Warning - a bit long
I recently rang Admiral Nurses at the MHU to ask for some advice on changes which have been happening with my husband. He’s been on Memantine for 3-4 years now and Rivastigmine since 2014. The phone call got me into a mess which I posted about on another thread. So I wonder if anybody here can reassure me?
OH still isn’t too bad and we have some days where he’s almost as he was. Over the last year or so though he fails to grasp things so easily.
He will often tell another person a story of an event from the past but confuse when it happened, the place, who was present etc. He will often mix up details from two separate events.
He gets angry and takes offence quickly. I can’t predict when or over what.
An example:The other day I was in the kitchen weighing something out on my analogue scales. He hovered beside me. (He’s good at ‘hovering’, will say,’ I don’t want to disturb you’ - drives me crazy!). He watched the dial carefully on the scales and I told him that the weight will read differently from his angle to where I’m standing. He suddenly snapped, ‘that’s not right!’. I repeated that it was good from where I was standing but it will read differently for him. He snapped,’you’ve got it wrong!’ Again I explained. ‘Can’t you see you’ve got it all wrong!?’ I told him it would be ok. He yelled, ‘ok, make a mess of it then!’ and stalked out of the kitchen. I should add that he was always a calm, thoughtful gentle person till he began to change.
We often have scenarios like this but I never know when he’s going to erupt. He’s sometimes lost it when we’ve been out shopping and he’s been known to shout at me ’do you think I’m effing stupid!!, Do you?!’ over some trivial thing such as the bus timetable or if I’ve not been able to see something he’s pointing out to me.
This last winter I discovered he can no longer work out the (very basic ) temperature dial on the central heating. Can’t work out that if he turns it up the house will get hotter. Each time, I have to tell him what to do. Recently we went on a trip for a few days. The hotel room was hot when we arrived and so he proceeded to turn the A/C dial up to 25C asking if that would make it cooler.
Sorry to go on, but I wonder if this is par for the course and that this means that his meds are no longer having much effect? Do other people notice these sorts of changes? He last had a checkup back in 2016 when the neurologist suspected FTL but after a SPECT scan it was decided that this was not the case.
I recently rang Admiral Nurses at the MHU to ask for some advice on changes which have been happening with my husband. He’s been on Memantine for 3-4 years now and Rivastigmine since 2014. The phone call got me into a mess which I posted about on another thread. So I wonder if anybody here can reassure me?
OH still isn’t too bad and we have some days where he’s almost as he was. Over the last year or so though he fails to grasp things so easily.
He will often tell another person a story of an event from the past but confuse when it happened, the place, who was present etc. He will often mix up details from two separate events.
He gets angry and takes offence quickly. I can’t predict when or over what.
An example:The other day I was in the kitchen weighing something out on my analogue scales. He hovered beside me. (He’s good at ‘hovering’, will say,’ I don’t want to disturb you’ - drives me crazy!). He watched the dial carefully on the scales and I told him that the weight will read differently from his angle to where I’m standing. He suddenly snapped, ‘that’s not right!’. I repeated that it was good from where I was standing but it will read differently for him. He snapped,’you’ve got it wrong!’ Again I explained. ‘Can’t you see you’ve got it all wrong!?’ I told him it would be ok. He yelled, ‘ok, make a mess of it then!’ and stalked out of the kitchen. I should add that he was always a calm, thoughtful gentle person till he began to change.
We often have scenarios like this but I never know when he’s going to erupt. He’s sometimes lost it when we’ve been out shopping and he’s been known to shout at me ’do you think I’m effing stupid!!, Do you?!’ over some trivial thing such as the bus timetable or if I’ve not been able to see something he’s pointing out to me.
This last winter I discovered he can no longer work out the (very basic ) temperature dial on the central heating. Can’t work out that if he turns it up the house will get hotter. Each time, I have to tell him what to do. Recently we went on a trip for a few days. The hotel room was hot when we arrived and so he proceeded to turn the A/C dial up to 25C asking if that would make it cooler.
Sorry to go on, but I wonder if this is par for the course and that this means that his meds are no longer having much effect? Do other people notice these sorts of changes? He last had a checkup back in 2016 when the neurologist suspected FTL but after a SPECT scan it was decided that this was not the case.