I’m getting all of my info through my brother, so I’m fuzzy on some details.
On March 6, my brother took our mother to the hospital as she had not been feeling well for several weeks. They admitted her because she had pneumonia & a very low oxygen level. About a week later she was moved to an interim facility.
My mother, while a bit miserable, was aware of what was going on around her. When my brother visited her today (March 20), she said she had a secret to tell him that she had been living with a woman & was pregnant. (My mother is 78 and had a hysterectomy 39 years ago.) Also she isn’t eating and is refusing to what she is told.
After reading about what [a friend on another message board] is going thru with her mother, I’m wondering what the hell they do at nursing homes/interim facility that makes the patients so goofy?
My sister-in-law wants me to come down to LA to see my mother and they will pay my fare, but haven’t said where I would stay, which is a problem.
Also I don’t want to go.
Oh, I’ve been off my meds for 2 weeks on top of all of this.:smack:
Foggy, I’m so sorry that you, and your family, are having to go through this.
My grandmother was diagnosed with dementia when she was in her early 90s. She was fine, for the most part, at home, where she was familiar with her surroundings. But when she had to go to the hospital, it was like someone flipped a switch, and she turned into a confused mess. That’s when the doctor told me that it was most likely Alzheimer’s Disease. During her entire stay at the hospital, she was confused, and she wouldn’t listen to anyone at all.
Once I brought her back home, she never did really ‘come out of it’. I don’t know why it works that way, but in my experience, that’s what happened. The hospital/nursing home doesn’t do anything to the patient to make them this way. It’s just the nature of dementia, I guess. I’m not a doctor, and I’m not saying that your mother has dementia. But, again, in my experience, this sounds likely what the problem is. It’s not something you really notice, until the patient has some sort of upheaval in their surrounds. Then, the problem really makes itself known.
I wish you, your family, and your mother, the very best.
The illness is probably exacerbating your mother’s dementia. The fact that she’s not eating probably also contributes to the decline in her mental state. Thinking takes energy. Lack of oxygen in the blood, low blood sugar and the energy diverted to fighting an infection can cause someone who is borderline functional to become dysfunctional.
I won’t try to give you advice, since I know next to nothing about your life. All I can say is I’m sorry. My mother had dementia in the last several years of her life, brought on by strokes and congestive heart failure, so I have some idea of what you and the rest of your family is going through. You all have my sympathy.
Low oxygen levels alone are enough to make someone develop goofy thinking. The elderly are more prone to this than the younger folks are. Infection can also lead to disordered thinking and, again, the elderly are more prone to this.
On top of that - many institutional rooms are pretty freakin’ boring. To the point that some people can experience a sort of sensory deprivation which, again, can lead to weird thinking. (You can sometimes combat that with sensory input - scenery outside the window, TV, radio, reading, knitting, movies, visitors, etc. but that isn’t always practical)
Some medications can cause hallucinations or disordered thinking.
Just wanted to throw that in, because I think sometimes people rush to “dementia” too quickly as an explanation, especially in the elderly. Yes, it can be dementia, and all of the above will aggravate dementia, but dementia is not the only cause for that sort of thing. The oxygen levels and medication are things you pretty much have no control over, but if it’s a matter of occupying her otherwise bored/sensory deprived mind you can help with that.
I’ll agree with everyone who has said that low oxygen levels will make a person loopy. That’s how we first noticed that my mom’s lungs were getting pretty bad. She would seem alert, but say bizarre things and get frustrated with us when we didn’t understand. The hospital probably has your mom on some drugs, too, so that won’t help her make sense. I hope she is back to herself soon.
All of the above and taking someone with even low level mental issues out of their familiar ‘anchor’ surroundings and routines and dropping them into completely a new and strange environment is going to have some detrimental effects.
Talked to my brother today. It doesn’t look like my mother will be going back to her own apartment any time soon, if at all. She is over the pneumonia and off the oxygen, but she keeps talking about things that have never happen. She thought that Jeff (my bother) was her husband (she hasn’t been married since men last walked on the moon), but did recognized his wife.
We are going to pay her rent & bills for April, to see what happens. Jeff is trying to find a nursing home for her closer to him.
Make sure her meds are correctly being administered, and taken. And that all of her docs are aware of everything she’s taking. They can sometimes double up accidentally.
Second and third this. Some doctors can look right at the meds, and not think anything is wrong, until after the autopsy; then, they will say “Ohhhh, right…sorry!”
If there is anything narcotic like, force them to cut it back.
I am really sorry to hear about your Mom. My Mom was diagnosed with frontaltemporal dementia and would tell me things that were not true. One time, she cried, and told me she had breast cancer, and was dying. She said she had a big lump on her chest. I brought her to her PC Doc, and she assured my Mom that she did not have breast cancer. She also told me she was going to my sister’s house, in Maryland. This too, was a fantasy. I know how really, really hard this must be for you and your family. I would suggest contacting the Alzheimer’s Association. They have a great website, and you can call them 24 hours a day if you need questions answered, or just someone to talk too. Maybe you should get back on your meds. I do not know your situation, so I do not know if you need them or not. I have been on meds since I was sixteen. I will keep you and your mother in my thoughts. I hope everything turns out well.
My brother has found a nursing home for mom near him in Pasadena, CA.
He says she has “diagnose early early onset dementia”. That doesn’t make sense as she is 78.
Is there a state/fed website that rates nursing homes? I’m not finding anything, but I’m on dial up and it’s slow going.
It means she’s in the early stages of dementia, not that she herself is young. Dementia doesn’t start at a particular age, it starts when it starts and for some that happens earlier rather than later, or later rather than earlier.
Also - is that an official diagnosis by an actual doctor qualified to make such a diagnosis, or just what your brother says?
The best place for your Mom is probably a nursing home.
Dementia can move very quickly. As for the diagnosis, there are all kinds of neurology testing, however, there is no one test that proofs dementia. It is more about mental and physical tests, and ruling everything else out.
I tried to put my mom in a nursing home, and my siblings were against it. She lived alone. While wandering alone one day, she had a bad fall, which she never recovered from.
I hope you get to see your mom, while she still has some understanding left. I will never forgive my family for not listening to me and the doctors, as I did not have that time with her to let her know she was loved.
There’s more than one kind of dementia. My mother had vascular dementia which is different than Alzheimer’s. She never stopped recognizing us, could live at home with dad, and so on. The last year or so she DID require a lot of supervision - she’d forget she left the stove, for example - but retained the ability to speak, find her way around the apartment, knew who people were, never wandered off, etc. It presented different problems than Alzheimer’s. So it’s important to know what kind of dementia they think your mom has as that can affect what she needs. It shouldn’t be treated in a one-size-fits-all manner though too often it is.
Spoke with my brother this evening, things aren’t going all that well. My mother has been in this nursing home for all most 3 weeks. They have changed her room 3 times, the most recent because she has a UTI. Some of her clothes & belongings have gone missing. Including the puzzle books I sent her. She also lost her glasses.
She has a bruise on her head and no one is sure how she got it. When asked she said it was at a restaurant, but she hasn’t been out of the home since she get there. She keeps talking about things that aren’t true, then gets mad when Jeff points this out.
She has yet to be evaluated by a doctor. The home has asked Jeff not to leave anymore messages for the doctor, that she will be evaluated eventually.
I shut off her phone with no problem, we are waiting on the power until my brother cleans out her apartment, but Direct TV wants my mother to cancel her service herself or my brother to have Power of Attorney.
I’m powerless to help, I can barely take care of myself (my ex did my food shopping for me this month), my nurse is recommending ECT but that’s months away, assuming they don’t reject me again.
