taking to her bed

Starter

Registered User
Oct 10, 2015
116
0
hi
my mum is 87 and three years into her Alzheimers diagnosis. She lives alone and family go in twice a day to do everything for her. She spends a lot of time in bed and when she's up doesn't do anything at all except sit in her chair. She doesn't go out. Today she has decided that she doesn't need to get up and wants me to buy a chair for the bedroom so that visitors can sit with her. She doesn't have any physical problems but is always tired. Any advice please?
 

Duggies-girl

Registered User
Sep 6, 2017
3,620
0
hi
my mum is 87 and three years into her Alzheimers diagnosis. She lives alone and family go in twice a day to do everything for her. She spends a lot of time in bed and when she's up doesn't do anything at all except sit in her chair. She doesn't go out. Today she has decided that she doesn't need to get up and wants me to buy a chair for the bedroom so that visitors can sit with her. She doesn't have any physical problems but is always tired. Any advice please?

This could be my dad but he still gets up and sits in his chair. I go in twice a day and do everything and I can see that dad is slowing down. He no longer wants to go shopping and would rather that I go on my own. Dad is 88 and he also has cancer so I would expect this. He is on iron now but that doesn't seem to have made a difference. I don't suspect for a minute that this is your mums problem.

Does your mum eat and drink ok and how is her weight. Has she seen a doctor recently.
 

Amy in the US

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
4,616
0
USA
The fatigue could be from the disease. It's hard to know, and I'm sorry.

If she feels tired all the time and especially if she feels the need to lay down, I would have her checked for postural hypotension, also called orthostatic hypotension. This is when the blood pressure doesn't regulate properly and there can be sudden drops from lying to sitting, and sitting to standing. It can cause fatigue and confusion and falls and so on. It's common in older people in general and persons with dementia in particular. It couldn't hurt to check.

I would also wonder about medication issues and interactions, some nutritional and vitamin deficiencies, and general health. Especially if this is a sudden or striking change, with personality changes or more confusion and disorientation than usual, I would consider getting her medically checked out.

Sadly, as the disease progress, people can get more tired and sleep a lot more. It can be very difficult to tell what is going on and I'm sorry. Best wishes to you and your family.
 

Starter

Registered User
Oct 10, 2015
116
0
This could be my dad but he still gets up and sits in his chair. I go in twice a day and do everything and I can see that dad is slowing down. He no longer wants to go shopping and would rather that I go on my own. Dad is 88 and he also has cancer so I would expect this. He is on iron now but that doesn't seem to have made a difference. I don't suspect for a minute that this is your mums problem.

Does your mum eat and drink ok and how is her weight. Has she seen a doctor recently.
This could be my dad but he still gets up and sits in his chair. I go in twice a day and do everything and I can see that dad is slowing down. He no longer wants to go shopping and would rather that I go on my own. Dad is 88 and he also has cancer so I would expect this. He is on iron now but that doesn't seem to have made a difference. I don't suspect for a minute that this is your mums problem.

Does your mum eat and drink ok and how is her weight. Has she seen a doctor recently.
Thank you for replying, just knowing someone else is experiencing the same makes all the difference. Mum’s appetite isn’t what it was and it’s a struggle to get her to drink. She saw a dr a couple of weeks ago for her bop check. I’m going to see how it goes, she may forget the idea in a couple of days! Love to you and your dad x
 

Starter

Registered User
Oct 10, 2015
116
0
The fatigue could be from the disease. It's hard to know, and I'm sorry.

If she feels tired all the time and especially if she feels the need to lay down, I would have her checked for postural hypotension, also called orthostatic hypotension. This is when the blood pressure doesn't regulate properly and there can be sudden drops from lying to sitting, and sitting to standing. It can cause fatigue and confusion and falls and so on. It's common in older people in general and persons with dementia in particular. It couldn't hurt to check.

I would also wonder about medication issues and interactions, some nutritional and vitamin deficiencies, and general health. Especially if this is a sudden or striking change, with personality changes or more confusion and disorientation than usual, I would consider getting her medically checked out.

Sadly, as the disease progress, people can get more tired and sleep a lot more. It can be very difficult to tell what is going on and I'm sorry. Best wishes to you and your family.
Thank you so much for your reply. You may have hit on something with blood pressure. Mum has high bp but when I took her for her check up a couple of weeks ago the go put it down to her not drinking enough. I’ll have a chat with her gp. Thank you again and best wishes to you and yours x
 

Amy in the US

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
4,616
0
USA
You are most welcome and I do hope you can figure out what may be going on. It's so challenging to manage dementia AND other medical issues at the same time. So often I feel it's impossible to know what is going on, as my mother can't accurately report most of the time. It's just not easy.
 

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