Hi, this is my first post here.
I'm feeling so out of my depth I just don't know what to do or where to turn.
My mum is 95, she's not been diagnosed with any form of dementia but has no short term memory at all, is now very argumentative and violent (which she never was before), virtually stone deaf and her eyesight is going. She fixates on about 3/4 things - 'men' who sleep on her living room floor (there are no men), saying she wishes she was dead, telling everyone not to fall on their head and saying she's not seen anyone for weeks. Her memory has got to the stage where I was visiting her with my daughter yesterday and after about 20 mins I went to make her a drink - she then turned to my daughter and asked if I would be visiting her soon. She has been like this for months now. She stays in bed the whole time, only getting up to go to the toilet.
She was assessed by the doctor and a health visitor about 6 weeks ago, who said she was fine. I was not there at the time and didn't know they would be making this assessment. I work full time 6 days a week so it is quite limited how often I can be there for her but I do my best and go as often as I can.
She is living in her own home with carers 4 times a day plus a night time carer, so she is rarely alone - she has neighbours who also pop in to see her every day. She remembers none of these people coming in to her and always says she hasn't seen anyone for weeks.
For months she has been saying she wishes she was dead, but lately she has been threatening to kill herself and today when I saw the carer she said she found her in the kitchen with a knife, threatening to cut herself. All knives have now been put up on top of the kitchen cupboards where she can't see them and wouldn't be able to get to them anyway.
Where do I go from here? I've never had to deal with this kind of thing before and like I said just feel so out of my depth, I just don't know what to do for the best.
Thanks for any help/advice anyone can give me, sorry if this has been so long.
Thank you x
I'm feeling so out of my depth I just don't know what to do or where to turn.
My mum is 95, she's not been diagnosed with any form of dementia but has no short term memory at all, is now very argumentative and violent (which she never was before), virtually stone deaf and her eyesight is going. She fixates on about 3/4 things - 'men' who sleep on her living room floor (there are no men), saying she wishes she was dead, telling everyone not to fall on their head and saying she's not seen anyone for weeks. Her memory has got to the stage where I was visiting her with my daughter yesterday and after about 20 mins I went to make her a drink - she then turned to my daughter and asked if I would be visiting her soon. She has been like this for months now. She stays in bed the whole time, only getting up to go to the toilet.
She was assessed by the doctor and a health visitor about 6 weeks ago, who said she was fine. I was not there at the time and didn't know they would be making this assessment. I work full time 6 days a week so it is quite limited how often I can be there for her but I do my best and go as often as I can.
She is living in her own home with carers 4 times a day plus a night time carer, so she is rarely alone - she has neighbours who also pop in to see her every day. She remembers none of these people coming in to her and always says she hasn't seen anyone for weeks.
For months she has been saying she wishes she was dead, but lately she has been threatening to kill herself and today when I saw the carer she said she found her in the kitchen with a knife, threatening to cut herself. All knives have now been put up on top of the kitchen cupboards where she can't see them and wouldn't be able to get to them anyway.
Where do I go from here? I've never had to deal with this kind of thing before and like I said just feel so out of my depth, I just don't know what to do for the best.
Thanks for any help/advice anyone can give me, sorry if this has been so long.
Thank you x
