 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Alzheimer's / October 2008not diagnosed until death
Hi Group I have never felt strongly enough to take part in one of these groups but I have just registered my mothers death and found to my amazement that the cause of death as well as pulmonary embolism was Alzheimers disease. Over the last 3 years after loosing my father her mental health has deteriorated considerably, she has made 2 attempts on her life and her behaviour has become more bizarre. She has had 2/3 spells in mental health units and has moved in and out of 2 residential homes who eventually couldn't manage her behaviour. She has had several falls and after the most recent one she was taken to hospital and following complications, died on Sunday from the aforementioned. During the most recent times her mental health advisors have had numerous reviews and changes of medication and interviews with her and myself, some days she was 'sweetness & light', other days she was withdrawn, abusive, and angry and destructive. At no time was I told that her condition was Alzheimers. I have lived with this for 3 years and had thought that she was just a depressed/miserable/angry old women. One of her main symptoms was an awful wailing noise that she could keep up for 24 hours (reason why the residential homes were happy to see her go) and she always said she could not help doing it! 2 or 3 hours sat with her sounding like a raging bull was no joke. She also got to the stage recently where she was unable to look after her personal care and made no attempt to use the toilet if elsewhere took her fancy. I would visit(one of the homes) and find her carpets being cleaned in her room for the 2/3rd time in a week because of her soiling it. Its all been a ghastly 'journey' and I feel if I had known I may have had more understanding and patience with the whole situation. I am in shock not with any associated stigma or anything, but I just didn't know! I hasten to add my mother has had a number of unusual and common medical conditions e.g. non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare platelet disease, spleen removal (all of these many years ago), broken hip, broken wrist and a number of falls resulting in cuts and bruises,and severe depression following the death of my father. Phew! That's it really - Anyone else had any similar experiences, or observations please. Carole A These type of stories make me feel very bad. Because things are not always as they seem. Alzheimers is usually pretty identifiable, but another situation is not. I have repeated this many times, but it is hard to understand. I see many patients in the nursing home, where I have a friend and many residents act very strangely. I attribute it to the environment that is contaminated with anti-depressants. Some residents are given anti-depressants and some are not. Those that are not suffer strange symptoms, mental and physical, and some cry much of the time. No one hardly can believe that anti-depressants have the power to transfer harm from the person taking the stimulant to others by a mind connection. Many die prematurely because of symptoms that are part of crohns disease and are not recognized as such. Scoff if you will, but when the administrator tells me my friend is fine and has been tested. I always think she should be so fine. If they would eliminate the anti-depressants, the environment would be natural, no one would be wailing, crying , suffering, they could socialize if that is possible without any affliction coming on. I see this very often, and my heart if broken beyond belief. That the home is guilty of murder and simply will not eliminate the anti-depressants. There is not a nursing home to be found that does not prescribe anti-depressants, a medication unknown fifty years ago. May God help us all, as the care of the home is good if there would not be a license to kill with the anti-depressants. Soiling oneself and uncontrollable bowels are the main symptom of crohns disease and the mental imbalances that occur are also some of crohns disease and many cannot cope and suicide enters their mind. The most misunderstood illness of all, as it is different in all people and is not of organic origin where all symptoms are expected and known. You sound like a saint, and that must have been comfort to her. Gail Michael Hi Carole, Your post below was very sad. First of all let me say that I am sorry for the loss of your mother. I am also sorry that no one helped you to understand her illness during the time she was still alive. Don't beat yourself up over the fact you didn't know. You did the best you could with what you knew. She is at peace now, and at last you are aware of the cause of some of her actions that you never understood before. Most of us who post here have been through this illness with a loved one and you will discover that most of the stories are similar. Also, be aware we have a couple of resident trolls with strange ideas. Just ignore.  Signature-- Best Regards, Evelyn "Be wise, treat yourself, your mind, sympathetically, with loving kindness. If you are gentle with yourself, you will become gentle with others." --Lama Thubten Yeshe > Hi Group > I have never felt strongly enough to take part in one of these groups but [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > Anyone else had any similar experiences, or observations please. > Carole A Carole, I'm sorry about your Mom and your situation. I had the same problem. My mother became increasingly erratic and disturbed. My Dad changed his health plan and he and I went to see the new family doctor at the HMO he used and asked about my Mom. The doctor said, "Alzheimer's is terrible but there are no treatments" (there were none at the time and there are few now). We both looked at him. We had suspected Alzheimer's but it had never been confirmed by a doctor to us. He looked back at us and said, "You mean you didn't know? It's been in her medical records for years and years." I don't know whether there was some misguided sense of patient confidentiality, or whether the doctors she had before just didn't care. She had visited doctors. They had examined her and sent her to a specialist. He had diagnosed the disease and reported it back to the referring physician. We don't know if anyone told her or not. They may have. She didn't remember (big surprise that!) But they never told my father or me. I don't know what they were thinking. I thought we must be the only people in the world this had happened to but, unfortunately, that isn't so. Well, all I can say is to repeat what Evelyn said. Don't beat yourself up about this. It was a tragedy. If you had known you would have been better able to handle your own difficulties, but there still wouldn't have been much you could have done for your Mom that you didn't already do. Now that she is at peace, try to remember her as she was before the disease. That was your real mother. That was the woman who loved you and cared for you. Alan |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.