My Mum has early stage dementia and moves around the house alot

[Smaggy]

Hello, My Mum was diagnosed with dementia in December 2014. She is 85, as is Dad. He is doing a super job of caring for her. Mum spends a lot of time moving around the house. She moves things constantly. She'll pull out all the brass ornaments out of the cabinet to polish but doesn't have the follow through to finish the task or put them away. This happens a lot. Does anyone have any ideas of finding ways to help her fill her time meaningfully. I have thought of establishing a daily schedule for her but I'm not sure she would remember to look at it or could follow it. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks. Smaggy

 

[Patricia Alice]

Hello, My Mum was diagnosed with dementia in December 2014. She is 85, as is Dad. He is doing a super job of caring for her. Mum spends a lot of time moving around the house. She moves things constantly. She'll pull out all the brass ornaments out of the cabinet to polish but doesn't have the follow through to finish the task or put them away. This happens a lot. Does anyone have any ideas of finding ways to help her fill her time meaningfully. I have thought of establishing a daily schedule for her but I'm not sure she would remember to look at it or could follow it. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks. Smaggy

Hi,

My mom did this, emptying cupboards and moving things around her flat constantly, she even found the places we hid things! She would also say we were wearing her clothes.

We used to write A4 laminates and stick them to her door with times and things she needed to do, but alas she never read it.

We got a word search puzzle bug and she enjoyed doing these for a time until her concentration went. She even had a go at knitting which seemed to occupy her brain.

I have no solution I am afraid, unless you can remove them a little at a time.

 

[Smaggy]

Hi,

My mom did this, emptying cupboards and moving things around her flat constantly, she even found the places we hid things! She would also say we were wearing her clothes.

We used to write A4 laminates and stick them to her door with times and things she needed to do, but alas she never read it.

We got a word search puzzle bug and she enjoyed doing these for a time until her concentration went. She even had a go at knitting which seemed to occupy her brain.

I have no solution I am afraid, unless you can remove them a little at a time.

Hi

Thanks for your reply Patricia Alice. It's funny you mention knitting...it is one of the things that she will focus on occasionally. I expect she won't focus schedules like your Mum but I might give it a try. Thanks again. Smaggy

 

[Beate]

If my OH has nothing to do he gets bored and starts roaming around. Jigsaws, colouring in books and pegboards with picturebeads have helped but I have recently found the holy grail in a simple set of playing cards. He now spends hours sorting and resorting them into a system only his brain can understand. He can't self-motivate very well anymore so needs prompting with it, but once he gets going he's very patient with it. So try out different manual activities until you find something she enjoys doing.

 

[lin1]

Hello Smaggy. Welcome to TP.
It does seem your mum wants to do things. I am sure you will get some good suggestions from people here.

My Mum enjoyed folding things. Be it tissues or towels

Many people find Doll therapy helpful , My mum adored her teddies , she thought it was her real baby and spent lots of time talking , soothing, cuddling and playing with Litlun as we called them

 

[Smaggy]

Hi

Thanks for your help. I'll try some of those. Mum used to play bridge so will try cards. Smaggy

If my OH has nothing to do he gets bored and starts roaming around. Jigsaws, colouring in books and pegboards with picturebeads have helped but I have recently found the holy grail in a simple set of playing cards. He now spends hours sorting and resorting them into a system only his brain can understand. He can't self-motivate very well anymore so needs prompting with it, but once he gets going he's very patient with it. So try out different manual activities until you find something she enjoys doing.