My mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia 3 years ago. She move in with my 2 years ago. For the first year and a half she was here she was jovial and found her forgetfulness humorous and laughed at herself regularly. However, that has all changed now. She is paranoid, she hides things then forgets where she hid them and accuses me of taking them. She swears, and I mean swears, using the F word often. She was never much for swearing. She wakes up mad and stays mad all day. She yells at the dogs for not eating and upsets them, when she just fed them an hour ago. I am at my wits end. Any ideas or suggestions?
Wow, that's a big personality change. Have you considered alerting her doctor to this turn of events? Perhaps it's something that antidepressants could help resolve? I'm so sorry it's become such a problem when it started out with humor. :(
I have an appointment with her doctor on the 18th. I was hoping to have some idea what I wanted him to do before I got there.
Just be honest with him about the changes you've seen and that you'd like to hear about medications that could help.
my father is 73 w aliz,diagnosed 8 years ago, had alot of trouble with agression, combative, cussing and lots of expressed anger, also very restless, sundowning, during the last year. Very tired of getting the run around with his VA doctor, his view was "well it's just part of the disease process" So i took him to a geratric specialist, that understood what we were dealing with, this was two months ago. She removed one medication (which was known to increase confusion in the elderly), doubled his namanda, added 3 more medications, he was low on B12, the first 3 weeks were bad, I thought we had made a mistake, I guess withdrawal and adjustment. The change for the last 4 weeks have been dramatic, he is calmer, sleeps better, sundowning reduced, is watching TV and reading again, and eating somewhat better. Still angry, confused and paranoid, but so much easier to deal with. Geratrics is a speciality, I am so glad I made this change, she also had alot of suggestions that have helped alot reguarding his daily care. she said to call her before I give him anything over the counter, for allergies, cough or cold, as many of those medications increase confusion in the elderly. I also know that most medications with aliz are also used for other dementias, and also understand that this improvement is tempoary, expected to last only 3 to 6 months, but I will take anything. His bad behavior also esculates during an infection, or any kind of illness, or pain.(teeth?) Urinary tract infections are usally the most common, but it could be anything. You were given good advice, talk to her doctor, if your not comfortable with the answers find another one. good luck.
Started Mom on Seroquil today. Wish me luck!
Hope you were able to find some relief from your Mother's problems. Before my Mom came to live with me she was paranoid, angry and depressed.
The doctor put her on Risperidone which is an anti-psychotic and we saw a remarkable difference. It's almost 2 months later and although she is not jovial by any means she is much easier to live with. Good luck.
Thank You. So far so good. She is sleeping very sound and waking up in a good mood. We will see how long this lasts
good luck. I went through a lot of the same issues with my mother & I found a good geriatric psychiatrist who prescribed the right medications. Unfortunately meds. may be the only answer in situations like this since there is no cure & no therapy that will work with Alzheimer's Disease. This was hard for me to deal with since I'm a Psychotherapist & there was no way for me to talk to my mother about what was going on & help her deal with it. It's a very sad disease!! Hard to see someone bright & personable change personality so completely. Mom passed away 2 years ago - don't feel guilty if it is a relief when that time comes. Most children/caregivers do feel that way.
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