Starting to be violent

[Milvus]

Mum went into a care home a couple of months ago. Since then she has dramatically deteriorated physically, mentally and emotionally. She now has constant UTIs and is delusional.

Every time I speak to her she is in tears saying the staff are punching, bruising, threatening and generally bullying her and she can't stand it any longer. The other day she decided she'd had enough and punched a carer in the chest. She's never punched anyone in her life before. As a result they're arranging for a psychiatric assessment.

We have already raised concerns with management so they are aware of what she's telling us and how she's feeling.

Is this all part of Alzheimer's and what do homes do with violent inmates? It's a very unhappy situation.

 

[Helly68]

@Milvus we had this issue with my Mum. She became violent with the staff during personal care - hitting, kicking, pinching, spitting. I was invited to a meeting of the staff and psychiatric staff to look at how this could be approached. It was a very difficult situation. I think care homes, especially those with an EMI or dementia unit do deal with this sort of behaviour, though they do their best to lessen it, for the sake of the person with dementia and those around them. You mention UTIs causing delusions. I would say at any meeting this would be a good thing to get on top of, as these can cause very severe behaviour changes. They may also consider (as they did with my Mum) changing medication to reduce anxiety and agression. I would say the key thing is to try and keep talking to the home and the psychiatrist.
I wish you all the best at this difficult time.

 

[lemonbalm]

Hello @Milvus

The care home arranging for an assessment is a good sign that they are doing all they can to help your mum. Hopefully a change in medication, along with other advice from the psychiatric team will result in your mum being calmer and happier. The GP may also be able to prescribe a preventative antibiotic for your mum which could help stop the urine infections returning, so that is worth asking about.

I have mentioned before that regular reviews of medication have helped when my mum has been very aggressive. The staff have remained very fond of her and genuinely do care for her despite several of them sustaining minor injuries.

I'm sorry, it's really difficult but hopefully things will improve soon.

 

[canary]

UTIs cause terrible problems in people with dementia.
My OH gets regular UTIs (he is actually in hospital with yet another one at the moment) and he has been prescribed constant low dose antibiotics (prophylactic antibiotics) which keep the UTIs mostly at bay. It doesnt completely stop them, but they are much less frequent.

 

[Milvus]

UTIs cause terrible problems in people with dementia.
My OH gets regular UTIs (he is actually in hospital with yet another one at the moment) and he has been prescribed constant low dose antibiotics (prophylactic antibiotics) which keep the UTIs mostly at bay. It doesnt completely stop them, but they are much less frequent.

Apparently there are two types of antibiotics. They say she's allergic to one sort and seems to be immune to the other. Odd as she had only the occasional infection before she moved into the home and they always responded readily to antibiotics. The doctor is arranging an eye test now to see if that's got something to do with it - what, I can't imagine!