Mum scored 12 on memory test

[candymostdandy@]

Before mum moved in with us in Jan 06 she was on allsorts of medication, for alzheimers, aches and pain, blood pressure, etc etc...

Well to cut a long story short took her off the alzheimers drugs, then tried her without the blood pressure tablets, and only gave her paracetamol for her "aches & pains" when absolutely necessary, and for an 85 year old with alzheimers she has been relatively "well".

In about October we started to notice deterioration in her, her short term memory getting worse, she talks more and more about her mother, no longer even watches TV, and had some wandering incidences, infact she went AWOL at daycare.

Having taken her to see her GP in October voicing my concerns, we eventually got an apppointment with the consultant last Friday.

I explained the deterioration in mum to the consultant,and that she appears to be rather hyperactive for an 85 year old, she doesn't sit down all day and follows me about saying "can I help", if he could give her something to stabalise her. He was rather reluctant to prescribe her anything as"you have done so well", and then proceed to ask me what alternative could there be to medication..

..well how am I supposed to know?

he then carried out a memory test and having scored 18 in Sept 05 she scored 12, so there has definitely been a marked drop (I didn't need him to tell me that)..

he has now suggested that she may need B12 injections, but blood test not until next week, and then nother week for the results etc... surely the GP could have tested for B12, but its taken me 3 months to get to this point.. . he did eventually say, once he realised that her score was only 12, that if all this failed he would consider prescribing Ebixa..

I haven't bothered the authorities for a year, I just get on and look after her, all I was asking for was for something to make her less like an "hyperactive toddler" but three months on from my first request still no nearer a solution..

But the saddest thing is that yesterday she asked "is your father still alive" dad died in May 2004. After trying to avoid it a couple of times I said "dad died 3 years ago", of course at this tears welled up in her eyes, and then my kids accuse me of being horrible to her, although it didn't stop her polishing off a roast dinner and pudding in now time at all.

She is so well physically but I just wonder where we will be this time next year mentally..

 

[Lucille]

Hello candymostdandy

Your post struck a chord with me on several fronts. Although my mum isn't as far down this horrible path as yours is, there are elements of her health and my interaction with the authorities that are similar. The consultant asking you what alternatives there are to medication and the expectation that you as a carer are following things up quite actively.

I can't offer any solutions, I'm afraid, just some moral support to say you're not on your own, here. I've had mum's CPN ringing me up to ask what dose of AD drugs mum is on, when it was her that wrote the prescription in the first place. The consultant has also asked me this - and, I presume, he authorised the CPN?!

"She is so well physically but I just wonder where we will be this time next year mentally.."

I too wonder where I'll be with my mum. Her active lifestyle is starting to wear a bit thin ... she is constantly out and about, missing appointments, spending money, not sure where she's been or who she's seen. She does not know what day it is and repeatedly asks what year we are in. I wish I could rein her in a bit. This morning she was shouting at me saying there was nothing wrong with her and yet could not remember whether the carer had been. (She had). I try not to point it out to her, but I did this morning as I was so annoyed.

I hope you manage to get some medication sorted and that it goes some way to helping your mum (and you!). It's difficult isn't it, wanting to keep everyone happy and informed ... your comment about your mum polishing off her dinner was amusing - and suggests that she's probably forgotten about your dad (as awful as that seems) until the next time she asks - you tell her and she becomes upset again. It's a no-win situation.