I can't believe that a holiday could cause such stress as the one we have had,Itook Susie to Portugal for 8 days,which didn't go to bad, the night before we came home my daughter Melissa collapsed and had to to have an emergency operation which saved her life, this meant delaying our return to the UK,Susie wasfairly ok for the first two extra daysthough I am not sure she understood the full extent of what had happened,then she wanted to come home, unfortunately by then no planes were flying,she got more distressed and agitated each day, this lasted 8 days she was so distraught and appeared to be having a breakdown, I had to see a German doctor who was brilliant and knowledgable of Susi's type of Dementia to give her a tranquiliser to enable us to eventually get a flight snd fly home,unfortunately the shock has really disturbed her she didn't know where she was who I was and in totally her own world, gradually I have started to win her back to her original self,if I can call it that,as she keeps getting severe panic attacks,I am sure with patiance,love,and gentlenessand familiarity she will recover, but never again,this was our last holiday,has anyone had any similar experiences,
My Susie's holiday
- Thread starter pete kelly
- Start date
Hi Pete,
Sorry to hear you had such an awful end to your holiday.
Is Melissa OK? It must have been an awful shock for you all when she became so ill. It's no wonder Susie found it impossible to cope.
I haven't experienced this sort of downturn after a holiday but when Mum first went back home after moving between 2 hospitals & respite for a month she did exhibit similar reactions.
For a few days she could not recognise her surroundings at all ( she's lived in the same house for over 50 years) She could not remember my Dad's name. She was also asking whether I'd seen him, my Nan & my Aunt all of whom had died years ago.
Thankfully this gradually diminished and she is now almost back to the stage she was before all the disturbance in her routine.
Her short term memory does seem a bit worse though.
We also have decided that it would be unwise to disrupt things by taking Mum away from home any more
I hope Susie picks up again soon
Mo
x
Sorry to hear you had such an awful end to your holiday.
Is Melissa OK? It must have been an awful shock for you all when she became so ill. It's no wonder Susie found it impossible to cope.
I haven't experienced this sort of downturn after a holiday but when Mum first went back home after moving between 2 hospitals & respite for a month she did exhibit similar reactions.
For a few days she could not recognise her surroundings at all ( she's lived in the same house for over 50 years) She could not remember my Dad's name. She was also asking whether I'd seen him, my Nan & my Aunt all of whom had died years ago.
Thankfully this gradually diminished and she is now almost back to the stage she was before all the disturbance in her routine.
Her short term memory does seem a bit worse though.
We also have decided that it would be unwise to disrupt things by taking Mum away from home any more
I hope Susie picks up again soon
Mo
x
Dear Pete,
I am so sorry to hear of the very traumatic events for you and your wife and daughter
First of all I wish your daughter a full and speedy recovery.
Regarding Susie, there has been some talk recently on Talking Point about delayed reactions in people with dementia and I am wondering whether this may be a factor in what is happening with Susie? I will try to find the links to the thread so that you can see whether it is of help or not. When my husband got particularly confused, I always checked to make sure no infection was involved as any sign of infection in him could cause severe confusion.
It sounds like you could do with a good break and hope that there is some way that you can get support to recover from the ordeals yourself!!
Love p.s. Found thread http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?t=6842&highlight=delayed+reaction&page=745 From post 11164 and then some posts after that.
I am so sorry to hear of the very traumatic events for you and your wife and daughter
First of all I wish your daughter a full and speedy recovery.Regarding Susie, there has been some talk recently on Talking Point about delayed reactions in people with dementia and I am wondering whether this may be a factor in what is happening with Susie? I will try to find the links to the thread so that you can see whether it is of help or not. When my husband got particularly confused, I always checked to make sure no infection was involved as any sign of infection in him could cause severe confusion.
It sounds like you could do with a good break and hope that there is some way that you can get support to recover from the ordeals yourself!!
Love p.s. Found thread http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?t=6842&highlight=delayed+reaction&page=745 From post 11164 and then some posts after that.
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Pete, this sounds like some kind of panic attack which went on for an extended time as you could not re-introduce her to a familiar routine to help her overcome it.
Ray has had a couple of those when we have been away, the first time we were walking across a garden area to go to a conveninece and he suddenly started to yell out and collapsed and I had to drag him to a park bench, he was covering his eyes and really distressed and that lasted about an hour by which time he had soiled himself. I eventually got him sorted and just decided to find a reasonable motel and stop there for the rest of the day. I gave him some milk which was all I had and he had long sleep and he woke up okay.
The next holiday we had an event which was similar only this time started with him wanting to go home and ended in hysterics with all kinds of strange behaviours. In the end he once again fell into an exhausted sleep and woke up fine, hungry and wanting to know what we were doing the next day.
The only other time he was confused was when a bushfire blocked our path and we were forced to sit by the road for six hours. I had to buy very unsuitable food and knew his blood sugars would have been out of control and put the panic attack down to that. We can't plan for the unexpected, all we can do is reassure and get them home as soon as we feasibly can.
Sue.
Ray has had a couple of those when we have been away, the first time we were walking across a garden area to go to a conveninece and he suddenly started to yell out and collapsed and I had to drag him to a park bench, he was covering his eyes and really distressed and that lasted about an hour by which time he had soiled himself. I eventually got him sorted and just decided to find a reasonable motel and stop there for the rest of the day. I gave him some milk which was all I had and he had long sleep and he woke up okay.
The next holiday we had an event which was similar only this time started with him wanting to go home and ended in hysterics with all kinds of strange behaviours. In the end he once again fell into an exhausted sleep and woke up fine, hungry and wanting to know what we were doing the next day.
The only other time he was confused was when a bushfire blocked our path and we were forced to sit by the road for six hours. I had to buy very unsuitable food and knew his blood sugars would have been out of control and put the panic attack down to that. We can't plan for the unexpected, all we can do is reassure and get them home as soon as we feasibly can.
Sue.
