Morning all,
I'm sat here horrified that you had such a lovely visit with mil.
I'm wondering have all those drugs caused the majority of her problems...like hallucinations.
If so...I'm speechless.
Naturally I'm pleased the vist was good..but horrified at the same time.
I understand exactly where you are coming from, Dotty. When Mil was first given meds, it was lorazepam from the memory clinic, on a prn basis, for the sundowning, which was horrendous, though in between the sundowning, she was lovely at first. But after about 4 weeks, the lorazepam wasn't so effective, and the 'sundowning' was lasting sometimes as long as 20 hours plus
She had an appointment at her old GP surgery, for a COPD check up, and was 'sundowning' before we even got there - OH and I were a bit desperate at this point, and took her anyway! The nurse there was so horrified at Mil's behaviour that she called the GP in - and that's when respiredone made an entrance. So I think initially, there was a need for some sort of intervention. But as time went on, and Mil's behaviour simply got more intense, its been a case of just more and more drugs being piled on each time we requested help, and I really do think now that there came a point - probably a while ago - where the drugs began to add to, rather than help with, the problems. Its early days yet - we've seen improvements after med changes before, but they have usually been really short term and sometimes after as little as 2 weeks, they have ceased to be effective. At the moment, she is on melatonin, and I think she is also on the lowest dose of memantine and possible orlanzepine now, with both of the latter drugs due to be stopped completely.
Ann, sorry if this is a scarey thought ....but.....I wondered if MIL was more settled in part because she has been in the same space for a few days. ie not going to Daycare, the shops, or even out of the ward, so her brain is not having to play "location catch-up"?
A really valid point, Maureen - although the 'space' she is in is not exactly 'calm', to be fair - there are other patients there with really difficult and disruptive issues. Its already something I have made a note to ask about when we have the next meeting though, as I've also wondered the same thing x
Spamar, I have a sister that I haven't spoken to in years - and I don't much care if I never do again. In fact, she has no contact with any of her family - she claims to be a 'christian', though in her case that doesn't seem to mean what you would expect it to mean. She simply uses it as an excuse to critise the rest of us poor mortals, cause arguments and (on occasion) pulled lovely stunts like telling my then 12 year old that she was 'going to burn in hell' because I allowed her to read about the 'devil's work' - AKA, the Harry Potter books
You can't chose your family, unfortunately, and I can only say that though I was really sad when we first stopped having contact, as time has passed I have really appreciated not having her particular brand of stress in my life and accepted that its better for us not to speak. Very jealous of the kingfisher spotting, btw - I have never had more than the odd momentary glimpse of one!
Grace, well done on accomplishing so much for your Mil - but take it easy, for the sake of your pain afterwards, hun! Yes, I asked yesterday about the 'itchy' sensation, as Mil has now complained about that feeling on each of my last 3 visits, and I am wondering if its a side effect? They were due to get a doctor out to check her asap. But, I also wonder if its cellulitis - because when Mil was on MAU, OH and spotted what looked like 'heat lumps' on her upper arm, which she was itching at and we mentioned it to staff on that ward. We have since found out that she was diagnosed with cellulitis, so the last lot of antibiotics were as much for that as the chest infection - and it makes me wonder if there is a chance that this 'itchy feeling' could be it flaring up again.
The drug they have introduced is Clomethiazole. On my list today is looking it up and finding out more about it. It's being used PRN, and they seem to be giving it more or less every afternoon as they are still getting sundowning from about 2pm onwards - after my visit the other day, apparently by mid afternoon, she was banging on the ward doors demanding to be let out. However, they say she responds 'quickly and well' to it, that it calms her down effectively. They also say that she is asking for bed at around 8pm, and sleeping right through till the morning ! Most seem of the opinion that the memantine has probably been causing a lot of the issues with her - an apparent side effect can be an increase in verbal and even sometimes physical, aggression - something we have never been told before! I can't help but wonder why on earth, that being the case, it was ever prescribed!
I visited again yesterday morning, and found her very confused, but still pretty pleasant. She was still in her room, just finishing off her brekkie when I arrived. 'Arnold Rimmer' (I must find out his real name, because I'm running the risk of calling him 'Arnold' to his face at the moment!) came into her room to give me the info on the new med that I'd asked for, and also so I could ask about the 'itchy arms', and I was really shocked when Mil first broke wind extremely loudly, then walked past him to her bathroom, went in leaving the door open and procedded to use the loo, not one bit bothered that she was on full view to one and all - absolutely no embarassment or concern at all! When she came out, she chatted to me about the grandchildren - though I'm not sure she realised they were her grandchildren, she knew they were my kids - and then said, very matter of factly that she needed to go back to bed for a couple of hours so she wouldn't be tired when her Dad picked her up to go to mass later. And into bed she climbed, told me she would see me tomorrow and closed her eyes. Dismissed again!
Going again today, then having a couple of days off. Two days of asking them to find Mil's missing clothes has resulted in the return of just 2 pairs of trousers, so I intend to be polite - but insistent - that today they pull their fingers out and find her things. Bra's especially - they are probably the most expensive items, at around an average of £25 each, and at least 12 are missing - yes, Mil can afford to replace them - but that isn't the point!
Tomorrow, a zoo day, with youngest and one of her mates - JM, did you know that the animatronic dinosaurs are back at the zoo at the moment? Hoping to get some fun shots of them
Wednesday, OH can visit solo, then I'll see how I feel about going in on Thursday.
Hope you all have a good day and that you are all getting the same lovely sunshine that we currently have here in Wales xxxxx