My mother has been living with us for the past 4 months, as her Alzheimer's Disease and dementia has gotten worse, and it is not safe for her to live alone any longer. She is on Namenda and Exelon Patch. She has a continuing anxiety problem and we have tried various small doses of medication, Trazodone, Klonopin, and now her new geriatric psychiatrist wants to replace those with Mirtazapine.
Nothing seems to have any impact on her anxiety issues, and she talks almost non-stop. Has anyone else run into this when caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's Disease?
I am grateful for what we do have, her life, our moments of joy, and we make the best of things. I wish she didn't get so anxious over any little thing, and I try to calm and reassure her.
But that's not why I'm writing, I couldn't find a way to start a new thread, my brain is pretty well shot, and I'm filled with some pretty bad resentment,
I read this comment, and noticed my account details; I'm not too active here, but so many people liked my comments and sent me hugs. As you know, that's just a lovely boost so thank you. Sorry this is in the wrong place. Thank you all so much, and hang in there. I swear it, hang in there. This group is great. May whatever you believe in bless you very much.
Love.
NomdeVoyage
Also, I'm afraid I don't much about the meds your wife is on. I suppose that if she seems to be in mental discomfort, I might consult with a doctor who could evaluate the cause and adjust her meds. Is her primary writing her prescriptions now?
My cousin was very talkative in her earlier stages of dementia. She has Vascular mixed with Alzheimers. She talked incessantly and at times was quite anxious. She went on Cymbalta, which treats pain, anxiety and depression and there was a great improvement. It brought her a lot of contentment and she no longer talks that way. She is now in the severe stage. She can talk, but usually, only if you ask her questions and even then, she doesn't elaborate.
/ wife in last stage alzheimer/dementia and at home
I'm sure many can sympathize and emphasize with your situation.
Please allow me to call to your attention that you have posted within a thread where the title of the topic isn't actually the problem you have, which was originally started in January -- nearly 12 months ago, where the most recent response is already 3 months old, and where there are already over 50 answers.
While it is possible that some members may find this and answer you, it is so deeply embedded into someone else's situation, the majority of members who could help you are probably not going to run across your question and any answers are not likely to be found later by somebody else looking for help on your same issue.
Just a suggestion, mind you, but I feel it would be better if you would post your question as a new topic.
For my part, to address your question, my mom and I were able to keep my mild-mannered dad at home until he became violent. Up until that point, he not only required a lot of attention, didn't care for us doing anything that took us away from him (hence, he would get up and follow), plus he required a lot of supervision to prevent him from doing anything harmful to himself or destructive to home or property. As his caretakers, my mom and I could use diversionary tactics since there were two of us. The bottom line is that you will probably need some level of assistance to keep him home. It's very difficult to do it completely by yourself. And it will become more difficult as time goes by.
I know it isn't a merry or happy time for you, so I will just wish you peaceful holidays.
Carol
Jelly Lou
I notice "Soundscapes and light classical work better", odd cause he was a country singer his whole life & never listened to anything but Country???
I hear a big difference in his "mumbling/chattering/talking out loud" when he is listening....music seems to calm him.
I was told his "chatter/mumbling/talking out loud " is a form of "Terrets" , which is not just about cursing. He don't know he's doing it....."I myself go into shakes when he has a bad day with it " ! Feel like ripping my hair out it gets so bad.....
When his oxygen is "low", it TEN TIMES WORSE! Which he sleeps with Oyxgen, but he tends to pull if off...thus leaving him by morning with more confusion and a "very long day" of chaos because he's more confused/agatated and the. "Terrets or talking out loud" is actually "severe".
If they need Oyxgen you don't give them a choice on wearing it, the brain cells need Oyxgen to survive!
As brain cells die, there is "no way" they are coming back and their demenshia /alzheimers / talking out loud is "amplified", really bad here !
So with me, as I "run my roost , under my roof & my rules " & make it clear if your not wearing the Oyxgen at bedtime , I can gladly move you elsewhere and you will have three shifts of aides /nurses strapping it all day to you".
he then will wear it!
"No it's not mean, he does know he needs to be wearing it & I sve explained he is loosing brain cells by not wearing it! "I don't lie about his health when explaining to him, as we should not"!
Our job also is to watch independancies including things that may seem so little as putting on & keeping on his Oyxgen at bed time! We do peek in at night to see if on too!
Aspecially when I have to drive him somewhere , and may sound weird or you may think mean (but his hearing ain't that great anyway ), I have to crank up my car stereo just to drown out the Terrets or "chitter- chattering"!
And using good old rock & roll ! But I'm driving and need to relax and it stops him some ?
Ok, the patch he refused , so never got to try. I have heard of odd side effects though '. I demanded something to give him, doctor gave "Ativan" (we hide all narcotics /etc from him). Well, we "dispense his meds now , after too many times of double dosing or forgetting doses, pills on the floor .
Well, Ativan was at lunch , and I kept finding little white pills on my floors. Not far from where he sits for lunch ?
We have "fur kids", I cannot worry about them accidentally ingesting them. So I questioned him "why" his pills where on the floor and then made him take them.
"Then"....I really wanted to see "how pills were getting on the floor". After setting him at the table for lunch in my breakfast room, I as well set his noon time meds near him too.
Then sat on my kitchen floor (where he couldnt see me) and sat with my cell phone ( to video tape) and watched him eat and take his meds. "He was pulling the Ativan out intentially and tossing it on the floor"! Which I taped on my phone!
Soon as I seen it, I stood up, and confronted , then made him watch the video, called his doctor, took the video there for him to see as well!
As his caregiver and "Full POA", we (hubby and I ) were told to hide in his food as we see needed! "Havent done it yet, but came pretty darn close "!
Told my father in law his irresponsibility was now unacceptable to possibly hurt my fur kids (they were here before him....and our kids, so he goes over them)!
Told him think he needs to live in a home if that's how he will be, I have "no time" for an adult with independence (even a small amount) in his grips. I know he got scared , because ”I do not joke, say it up front, and make it clear"!
"If you have independencies you sure as heck better use them"!
When you loose "all" independencies, it's time for ful time care, no question .
One human cannot be "three shifts" of nurses, aides, cooks, med nurses, personal care needs, etc! And we get paid "Nothing" to do alot of this.
Try calming music (softly) seems to calm down the "Terrets/mumbling/talking out loud"....and see if it works ? Soft classical or Soundscapes works good here , for now .
And will hide the ativan in his food when we see fit (do not leave them alone on this drug, in fact in bed or a recliner woud be best, they can get very relaxed) Again, I have not heard anything positve on the patches.
I read the detailed natural solutions that Carlos posted and I'm thinking of giving it a try. My Mom takes a small dose of Lexapro at 4PM. (it seems to help her sundowning anxiety behavior which was happening around that time.) I have Mirtzapine which I'd asked her Dr. about, and he prescribed, but I haven't given it to her yet. The plan was to give at bedtime. My reservations about giving it to her are worries about her being groggy with it, getting up to go to the bathroom and falling, or sleeping and NOT getting up to go to the bathroom, then having a bed wetting incident. However....I'm desperate, and may have to give it a try tonight. As well as looking into those Carlos solutions...Glu....whatever it is. Sounded very helpful!! If it works the way Carlos described it.....WOW! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But it'll take time to order it, get it, and then another 15 days or so to see results. Whew. I may not last till then with sleep deprivation issues. On top of trying to deal with all this other dementia stuff, the sleep deprivation only exacerbates everything. HELP. Good luck Jeffery, Kala, and all of you who have been on this thread.
Thank you very much for your reply.
In summary I wrote :
I will send to you again my email AS A HUG in your wall, to talk about more details , that you can send to the PHYSICIAN of your mother , to he makes an deep analysis , and to the PHYSICIAN of your mother will gives or NOT , permission and supervision to use that supplements.
1)I asked if you talked to the physician of your mother, to asks his supervision and permission, before to gives any supplement , or drugs or foods to your mother.
Please , do NOT gives NONE food, NONE food suplement or NONE kind of supplement,, or NONE medicine drug without the permission and supervision of PHYSICIAN of the patient.
2)We made some adaptations to the breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner of my aunt, under her physician and her nutritionist, supervision , prescription and permission, to gives a low fat diet , but with complex carbs (beans, rice,pasta, red potatoes,etc) and low fat meat, chicken without skin, and fish ,all cooked in water and small and controlled amounts of salt, cooked without oils , without skins and without fats, to get the better results with glucuronolactone.
I guess so that I’m taking so much space here , and I guess that the best it is to change e-mails, where I can expklain with more detalis , and you can talk to the physician of your mother about to get his permission and supervision in the use of the supplements.
I guess that maybe , most of the information that I sent to you by your wall did not went to you .
I guess that glucuronolactone only works with a low fat diet, without flavorings and without conservatives of foods. For example , if the applesauce has some conservative , it impairs the glucuronolactone effect.
Yes , the best is starts with the first dose of the day on an empty stomach.( about a half hour before breakfast. )
Unfortunatelly that peanut butter (that is pure fat) and the cinamon impairs the effects of glucuronolactone.
The foods that we are giving tom y aunt , that worked for her to get a better body mass, strengh and a normal weight , I described in the comments of the article in this site AGING CARE , of Dr. Amy Ehrlich, MD, with the title : THINK TWICE ABOUT GIVING ELDERS NUTRITIONAL DRINKS OR SHAKES”. The article was published in Agingcare,com in may,2010. I put my comment in January 17,2014.
I put a comment there , with the foods that my aunt is eating in the comments of the article of agingcare of Dr. Amy ehrlich MD publishes in January 17,2010 with the title : “THINK TWICE ABOUT GIVING ELDERS NUTRITIONAL DRINKS OR SHAKES” .
I put my comment in January 17,2014.
That foods that I pasted there, and that my aunt eats , made without oils or fats , do not impairs the glucuronolactone effects and she gained body mass, weight and strengh.
It was made by the physician and by her nutritionist for her , and it is working for her.
But it do NOT means that patients that eat the same foods, it will works too.
It is all under her physician and a nutritionist orientation, supervision and permission.
Please , do NOT gives NONE foods, or NONE supplements or NONE medicine drugs without the permission and supervision of the PHYSICIAN of the patient.This is only an anedoctal report , without None scientific foundation, The responsability for the use of the supplements, medicine drugs , foods ,etc ., it is exclusively in the hands of who takevthat foods, supplements and drugs. Follow only the what the physician of the patients , prescribes and only the physician’s advices. Do only what your doctor or what the doctor of the patient ask to you to do.
I really do not knows if you are receiving my replies to you , answering the questions that you made to me.
Can you tell me if you read a reply that I put for three times in the “HUGS” ?
Can you tell me if you read the message that I put in the HUGS in 1/18/2014 , answering a loto f questions for you? I made long and detalied explanations about the doubts that you asked me before.
And the message that I put in your “HUGS” in the 1/19/2014 , did you received that? It is too a long and complementary text that I gives detailed explanations too.
Can you tell me if you received in the “HUG” that two long and detalied explanations of a “HUG” of 1/18/2014 and a “HUG” of 1/19/2014? In that two long texts there are some very importante detalis about the supplements.
I guess that you can keeps trying THE GLUCURONOLACTONE FOR A COUPLE MONTHS and the others supplements , until you reach the better doses and the better moments of the day to gives it.
1) Your First Question :” I gave the first dose the smidgen spoon in a tablespoon of applesauce.
Reply : The best , as recommended in the site of Pure Bulk , it is to gives the glucuronolactone at morning with an empty stomach, putting the glucuronolactone in aprox.. 80 mililiters of water , if possible with a tea spoon of sugar(if the patient it is not diabetic), or with the glucuronolactone dissolved in a weak solution of water with some natural apple juice made by you from fresh apples in a juicer.
Please , all with permission of the physician of your mother, gives glucuronolactone 20 minutes to 30 minutes before the meals .
As possible , keeps a low fat diet, and for while , do NOT gives the coconut oil and do NOT make massages with the coconut oil in the nexts 15 days ,to you observe better the effects of glucuronolactone.
As I explained in another text , oils, fats, food preservatives and flavorings can IMPAIRS the effects of glucuronolactone to control dementia symptons.
Then if you gives the glucuronolactone with applesauce maybe it will not works.
If you read in the in the site Pure Bulk about glucuronolactone , you will see that the better it is to give the glucuronolactone with a empty stomach (half hour before some meal or two hours atfer some meal).
2) Your Second Question: I didn't notice anything really. Your suggestion to give at 9 and 4. Do you still think that this would be good?
If you gives the glucuronolactone 20 to 30 minutes in water with a weak home maid juice it will Works. It is nota n absolutely stable Works , but I had to keeps trying to see the results.
3) Your Third Question Have you noticed if you give to late in the day that it effects the sleep?
Reply : What I observed is that the better , to starts is to gives the first dose at morning , before the breakfast (with a breakfast without cheese, without butter,without oils, or fats ,without eggs, but only with bread and homemaid jelly.
4) Your Fourth Question : I want to give this a good try to see if I can see some improvement, before I give up on it.
Reply : As I wrote before , I guess that you can keeps trying THE GLUCURONOLACTONE FOR A COUPLE MONTHS and the others supplements , until you reach the better doses and the better moments of the day to gives it.
5) Your Fifth question : How did you get the idea about using glucuronolactone, and can you explain why it works for dementia?
It is a long story that starts in 2009 that I will tell you in another post. Based in what I read about glucuronolactone , we can hypothesize that it works simultaneously as an alternative fuel, an peroxinitrite scavenger, an mitochondrial enhancer, mild heavy metal chelator, an improver of energy input to the neurons,and a lot of good mechanisms that gives neuroprotection. I have lots and lots of articles aboout the mechanisms of glucuronolactone , and I can send to you bye mail if you want.
6) Your Sixth Question : Can using the coconut oil on the skin still cause diarrhea?
No , coconut oil in massages do not cause diarrhea , but can impairs the effects of glucuronolactone. Please , wait for more 15 days , before to starts the massages with HALF tea spoon of coconut oil twice a day.
7) Our Seventh Question : mom is having trouble using words to make sense, have you noticed any improvement in this area?
Yes, I observed a great enhancing after TWO MONTHS using the combination of Glucuronolactone – improves, cognition , mood , attention, and control delusions and hallucinations.
Acetyl L carnitine - improves cognition, mood , speech , attention and strengh.
Carnosine – improves calmness and relax the patient.
IF POSSIBLE, MAKE A VIDEO DOCUMENTING ALL HER “ODD’ BEHAVIORS IN THE DAY AND IN THE MINUTES BEFORE TO GIVES THE GLUCURONOLACTONE AND ANOTHER VIDEO AFTER TO STARTS TO GIVES THE SUPPLEMENTS -IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO PEOPLE REALLY BELIEVE IN YOU IN THE FUTURE , after her behaviors disorders be under control.