Hello
I am new to the forum, but already feel very reassured that people have the same issues and I am in many ways doing my best. My Mum (85) lives alone 5 hours away with dementia (I would say mid stage). She has carers each morning for 30 minutes to hep with medication, but will not accept any more input from them. We have scaled it up and had to scale it all back down again when she gets angry and insists they leave. Covid has made her situation even worse, no distractions, not seeing friends, clubs being shut. She does all the usual - losing things all the time, repetitive phone calls, lots of upset looking for my Dad who died 10 years ago and catastrophising when even something very minor goes wrong.
The latest development is what I would really like some advice on, she has started asking my sister and I over and over again why she is so confused, why she keeps making mistakes - her words. We calmly explain she has dementia, but that she is doing a lot right - lots of walks (about an hour a day), eating healthily, doing puzzles etc... but we can't say she is going to get better. The calls end with her sounding crushed and very bleak, even when we try and change the subject etc..
Is there anything else we should be saying ? She doesn't have great grip on reality, but if we said it was treatable she would latch onto that and we would have to back peddle.
Thanks for any advice.
I am new to the forum, but already feel very reassured that people have the same issues and I am in many ways doing my best. My Mum (85) lives alone 5 hours away with dementia (I would say mid stage). She has carers each morning for 30 minutes to hep with medication, but will not accept any more input from them. We have scaled it up and had to scale it all back down again when she gets angry and insists they leave. Covid has made her situation even worse, no distractions, not seeing friends, clubs being shut. She does all the usual - losing things all the time, repetitive phone calls, lots of upset looking for my Dad who died 10 years ago and catastrophising when even something very minor goes wrong.
The latest development is what I would really like some advice on, she has started asking my sister and I over and over again why she is so confused, why she keeps making mistakes - her words. We calmly explain she has dementia, but that she is doing a lot right - lots of walks (about an hour a day), eating healthily, doing puzzles etc... but we can't say she is going to get better. The calls end with her sounding crushed and very bleak, even when we try and change the subject etc..
Is there anything else we should be saying ? She doesn't have great grip on reality, but if we said it was treatable she would latch onto that and we would have to back peddle.
Thanks for any advice.