "Once it's gone it's gone" and there may be s short term sticking plaster solution but things rarely work for long in my experience.
K

In a way it's good to know that we're not alone with this problem. A speaking clock may be of use, so thanks for that suggestion.

 

[karaokePete]

As an addition to the excellent comment from Kevinl, would one of the clocks from the AS on-line shop be of any use? There are a few different types, however, as your FiL wants one with hands would this one suit
https://shop.alzheimers.org.uk/daily-living-aids/clocks-and-watches/Day and Night Clock

 

[northumbrian_k]

Hi @Jingo27

My wife has problems telling the time, often reading the analogue clock backwards eg 9:20 becomes quarter to 4. Time of day, seasons, whether it is light or dark and elapsed time are all challenges for her. She will often say things like "it is not a bad evening" in the morning, to which I can only agree as it is not evening! As for dementia-friendly clocks, you say "he said it keeps stopping and going wrong before putting itself right again (it doesn't!)" but the one we had did keep stopping, although it never put itself right without a reboot and was binned months ago. Quite common (the time issues not the clock) I'm afraid and I don't have any solutions, especially as he lives alone. At least when my wife starts putting her clothes back on before going to bed - because she has forgotten why she is undressing and doesn't realise that it is bedtime - I am around to help her out, albeit at my peril.

 

[marionq]

Whatever kind of clock you buy - and some are around £70 - the PWD will refuse to believe what it says if their reality tells them something different. My husband simply told me the clock was wrong if it said 2 am and he wanted to get up and go to work. He was of course long retired when doing this.

If they just wander around their own home it doesn't matter but if they start going out and putting themselves at risk then that is more serious.

 

[Jingo27]

Whatever kind of clock you buy - and some are around £70 - the PWD will refuse to believe what it says if their reality tells them something different. My husband simply told me the clock was wrong if it said 2 am and he wanted to get up and go to work. He was of course long retired when doing this.

If they just wander around their own home it doesn't matter but if they start going out and putting themselves at risk then that is more serious.

Thanks. The clock he was bought was the £50 day clock in the alzheimers shop which has ended up in a drawer because "it keeps going wrong". So I am wary of exactly the same problem that you mention - whatever clock we get, it's always going to be the wrong time



I agree with you that it's worrying that he goes out at odd times - although the newsagent is just a couple of minutes walk away, it's not good for him to be wandering around late at night or early morning. We have told him that the reason the shops are shut are because he goes in the night. He just laughs and says "probably", but of course it doesn't really register.

 

[Jingo27]

Hi @Jingo27

My wife has problems telling the time, often reading the analogue clock backwards eg 9:20 becomes quarter to 4. Time of day, seasons, whether it is light or dark and elapsed time are all challenges for her. She will often say things like "it is not a bad evening" in the morning, to which I can only agree as it is not evening! As for dementia-friendly clocks, you say "he said it keeps stopping and going wrong before putting itself right again (it doesn't!)" but the one we had did keep stopping, although it never put itself right without a reboot and was binned months ago. Quite common (the time issues not the clock) I'm afraid and I don't have any solutions, especially as he lives alone. At least when my wife starts putting her clothes back on before going to bed - because she has forgotten why she is undressing and doesn't realise that it is bedtime - I am around to help her out, albeit at my peril.

This is exactly it: the concept of mornings/evenings/night has been lost, as well as the ability to read a clock. Even if he could read the clock 8pm would have a 50/50 chance of being 8am to him, and time to go out to get the newspaper!

 

[LesleyPort]

Hi @Jingo27 Our dad also has this issue. He goes to the shop when they are closed and can not understand why they are closed. Tells us that he does not understand why people keep changing the clocks, people are always late for work.
We got my dad a talking wrist watch. He presses a button and it tells him the time, another button tells him the date.

 

[Jingo27]

Hi @Jingo27 Our dad also has this issue. He goes to the shop when they are closed and can not understand why they are closed. Tells us that he does not understand why people keep changing the clocks, people are always late for work.
We got my dad a talking wrist watch. He presses a button and it tells him the time, another button tells him the date.

Thanks Lesley, that's worth thinking about. My only concern is that he won't remember to press the button!

 

[Nandi]

Yes I am finding same but still insists on wearing watch but I hide it at night

 

[LesleyPort]

@Jingo27 To be honest its not an issue if he forgets as my dads goes off when he outs his seat belt on. You only have to gentle touch the button and it goes off.
We have also got our dad the digital clocks that tell him if its am or pm but he does not look at those and if he does he does not understand it, he thinks we keep changing them.
We write on a pad every day for my dad telling him who will be visiting and what he is doing on that day, we also write on there that he can not go out until we have been round to stick his dementia patch on, at least by then the shops should be open.

 

[Jingo27]

@Jingo27 To be honest its not an issue if he forgets as my dads goes off when he outs his seat belt on. You only have to gentle touch the button and it goes off.
We have also got our dad the digital clocks that tell him if its am or pm but he does not look at those and if he does he does not understand it, he thinks we keep changing them.
We write on a pad every day for my dad telling him who will be visiting and what he is doing on that day, we also write on there that he can not go out until we have been round to stick his dementia patch on, at least by then the shops should be open.

Thanks, we could try that. We did think about putting a sign up on the inside of his front door to tell him that it's night-time and not to go out until the sign is moved, which would be when his daughter turns up to do his breakfast. Might be worth trying to leave him a notepad though that we can write notes for him as well.