I've posted once before.
We are carers for elderly mil who was diagnosed about 15 years ago.
She's mobile and can eat and drink with no help. My main question is... she does things that seem questionable whether it's the Alzheimers causing it or just personality.
We bought ice cream for my 2 children and mum today. As they always mess around and not finish it etc we usually buy 2 and share it between 3 cups. My 5 year old daughter and mum were watching us and mum comments in a tone that may seem like she's instigating "look your mum and dad are eating ice cream" yes I did have a quick spoon out of my daughters as parents usually do. Which in turn made my daughter start having a moan.
Anyway...20min later we get home and mum starts saying she can't find her stuff and her passport etc. And we made her understand she doesn't need anything. She kept insisting she's just come back from a flight etc etc. This has happened before. But it's getting more forceful and nothing we say pacifies her. Anyway then she went on explaining " i have alzheimers and I forget things" so I took the bait...I asked how does she know she has alzheimers. She said I was diagnosed by a doctor. So I decided to ask more..."what is alzheimers?" And she answered that it was when you started to forget stuff. She gave some very sane examples.
After about 2 hours of how she can't find her suitcase and passport. She turned it up a notch by starting to 'cry' there were no tears but her voice and facial expression were that of a person crying without the tears. We tried and tried to explain but mum won't listen. She was in a trance nothing NOTHING would get through to her.
My 5 year old, always trying to help, suggests why don't we give grandma some juice to make her feel better' and when I watched closely mums facial expression was more of laughing expression. I did a double take and asked my partner to look...genuinely confused. She had her hand over her mouth but she was laughing quietly. Surely I was mistaken so I asked if she was ok and she looked up trying to contain her laughter...asked me just as she met my eyes she changed back to being upset whilst holding her lips together trying not to laugh. I am so confused.
Please note...I am not saying she is making this up. I am honestly confused at this behaviour. My partner and I have have spent a good few hours pacifying her and I can't help but wonder now. Especially with 2 young ones...it's just so exhausting.
Thank you for reading such a Long post.
We are carers for elderly mil who was diagnosed about 15 years ago.
She's mobile and can eat and drink with no help. My main question is... she does things that seem questionable whether it's the Alzheimers causing it or just personality.
We bought ice cream for my 2 children and mum today. As they always mess around and not finish it etc we usually buy 2 and share it between 3 cups. My 5 year old daughter and mum were watching us and mum comments in a tone that may seem like she's instigating "look your mum and dad are eating ice cream" yes I did have a quick spoon out of my daughters as parents usually do. Which in turn made my daughter start having a moan.
Anyway...20min later we get home and mum starts saying she can't find her stuff and her passport etc. And we made her understand she doesn't need anything. She kept insisting she's just come back from a flight etc etc. This has happened before. But it's getting more forceful and nothing we say pacifies her. Anyway then she went on explaining " i have alzheimers and I forget things" so I took the bait...I asked how does she know she has alzheimers. She said I was diagnosed by a doctor. So I decided to ask more..."what is alzheimers?" And she answered that it was when you started to forget stuff. She gave some very sane examples.
After about 2 hours of how she can't find her suitcase and passport. She turned it up a notch by starting to 'cry' there were no tears but her voice and facial expression were that of a person crying without the tears. We tried and tried to explain but mum won't listen. She was in a trance nothing NOTHING would get through to her.
My 5 year old, always trying to help, suggests why don't we give grandma some juice to make her feel better' and when I watched closely mums facial expression was more of laughing expression. I did a double take and asked my partner to look...genuinely confused. She had her hand over her mouth but she was laughing quietly. Surely I was mistaken so I asked if she was ok and she looked up trying to contain her laughter...asked me just as she met my eyes she changed back to being upset whilst holding her lips together trying not to laugh. I am so confused.
Please note...I am not saying she is making this up. I am honestly confused at this behaviour. My partner and I have have spent a good few hours pacifying her and I can't help but wonder now. Especially with 2 young ones...it's just so exhausting.
Thank you for reading such a Long post.
Last edited: