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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Alzheimer's / October 2005Too Good to last.
I have never ever had a problem with aggression with my husband. Tonight I got a call from AL. I heard he was going to pop one of the aides today. Last week I also heard he threatened 2 other patients. He is a large & strong man. Monday he will be seeing the DR. I do not know her. The AL said his sugar is up. Any suggestions ?? I don't feel I can physically take on his care again. Until now he has always gotten along very with people. Could this be a new stage? His entry into the facility all went so smoothly. I don't believe I will ever find the truth of what brought these happenings about.. Florence > I have never ever had a problem with aggression with my husband. > Tonight I got a call from AL. I heard he was going to pop one of the > aides today. Last week I also heard he threatened 2 other patients. He > is a large & strong man. Monday he will be seeing the DR. talk to the doc about medication to control his agitation *** when your husband is not present ***. Florence A <smada@webtv.net> is alleged to have said: > I have never ever had a problem with aggression with my husband. > Tonight I got a call from AL. I heard he was going to pop one of the > aides today. Last week I also heard he threatened 2 other patients. He > is a large & strong man. Monday he will be seeing the DR. I do not > know her. The AL said his sugar > is up. Blood sugar? Is he a diabetic? Anger is more common with lows than highs but maybe it's contributing. When you discuss his meds, be sure you discuss keeping his blood sugar as close as possible to normal. There have been some new drugs recently, Byetta and Symlin. > Any suggestions ?? I don't feel I can physically take on his care > again. Until now he has always gotten along very with people. > Could this be a new stage? His entry into the facility all went so > smoothly. I don't believe I will ever find the truth of what brought > these happenings about.. It could certainly be a progression of the disease, or something about the facility might be aggravating him and that's the only way he has to express it. It's good that so far he hasn't actually hit anyone. Even so, if he's threatening violence, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for you to take him back home. You might have to move him to a place prepared to deal with aggressive behavior. Good luck.  SignatureJo Ann Malina, make spamthis best to find my address When angry, count four; when very angry, swear. -- Mark Twain Hi, I re-read this below, and thought to myself that if they are a facility that is truly used to dealing with alzheimers patients, they ought to be professional enough to know how to manage/work with, people who are experiencing delusions. After all, there is little you can do from home to manage him. If it is not an alzheimers-specific facility, maybe this kind of behavior is just not their specialty, and your husband might instead benefit from being moved to a place where they are more acquainted with the illness. All of us here are aware that delusions are quite often among the symptoms alzheimers patients experience. SignatureBest Regards, Evelyn (to reply to me personally, remove 'sox') > Florence A <smada@webtv.net> is alleged to have said: >> I have never ever had a problem with aggression with my husband. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > take him back home. You might have to move him to a place prepared to > deal with aggressive behavior. Good luck. The home where my father is doesn't bother us with details like this, though I also have my name down to be told anything since there was a time they seemingly felt the need to tell my mother every tiny thing that was happening, that she had no control over, and all it did was distress her. Anyway, the point of this ramble was that my mothers friend whose husband is in a home, that home *does* keep calling her with information like this which really isn't helpful, I'm not sure what they expect her to do. I'd personally expect them to fix the problem with medication (probably) and then *maybe*, tell me, but even then why would I want to know exactly what type and detail of medication??...he needs to be on what he needs to be on, in my view and I certainly cant double guess the facility, they are the ones taht have to deal with him not me. So, to get to the point, it seems that different facilities, even if they are used to caring with Az patients, may just have different protocols for dealing with things like this. Possibly asking them why they are calling you might elicit a response? What do they expect you to do? It might be as simple as they might genuinely think you want to know. SignatureTumbleweed email replies not necessary but to contact use; tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> take him back home. You might have to move him to a place prepared to >> deal with aggressive behavior. Good luck. > The home where my father is doesn't bother us with details like this, > though I also have my name down to be told anything since there was a time [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > What do they expect you to do? It might be as simple as they might > genuinely think you want to know. Tumbleweed, I think these facilities are just practicing a "CYA" (cover your a--) policy. Picture this scenario; Patient gets violent due to delusions or whatever, they medicate appropriately, then family member comes to visit and wants to know "WHY is my loved one so doped up?" If they make that phone call, you (as a family member) know what has been happening, and when they do administer some medication to stop the problem, you come in to visit and are not at all surprised to see the person perhaps a little more mellowed out than you might expect them to have been normally. I do know that Ida had come to a place where she would fall down whenever she tried to walk anywhere. Of course they took every precaution in the nursing home to see to it that she didn't get up and trot around and fall, but even with the best precautions, (and considering the fact they cannot restrain them anymore) she would still occasionally try to get up by herself, and end up on the floor. They called me each and every time she fell. They advised us if she got a little bruise. They advised us of every little incident or variation in her life there. At first I thought it was a nuisance to be called at 4 am, but now I realize why they did it. SignatureBest Regards, Evelyn (to reply to me personally, remove 'sox') My FIL also had some violent incidents, and was asked to leave a facility. What we have been able to percolate out of the facts provided, time, and hindsight is that the facility staff was not well trained and could not handle an agitated patient, even though they the were an AD facility. In FIL's case, as long as his anti psychotic meds were given to him on schedule, he was gentle and mild, and his delusions didn't agitate him. They would be about benign things like buildings been planned for right next door, highways, who he was recently talking to, and such. If meds were not given exactly according to schedule, the delusions would be more paranoid. And touching him when he was in the midst of a delusion set off flight/fight stuff, which resulted in a couple of assaults of staff members. In the second facility, either his meds were administered more carefully, or they were better able to circumvent the paranoia. Never another episode. Maybe an inquiry into the full circumstances of why your husband feels threatened would be helpful in finding ways around the behavior. For some reason, he feels the need to protect himself. Now what is the instigation. Does he percieve an orderly as if he were someone from your husband's past? Is he telling your husband to go and do something instead of suggesting. Are too many instructions being given at once? All sorts of things can be happening - some benign, some less so. And your husbands desire to protect himself could either be appropriate or not, depending on what is really happening. Adelle > My FIL also had some violent incidents, and was asked to leave a facility. What we have > been able to percolate out of the facts provided, time, and hindsight is that the > facility staff was not well trained and could not handle an agitated patient, even > though they the were an AD facility. I have seen staff members in an Alzheimer's facility who were able to calm just about anyone and handle just about any situation. When they walked into a room the residents lit up with pleasure at seeing them. I know that we can't expect every staff member to be able to do that - especially the night and weekend staff that is always less qualified. But I would like to meet the staff member who said he or she was threatened and evaluate him. ... > Maybe an inquiry into the full circumstances of why your husband feels threatened would > be helpful in finding ways around the behavior. For some reason, he feels the need to [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > desire to protect himself could either be appropriate or not, depending on what is > really happening. Nobody else has mentioned this, but I think it is a key requirement. My Dad once punched another resident. The guy came into Dad's room and said, "this is my room, get out." There was an argument. Then the guy picked up Dad's walker and threw it at him, hitting him in the head. Dad stumbled out of his chair and decked the guy. Things like that can happen. Florence only said that her husband threatened to hit someone. He didn't actually do it. He may still be in control of himself. He may not be delusional. He may have been provoked. I would not be quick to jump to conclusions. When a dementia patient is provoked he may not have all the social and personal skills he once had for dealing with the situation. He may be more likely to utter a threat than before he got this disease. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's become a dangerous person suffering delusions and doesn't necessarily mean he's unsafe to be around. I think it's important to find out all of the facts about the incidents before deciding what may be desirable to do about them. This would probably be a good topic for a different thread, but I'll state it here anyway. It's very likely that I err on the side of the loved ones that I've had in assisted living. But I've always felt that they were alone in an institution among strangers whose main connection with them is a paycheck. I felt the need to take their side until I had all the facts and could really establish that they were in the wrong and really establish that what they were doing was becoming unmanageable. Alan Regarding Alan's comments below about legitimate self defense bringing about a violent reaction, this is absolutely true. When Ida used to go to daycare there was a woman there who also had Alzheimers, but she was also someone who walked and walked and walked and never sat down. She was constantly on the move and it was very unnerving. She at one point got aggressive with Ida, and a man there defended her from this woman. The staff told us about it later. Interestingly enough, this same woman was eventually taken out of the daycare center and placed in a nursing home by her family. It ended up being the same nursing home Ida was later placed in. The woman still had the urge to walk and walk endlessly pacing, but she didn't get aggressive anymore that we ever saw. There were also residents in that nursing home who could be quite argumentative and aggressive, but the staff handled them very well through re-directing their attentions elsewhere, taking them to another area and giving them something to do, effectively de-fusing the situation very well. SignatureBest Regards, Evelyn (to reply to me personally, remove 'sox') > >> My FIL also had some violent incidents, and was asked to leave a [quoted text clipped - 64 lines] > > Alan >> The home where my father is doesn't bother us with details like this, >> though I also have my name down to be told anything since there was a [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > At first I thought it was a nuisance to be called at 4 am, but now I > realize why they did it. Good points there evelyn, but maybe in that case you need someone like a son or other relative, rather than the spouse, to take those calls, because of the distress that can be caused. Obviously its down to each individual as to what works for them. In my case, I'd rather find out (as I did) that my father had a black eye because another resident punched him, when I visited, rather than get a phone call at 4am, or even in the day..there's nothing I can do to change the situation. . SignatureTumbleweed email replies not necessary but to contact use; tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com > Obviously its down to each individual as to what works for them. There is a legal obligation to report incidents to the person or people who are responsible for the patient. With my MIL, FIL worked out with the nursing home that he wanted to be notified immediately if she was harmed or caused harm to another person. Otherwise, please wait until a reasonable hour before calling (they would call at about 7am). The one time they called because she had hurt another person, she was pushing another woman's wheelchair down the hallway and kept pushing the other patient's knees into the end of the hallway very hard, so that she was quickly bruising the other woman's legs & knees pretty badly. Immediately on the heels of that came an incident where she knocked a picture off the wall trying to hit a staff member, which caused the doctor to admit her to a locked geriatic psych unit at a local hospital while they did a major meds adjustment. It took about 3 weeks, but they were able to get her to a point that she was functional physically without the violence. When she wasn't bed-bound, there was never an incident where she was injured where it occured during "off" hours, so FIL hasn't been awakened in the middle of the night for something like that. Beth SignatureDon't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. ~Mark Twain >> Obviously its down to each individual as to what works for them. > > There is a legal obligation to report incidents to the person or people > who are responsible for the patient. maybe in the USofA, but not here in the UK as far as I know. SignatureTumbleweed email replies not necessary but to contact use; tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com Beth is absolutely right on with her description of what our legal obligation is. We are obligated to let a family member or DPOA know if something "unusual" is going on with their loved one. In other circumstances, such as resident-on-resident abuse, we also have to call the State and report it, and in some cases, we have to call 911 and make out a Police report. I can't say enough about the good work done in a Gerio-Psych Unit. We rely on their unique perspective to deal with residents who have become violent or delusional beyond a point where current medications are able to control. Usually, after a short stay, they can return to us with the medications adjusted. Sometimes though, we are simply unable to accept them back, if they are displaying violence against another person. We have an obligation to keep our Residents safe. If a Resident is lashing out and hitting another Resident, we are not meeting our obligation to either of them. Under those circumstances, we call in a Mental Health professional, or send them to a Gerio-Psych Unit. It's very frustrating to not be able to meet the needs of all those who suffer from dementia. It's what we do after all. But there are some people who, even after working with their medications and their families, we can't allow to live at our AL anymore. It's not something we go about lightly, it's hard on everyone. Patty > > Obviously its down to each individual as to what works for them. > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Beth Facilities are required to notify the person listed as responsible party of every single fall or similar incident. At least in our state they are. If not, they are violating state regs. With meds which are used to control behaviors, those are in some/most circumstances considered chemical restraints and therefore the family must be notified and involved, consent. That's why family gets phone calls about these type things. You may never know what is causing the behaviors. It certainly could be delusions or paranoia connected to the changes in the brain.. So many times it is their perception. To them it is real ....whatever they think is happening instead of what is really going on. An aide could go in to bathe a person and the person feels they're being attacked. Or if the aide is opening drawers to get clothing out, the person can think they are stealing from them. I once had a patient that would violently attack staff: biting, hitting, bad scratching, etc. when her diaper was changed or she was disrobed to bathe. Finally, I received her records from a psych unit she'd been in and knew more. We altered the method staff used in approaching her at these times as well as getting meds ordered for her which would more appropriately treat her symptoms. She'd been in a concentration camp during WWII and had many horrible things happen to her there. She reverted back to her native language during these episodes so that made it even more difficult to reach her. By the time, I let that facility she was more manageable. With the AZ, when staff would start taking her diaper or clothes off, she probably was reliving those experiences or thought similar things were going to happen then. I agree with others, look at what type of facility he's in and if they are not set up to deal with behaviors, then you may need to consider something different. I'd consider having a physical (know you're doing that already) and psych assessment first though. Good luck. I know it gets hard hearing that LOs are experiencing things like this. > I'd personally expect them to fix the problem with medication (probably) and > then *maybe*, tell me, but even then why would I want to know exactly what > type and detail of medication??...he needs to be on what he needs to be on, > in my view and I certainly cant double guess the facility, they are the ones > taht have to deal with him not me. that is certainly *not* what anyone in my family would expect. we have learned to question what doctors want to do, and to offer our input. whoever held my mother's durable power of attorney did not take the responsibility lightly. we learned from my mother's experience with her mother and aunt that patients need to have advocates who question doctors' recommendations, and that the advocate has to take steps to keep informed. for instance, when my mother was very agitated and delusional, as the primary (temporary) fulltime caregiver, i certainly wanted to reduce her agitation, and i really wanted her to finally get some rest. nevertheless, i asked for all the pharm data sheets and read them and asked a number of pertinent questions about side effects before i gave the required consent. it's not a matter of second guessing the docs, it's a matter of ensuring that they don't repeat the errors that have already been made in the past or violate the wishes set forth in her living will. the reason they tell you is so that they won't get sued by someone who claims that they were never informed of yada yada yada >> I'd personally expect them to fix the problem with medication (probably) >> and [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > read them and asked a number of pertinent questions about side > effects before i gave the required consent. Hi dennis, In the case of Az its hard to think of side effects that would be worse than the condition or its presentation esp in the case of delusions that lead to distress or violence. If I was told that my father was prescribed a particular dose of a certain drug, in order to stop him attacking other patients, I really couldnt see the point of saying 'no you cant give him that' because of the side effects. What are they likely to be..make him very drowsy? Well, its the people in the home and the other residents that have to cope with his behaviour, not me. Or shorten his lfe expectancy? Better that than attacking people....some might say better that than anything in the case of Az. > it's not a matter of > second guessing the docs, it's a matter of ensuring that they > don't repeat the errors that have already been made in the past > or violate the wishes set forth in her living will. the reason > they tell you is so that they won't get sued by someone who > claims that they were never informed of yada yada yada I think its probably the same here except they dont have to proactively tell you, as I said no point in being called at 3am about something you can't effect. SignatureTumbleweed email replies not necessary but to contact use; tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com > If I was told that my father was prescribed a particular dose of a certain > drug, in order to stop him attacking other patients, I really couldnt see [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > me. Or shorten his lfe expectancy? Better that than attacking people....some > might say better that than anything in the case of Az. no, some anti-psychotics have some *very* drastic effects, and in my mother's case it wasn't AD, it was an extreme manic psychosis. for instance, i discovered that if they gave her the preferred anti-psychotic alone, in the kind of large dose that they were recommending, she could suffer from permanent tics for the rest of her life (google on tardive dyskenisia[sp?] to see what i mean). if however, they accompanied the large dose with another drug, the likelhood of tics or seizures would be greatly reduced. apparently the hospitals on-call psychiatrist that weekend had no idea about this problem with a very strong anti-psychotic often used to quiet down extremely agitated patients. perhaps in britain patients give more deference to doctors than here in the US. we have learned here, especially with for-profit insurers and for-profit hospitals contending to either choose the lowest cost drug (regardless of effectiveness) or the highest cost one (to have higher profits), to question doctors and pharmacists (who often know far more about drug interactions and side effects than docs). we have also learned to ask for second opinions, since the US medical system is rife with errors ranging from misprescribing to misinterpreted mammograms to mislabled lab results. medication errors are very common here, in part because patients may be referred to specialists without a full medical file, so the specialist may not know that the patient can have very adverse reactions to specific drugs or which other drugs the patient is taking. (that manic episode, for instance was set off by a painkiller dose that would have put most patients to sleep for a week, but it just made my bipolar mother manic. the orthopedic surgeon that did the knee replacement had no idea, even though he had asked my mother about any drug allergies/reactions --- that was before she signed a release so all of her children could talk to all of her docs. if he had asked me, i would have told him to avoid prescribing all opiates, barbituates, and similar painkillers. My thanks to all who responded to my post. Monday I have an appointment for Don with a Dr (a new to me Dr) Keeping my fingers crossed she is a good listener. The AL facility made the appointment because his sugar is high and they are concerned. I am not as concerned about this as much as his aggressive behavior. I do feel there is a "cya" element in the phone call since nothing evolved from whatever incident brought it on. It was a few hours after the incident that the phone call was made....It's hard to swallow the story the aid told---"she only told him to throw the napkin in the trash after requesting he wipe his hands after a snack." I did like the suggestion about requesting they call my son on these type of calls. I think many of you ladies out there will agree----in most instances men are treated differently--- and sometimes this can be useful---so why not.? I still say to aggressive salespeople---I have to talk it over with my husband. Oh!, if only I could.. Thanks again for your input I will check on any med the dr gives him..I suspect it will be a change of diabeties meds..or upping Paxil...It had been lowered because I believed he needed much less.....So we shall see. It's great to have you all to talk to........... Florence Well, it would be interesting to see a replay of the incident. I know from my MIL, that some medical staff are wonderful and some are just brain dead when it comes to having common sense in dealing with people with dementias. I recall some nurses who just couldn't understand that my MIL's ability to understand language was impaired. They'd tell her to do something 17 times, each time in a louder and louder tone, as though SHOUTING the command would somehow make it comprehensible. From MILs perspective, the nurse would be just some strange woman yelling something at her that she couldn't understand. If you don't know why what the heck you are supposed to do and the person keeps nattering at you, it's bound to cause tension and agitation, which was compounded by the nurse touching my MIL to direct her (i.e. pulling her arm to get her to go in a particular direction, pushing her towards the chair or on her shoulder to get her to sit etc.) I'll bet the first go round was the staff member bugging him to wipe his hands, and who knows if he understood that his hands were soiled, what she was saying, why it mattered, or what he was supposed to do about it. She may have touched him in an effort to get him to do it or show him to do it, and that might be interpreted by him as a physical invasion. Then when he had wiped his hands, she may have started in on him to get him to put the towel in the bin - if she's blethering in an loud, exasperated voice, and then touches him again to take it from him, or pulls it away from him - whammo. Catastrophic reaction, particularly if she isn't tuned into reading the body language that might indicate he's about ready to blow from frustration. Mary Took my husband to Dr this morn. She told me she saw him on Friday. She upped his diabetes meds and added 0.5 mg of Risperdol. I sure hope this works.. I left him he seemed fine but I noticed too a bed & dresser had been removed from his room, whih tends to make the room look very empty. & much bigger. Within a couple of hours I got a call from the AL that he had gotten out--not totally out, but out to a screened porch. He does have an anklet bracelet which sounds when he goes out.. Perhaps it was easier on him when I really limited visits.. It is often difficult to know what is best. Sorry you are having such a time Linda > Took my husband to Dr this morn. She told me she saw him on Friday. > She upped his diabetes meds and added 0.5 mg of Risperdol. I sure hope [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > He does have an anklet bracelet which sounds when he goes out.. > Perhaps it was easier on him when I really limited visits.. Well, I received a call from the AL. The Dr upped Rispiradol again and she made an appointment to see the psych Dr on Oct 4. It's very hard to think of Don as so unhappy. I planned on not visiting him for a few weeks. One of the aides said tod me he is worse after I leave...He tries to get out to go home... It seems so unkind to go there if when I leave he becomes so agitated. I dread going to the dr on Oct 4...but feel I should to keep informed. The AL will send someone with him if I don't go. What should I do? Let him go with an aid and perhaps start up another incident. So far, I can say I am feeling better about the caretakers and the handling of any problem the AL facility has met up with. It's a crazy topsy turvy Alz world. Writing this brought out the realization that if Don wasn't there now and I had to handle all this plus all the other caretaking things I had been doing for so many years.---no way do I want the job back..It took a lot to admit this to myself. > Well, I received a call from the AL. The Dr upped Rispiradol again and > she made an appointment to see the psych Dr on Oct 4. It's very hard [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > me he is worse after I leave...He tries to get out to go home... > It seems so unkind to go there if when I leave he becomes so agitated. Florence, I'm not always very good at giving advice, and my advice is based only on my own experience, so please just ignore me if what I say is off the mark. But here's my two cents. To begin with, I'd like to say that just from reading your postings it's obvious to me that you're doing a good job with and for Don. Don is in bad shape, but he's still lucky in one respect. He's still got you. Don's unhappiness is caused by his disease, not by your actions and not because you have to go back home after visiting him. You can't make him better. You can't make him happy. You can't keep him from getting worse. I think one of the more difficult things that we should learn to do is to stay emotionally on an even keel. When you visit Don, try to be as happy and upbeat as you can be - that will help both of you while you're there. And when you leave, try to be as happy and upbeat as you can be, even if he gets upset while you are leaving. That will help you and won't do him one single tiny bit of harm. If anything, it may help him. When a nurse treats a patient in chronic pain, he or she sincerely sympathizes with the patient, but she can't allow herself to internalize the patient's pain. While she's there, she has to do what she can to cheer up the patient and help him out. When she goes home she has to leave all the pain behind her. If she doesn't do that she not only hurts herself, she also becomes less effective in helping her patient. Carrying the pain around with her doesn't do the patient or anybody else one tiny bit of good. I know all of that is easier to say than to do. It's hard to look at a loved one the same way an uninvolved stranger can. But I think we should try to do what the professional nurse does. We should try to do the best we can with our loved ones and be as cheery as we can be with them. And when we walk out the door at the AL home we should try to live for ourselves and our other loved ones, secure and happy in the knowledge that we're doing our best. As for how often you should visit him - I think it should be often enough to be sure that he is being well cared for and to give him some emotional support. And it should not be so often that it drains you dry and makes you feel that you are sinking into a pit. The balance between those two is something that each person has to find. I'm sure it's not the same for every caregiver, and I'm sure that for every caregiver, it's not the same all the time. > I dread going to the dr on Oct 4...but feel I should to keep informed. > The AL will send someone with him if I don't go. What should I do? > Let him go with an aid and perhaps start up another incident. Having you or one of your children (if you have any nearby) go with him to the doctor can be valuable. Doctors sometimes care more for patients when they see they have loving families. It's a natural reaction. However, if you do go, don't think of it as a battle waiting to happen. Think of it as an outing with Don. Walk with him. Talk to him about the beauty of the flowers and trees. Talk to him about family and about old times. Make the doctor visit just one part of a pleasant visit between the two of you. It may happen that Don will take his emotional cue from you. If you are relaxed and at ease, he may also be more relaxed and at ease. If it will help, and if the AL home will do it, and if they have a good person who can assist, ask them to send one of their staff with you and Don to the doctor's office. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have them hear the doctor's advice right from the horse's mouth, or for the doctor to hear what they might think about Don's problems. If you can only handle so much time with Don, then think of the outing to the doctor as part of that time and subtract a visit that you would otherwise have made. Don't feel bad about that. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. > So far, I can say I am feeling better about the caretakers and the > handling of any problem the AL facility has met up with. It's a crazy > topsy turvy Alz world. Yes indeed. And we need to cope without letting it drive us crazy. > Writing this brought out the realization that if Don wasn't there now > and I had to handle all this plus all the other caretaking things I had > been doing for so many years.---no way do I want the job back..It took a > lot to admit this to myself. Dealing with all this certainly gives us a new perspective on things. I'll reiterate. It sounds to me like you're doing a good job with Don and helping him as best you can. Keep up the good work and give yourself permission to be relaxed about it and to think about other things while you're at home. Best of luck to both of you. Alan Florence this posting (below) from Alan is good advice. I'll add my "ditto" to it. SignatureBest Regards, Evelyn (to reply to me personally, remove 'sox') >> Well, I received a call from the AL. The Dr upped Rispiradol again and >> she made an appointment to see the psych Dr on Oct 4. It's very hard [quoted text clipped - 105 lines] > > Alan beautifully said Linda >> Well, I received a call from the AL. The Dr upped Rispiradol again and >> she made an appointment to see the psych Dr on Oct 4. It's very hard [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > and for Don. Don is in bad shape, but he's still lucky in > one respect. He's still got you. Florence, Rispirdol made a world of difference with my MIL and when they tried to wean her off of it (because the doc thought it might be why she was gaining weight) she started trying to break windows to get out and slapped another resident. She's a little woman so there wasn't much repercussions from that incident. But I called the doc and told him she was safer being fat and happy than with less Rispirdol and trying to break windows. And she has regained a happy attitude since going back on Risperdol. IMO, you do need to stay informed because you're the constant factor in his care. You are the person that the doc would be addressing questions to if your hubby transferred to another facility or had to go to the hospital. But if he's becoming difficult to handle, I wouldn't try to handle him alone. My MIL once got violent while in the car on the freeway. It's not a situation one person can handle. For the first few weeks that my MIL was in her first facility, she got violent and tried to attack my hubby whenever she saw him. So he went during activities and observed her from the doorway where she couldn't see him just to check on how she seemed to be settling in. After the meds kicked in, she settled down. With my MIL, I know the staff at first seemed concerned that we would blame them for her violent outbursts or think they provoked it but I've seen her fly into a tantrum over a small thing like someone trying to fill her glass of juice (she thought they were trying to take it) or trying to serve her a food she suddenly didn't like. We periodically hear horror tales on the news about elder care facilities, but unfortunately the news never reports how many good facilities there are out there that are very good at handling people whose brains are not working properly. I've been very impressed with my MIL's facility and their ability to handle or re-direct her fits and tantrums. When I mentioned it to them, they shrugged off the complement and told me that was simply part of Alzheimer's care. Karen > Well, I received a call from the AL. The Dr upped Rispiradol again and > she made an appointment to see the psych Dr on Oct 4. It's very hard [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > been doing for so many years.---no way do I want the job back..It took a > lot to admit this to myself. > Took my husband to Dr this morn. She told me she saw him on Friday. > She upped his diabetes meds and added 0.5 mg of Risperdol. I sure hope [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > He does have an anklet bracelet which sounds when he goes out.. > Perhaps it was easier on him when I really limited visits.. Florence the Risperdol was a godsend to us when they started Ida on it. The good part is that it worked very fast, there was no long wait to see the effects. Hope all goes well for you and for him. (((((( Florence ))))))) SignatureBest Regards, Evelyn (to reply to me personally, remove 'sox') >I have never ever had a problem with aggression with my husband. > Tonight I got a call from AL. I heard he was going to pop one of the [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Florence I know it has happened a few times with residents at the home my father is in, and one of my mothers friends, who has a LO with Az (and is in a home), has become quite violent even though apparently before this he was very mild mannered. Dont forget that Az is a brain disease, so as bits of the brain fail, and memories also fail and/or become scrambled, anything is possible. You might become reasonably violent to protect yourself if you thought that you were in physical danger. If that belief was erronious but deeply held, you would still behave the same. That might well be the position your husband is in. There are,as others have said, drugs that can help with delusions, if they are the cause. Otherwise sedation might be the only help, if for example, he is violent because he believes he is being held against his will but cant understand that he *needs* to be held in a home because it isnt safe or possible for him to be at home. The latter happened to my father when he was first placed in care, it took several weeks for him to be OK, but these things change maybe he'll go back to that (I hope not). SignatureTumbleweed email replies not necessary but to contact use; tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com |
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