Hi Faith,

Anger can have a few causes here. First of all, anger and paranoia are often
behaviors seen in people with AD, as part of the disease process. Also, when
parts of the brain don't communicate with other parts, depression is a
symptom.  Males who are depressed often express it as anger.

One of the first things my FIL's doctor did was put him on an antidepressant
to try and get the different parts of the brain to communicate better. It
did help. You might ask the doc about them. Is your husband's care being
overseen by someone with a lot of experience in geriatrics and dementias?
Sometimes, Primary care docs just don't have the specialized knowledge and
experience to handle dementia care.

Adelle

My grandfather had a similar level of anger and rage, combined with an
increasing level of paranoia, for the first 18 months following his
diagnosis in 1994.  Of course, at the time, there were not medications
such as Aricept & Namenda available, so the only thing that the
physician could do was offer some mild sedation, which my grandmother
refused to allow.

My aunt was living with my grandparents at the time as their caretaker.
 She eventually felt as if she were living in an armed encampment,
because my grandfather had stockpiled rifles & shotguns and kept
threatening to use them.  When he was arrested and taken to jail for
assulting the next door neighbor because he thought she had stolen
something (we could never determine what), the situation came to a head.
 The neighbor decided not to press charges, with the proviso that
something be done about his rages.  My aunt took her parents on a
shopping trip, while my father removed every gun from the house.  Then,
my aunt & father overruled my grandmother and my grandfather began
taking the sedatives/"calmatives" that had been prescribed.

Shortly after this, the brain damage increased in whatever area was
leading to the rages and they subsided on their own.  Within a year
after that, he was, not exactly calm (he was never a calm personality),
but at least of routinely better temper.  In 1997, he had changed to a
fairly even-tempered person who admitted he had no idea who any of his
grandchildren were, even though he knew he should probably know who the
people were who were talking to him.

Beth

Faith, I didn't face that problem so I can't offer any help.  I hope someone
else will be able to give you more information.
Gwen

Dear Faith,

I have heard of this, and to some small degree I saw that my mother in law
(before we even had a clue that she was getting alzheimers) would exhibit
anger towards her sister, whom she had always loved dearly.   This was
before we realized she was sick, or had her tested or anything.   I admit
that she was pretty well into the illness before we were able to take any
action, so it is possible her anger was connected to the illness in its
early stages.

I think it is far more common than anyone realizes, that when someone feels
like they are "losing it" they blame others around them for what they cannot
put a name to.

My advice to you is to tell the doctor about the threats and the
uncharacteristic anger.   There ARE medications that can make him more
comfortable in his own skin.   If your doctor doesn't listen and do
something about it right away, get a new doctor.    You shouldn't have to
worry that he says he wants to kill people but just doesn't have any
bullets.

Alzheimers is a horrible and cruel illness to those who get it, but those
who care for the ones who get it, often suffer more than anyone knows.

My MIL had completely alienated everyone in the family except us by the time
she had to be put in a care facility.  She is a little woman, but tried to
attack my hubby with her nails (no small threat at that time).  We took her
to a psychiatrist who prescribed Risperdol and it worked wonderfully.  It
didn't change her personality or sedate her, it just made her much less
aggressive and less agitated.

Recently, a different doc (her PCP) tried to take her off Risperdol
(gradually) because he thought it might be the cause of her weight gain.
She didn't lose any weight, but she did attack another resident, refused to
bathe for a week and tried to break the window to get out to "her car".
She's back on Risperdol and doing good again.  I just wish the family
members that had such problems with her before could visit with her now.
One told me she only had to hear her voice and she started shaking and
crying again.  It's sad because I don't think she's going to be able to
communicate verbally that much longer.  She developed a stutter and aphasia
about a year ago and it's getting worse.

My advice would be to get him to a neurologist or a psychiatrist.  Primary
care physicians don't know enough about the effects on the different areas
of the brain, IMO.

Karen

AZ in husband  
Group: alt.support.alzheimers Date: Thu, May 5, 2005, 8:27am From:
shiftingsand@webtv.net (Maggie Turner)
I have been lurking and trying to learn more, finding much that is
helpful an informative.
But have not noticed much said about ..anger..
My husband has such a very negative and angry outlook on everything and
false memories of things that never took place that he bases much of his
anger on.
He has been on aricept and namenden for about a year. Recently we made a
move and it seemed to aggravate his condition a lot.
  I had posted here a few mths ago prior to our move and deeply
appreciated the advice I received on the up coming trip.
I have had him to his Dr. here who said we will just keep him on the
aricept and namenden for now and perhaps some adjustments to meds later
on, though he did not say what that might be.
My husband has talked of shooting people he don't like, however he does
not have the bullets to carry out this threat. Just wondering if any of
you have dealt with rage in AZ patient, thank you for your help.
Faith

Ronny:
I can't help you much at all on this Faith as my Mom isn't like that.
She does get unreasonably angry at times;but then that is not so often
and the anger goes away after a few minutes to an hour or so. The only
thing I can suggest is going back to your husband's doctor and then
going to another one if the first gives you no satisfaction/help.