Unresponsive at times.

[PetAng59]

Hi
My husband is in mid to late stage Alzheimers, he is often unresponsive when I am trying to get him to do something like lift his feet so that I can undress him or when I am talking to him he doesn't acknowledge that he's heard me, this is more so when he is tired or as recently woke up and it is getting more frequent. Does anyone have any experience on this?

 

[GillP]

Hi
My husband is in mid to late stage Alzheimers, he is often unresponsive when I am trying to get him to do something like lift his feet so that I can undress him or when I am talking to him he doesn't acknowledge that he's heard me, this is more so when he is tired or as recently woke up and it is getting more frequent. Does anyone have any experience on this?

My husband does these things too. I ask if he’s ok then ask if he’s feeling muddled at which he usually nods his head. He was like that when I visited today and then nodded off to sleep

 

[MartinWL]

Is he hard of hearing?

 

[GillP]

Is he hard of hearing?

My husband has hearing aids which I check once a week as he doesn’t notice when batteries need changing so this is an absolutely valid question. If they’re not working he seems extremely confused. He just can’t hear on top of everything else.

 

[PetAng59]

Hi MartinWL no he is not hard of hearing.

 

[canary]

This sounds like a processing problem - he can hear you, but cannot understand what is said, so he just zones out.

 

[PetAng59]

And yet when I tell him to sit on the bed so that I can get him dressed he does understand and sits down. When I try to explain to him that if he sits on the toilet to do his business it would be easier for me to clean him up and more comfortable for him than having it in his pants. He says it doesn't bother him and he is quite happy to do it in his pants and let me clean it up???

 

[Shedrech]

hi @PetAng59
I found with dad that any explaining became too much for him ... so maybe give brief instructions broken down into small actions with gaps in between so it's not firing a lot of info at him ... thank him when he complies ... and show him what you want him to do ... also tell him before you help in any way eg I'm going to unbutton your trousers, great that's done, now the zip ... but do it before he can say no acting as though it's the most natural thing in the world to be doing this so he doesn't have chance to be negative