Like a Hyperactive toddler...

[Rageddy Anne]

Changing medication

Rob's GP decided to try changing some of his meds, and it appears that the terrible itching has diminished. Perhaps he was allergic to the pullups. The pads aren't as convenient but if the itching is diminishing then it has to be pads again.

Coinciding with changing meds has been a huge and increasingly distressing increase in his stress levels. He's been shouting orders loudly, telling everyone off for incompetence, fiercely resisting all personal care, and even struck an insistent Carer in the face because she was trying to get him to shower. At the same time he seems seriously constipated, and his breath smells awful. The GP couldn't visit today, possibly Monday or Tuesday, and I'm told there's a team that will be coming to consider his treatment.

The changed behaviour could be a new stage in his dementia, I suppose, but perhaps it's the result of one of the changes in meds. What a difficult task it must be for the GP, no cure, and with everyone's dementia being different, an almost impossible task to find a solution to the difficulties.

If the care home can't cope I suppose he wil be asked to leave. The irony is that another resident has been asked to leave, and his poor wife is considering the place where Rob used to be, the one we didn't like. They did have an upstairs level for people who were advanced and very needy, and mostly confined to their rooms, so perhaps that is suitable now, but I feel so sorry... The other resident was angry and hit out, like Rob, and seems to have been sedated to the point of inertia...perhaps this happens in some cases...

What a curse this illness is.

 

[nae sporran]

Poor old Rob, and what a horrendous stressful time for you Anne.

 

[Grannie G]

No wonder you’re up in the middle of the night Anne.

I find it so distressing when people who are challenging, are almost living with the threat of eviction from a care home which is registered for dementia.

1 .Why was the carer insisting he shower?

Dhiren went through a period of refusing a bath . His decision was accepted and he was cleansed thoroughly every time he received personal care.
He was also told when every bath time came round. One day he agreed to a bath and did so from then on.

 

[cuppatea]

Oh poor you sorry to hear he has become unsettled. Do hope it's caused by the change in meds and he will settle down again. Worrying for you x

 

[RedLou]

Really sorry to hear this, Anne. I hope it turns out to be the medication and they can tweak to improve his state of mind.

 

[Rageddy Anne]

Re.. Separate thread

Recently I started a separate thread called CONSTIPATION MATTERS, with a warning for the squeamish. It related to worries about Rob's constipation, terrible smelling breath, and something I'd read about, relating to faecal compaction. There were some very helpful replies.

Having drawn my concerns to the Care Home Nurse, the Dragon One, she dismissed them. But Rob was prescribed two doses of laxatives a day, and yesterday, when the Care Home was unexpectedly short staffed, the laxatives dramatically seem to have done their job. He was a bit more peaceful, but it took two carers with me encouraging, to persuade Rob to have the necessary wash and shower... Today I dread visiting him, but feel I can't abandon him when I expect them to still be short staffed.

So the next question is, how to prevent this happening again? How to introduce extra fibre into his diet from home?

 

[Grannie G]

So the next question is, how to prevent this happening again? How to introduce extra fibre into his diet from home?

It`s not your responsibility Anne, it`s the responsibility of the care home. If the outcome of the double dose of laxatives was so dramatic, perhaps the home will take their responsibility more seriously from now on.

 

[Bunpoots]

Hello Anne,

I have problems get my dad to eat enough fibre, I don't live with him but I know he has a high fibre cereal for breakfast and not much else in the way of fibre unless I feed him. So I buy him easy to eat snacks.

If he likes cereal bars Aldi do one called "benefit" which has almost 5g of fibre in a very small bar. I could easily eat 2 at a time!! Would something like that help?


Sent from my iPad using Talking Point

 

[Rageddy Anne]

THANKYOU bunboots, I'll look for some of those bars or similar. I take him a banana sometimes; he likes them and I think they're good for him. Maybe digestive biscuits.

He hasn't had many visitors this week, everyone diverted unexpectedly or terribly busy elsewhere. He's been getting melancholy, and I wonder if it's not the change in meds, could it be something like boredom.? They have impromptu singsongs, sometimes carers take him into the garden, two activities coordinators circulate and chat to people, do jigsaws, arrange knitting( popular with the ladies) watch suitable quiz shows..(Pointless is popular) anything similar to what people might do at home. Some lady singers come in for jolly singing sessions, popular with some, less so for others, but they try... Carers will sometimes just sit and chat with residents between jobs, and a pleasant relaxed atmosphere is actively created..At the previous care home the carers would have animated conversations with each other while completely ignoring the residents, and that would never happen here.
But this week there have had to be some Agency carers, which makes it a bit less calm as they sort themselves out.
I hope to see the GP this week, to see if he thinks another change in medication might help. It has to be a balance between sedation and loss of mental faculties, but in Rob's case those are rapidly diminishing anyway...His sense of space is going, he now thinks a threshold strip is a step. The plain carpets are better than the previous home's simulated planking, perfectly flat but with a knotted design....He was sure the knots were lumps...

 

[Sam Luvit]

Hi RA

I read but don't tend to contribute to your post, but want to know how you are doing. You do so much, I admire you

While bananas are good, great source of potassium, they are a natural source to " bung you up" as my nurse mother would say.

Satsuma & tangerines apparently have the opposite effect.

Hope you can try the cereal bars with good effect & you are looking after yourself a bit

 

[Rageddy Anne]

That's helpful Samluvit, I only take one banana a day for Rob, but those little tangerines are good just now...the only downside is he spits out the pithy stuff, and doesn't care where! I was taking grapes until I discovered they're full of sugar( of course they must be) and because he's borderline diabetic , not the best thing for him. He also spits out the pips, which I have to anticipate and try to intercept!

 

[Rageddy Anne]

The GP was supposed to go into the Care Home today to see Rob, and I went in expecting to see him. The Dragon nurse said airily" the doctor's not coming in on .Wednesdays any more. It'll be Fridays". So I said it was Tuesday, and I thought he'd be there today.....and she repeated herself in a tone that suggested I was stupid.

So I missed a delivery to my address for my son when there was no need.

Rob was itchy and agitated after lunch, though he was asleep in a chair when I arrived, calm in the presence of our lovely friend who has a way of calming him...another normally agitated resident was also sitting calmly there, and a lady with dementia and her visiting husband. It was a very nice arrangement, the visitors keeping the conversational ball rolling, and the residents stirring occasionally and even venturing a few words, but relaxed.

 

[Rageddy Anne]

Saw GP today. I deferred to the dragon nurse, and thanked her sweetly, making sure the GP included me in his deliberations about meds, and listened to me. He made some changes with meds and the time of day to administer them.
So we'll see what happens next.

I also noticed today that one Carer, trying to shower Rob, was using the scented soap I had put on his wash basin for scrubbing his hands. And her rinsing was pretty scant. The soap was a lot smaller than it was earlier, so it's probably happened before, in spite of his special shower product being prominent. So perhaps I've found the reason for the itching... The soap has now come home with me...

 

[Rageddy Anne]

Yesterday someone came to Rob's care home to assess him for a DOLS, which apparently means a Deprivation of Liberty thing.

I was assured it's nothing to worry about, just hope it doesn't mean they can be more insistent over his personal care.. Feeling a bit worried just the same.

 

[Grannie G]

Dhiren had one Anne. I thought it was to establish he had lost capacity.

 

[Rageddy Anne]

Dhiren had one Anne. I thought it was to establish he had lost capacity.

Thank you Sylvia, just a formality I hope...

 

[pamann]

Hello Anne, l haven't been on TP for a long time, sorry to see that Rob is in a CH my husband has now been in care for 2yrs.
Dols is renewed every year by the local council, they have to be assessed for mental capacity, my husband has just had an assessment he can not answer any questions he has no mental capacity why they do it every year l do not know, l don't know anyone who has been cured of Alzheimers.
Sounds like Rob is in a good CH, how are you? Life is not how we would like it to be, l feel sad at times knowing my husband will spend the rest of his life in the CH, he is very settled now seems happy most of the time, doesn't sit with me for long wanders off and forgets that l am there.
I do look in sometimes just to catch up with people, thinking of you Anne

 

[Rageddy Anne]

Hello Anne, l haven't been on TP for a long time, sorry to see that Rob is in a CH my husband has now been in care for 2yrs.
Dols is renewed every year by the local council, they have to be assessed for mental capacity, my husband has just had an assessment he can not answer any questions he has no mental capacity why they do it every year l do not know, l don't know anyone who has been cured of Alzheimers.
Sounds like Rob is in a good CH, how are you? Life is not how we would like it to be, l feel sad at times knowing my husband will spend the rest of his life in the CH, he is very settled now seems happy most of the time, doesn't sit with me for long wanders off and forgets that l am there.
I do look in sometimes just to catch up with people, thinking of you Anne

THANKYOU Pamann...Yes, it's a sad and weary limbo that we live in isn't it?

I can't face looking at Rob's smart clothes that he'll never wear again...his immaculate uniform that he so carefully stored in special hanging bags....What on earth do we do with things like that? My heart's so heavy, and yet I just had a wonderful weekend without him, celebrating our son's marriage with friends and family...The mixture of joy and sadness is really hard to combine......

 

[Grannie G]

...The mixture of joy and sadness is really hard to combine......

I know Anne.

We can only take what we`re given.

 

[Rageddy Anne]

Haven't seen Rob for several days because other equally important commitments crept in, plus I wasn't very well. But he had good visits from other lovely people, and they reported that he was peaceful and unaware, as he was the last time I saw him. His meds had been tweaked, so he was very sleepy and didn't know me.

In the morning I'll brace myself and see how he is.