Hi Kenny
Been there, done that, got the T shirt. You would not come across a more stubborn individual than my mum when it comes to seeing the GP, after all, "there is nothing wrong with me". So armed with all sorts of notes we had made, my brother and I went to see the GP ourselves. Shared with her our worries about mum's mental health, and her point blank refussal to go to the surgery.
The GP agreed to make a house call saying that as mum was over 80 she had a responsibility of care towards her, and as she had not been to the surgery in years had an obligation to call, worked a treat. From this visit we had the referral to the Psychiatrist, who again, based on the information given by us the family, and the GP, he also did a home visit on the same pretext. He prescribed Aricept for her. With the help of the GP, we also managed, for a period time, to get mum to a day centre once a week, although some weeks she would refuse to go and have a complete hissy fit, but again we just said that it was a social event for the over 80's and once there she enjoyed herself. Thats the main problem I think with this disease, just when you think youv'e cracked it, you are off down another route, facing the same problem but with more severity, or simply facing a different problem.
What I'm trying to say here Kenny is that sometimes for the benefit of our loved ones we may have to resort to devious means. You have to keep it in mind that you are not doing these things in any way to cause harm, its the total opposit.
Mum was totally bored because she was unable to do things she used to, such as reading, knitting etc. etc., because she couldnt concentrate, or just forgot how to do it.
Mum bless her cotton socks was always, shall we say, strong willed, I think with the onset of her AD a lot of the aggression is fear, at some level she knows she is losing it, but not in a million years would she ever admit it.
I used to come up with all sorts of things for her to do in the early days, such as jigsaw puzzels, although these kind of activities are short lived, you just have to keep trying to think of things to occupy. Not easy at all.
Hope this helps, and good luck
Cate