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My mom is 93 years old in a few more months and I am the sole caregiver, I am divorced with outlaw family (dead serious) my 28 y/o son disowned my entire family at the hands of my ex wife thus leaving me with my own stresses and Mom, she is the dearest lady on the face of the earth, she is crippled with memory loss 1st stages, Dementia. It took me prying at the doctors and convince them that there was an issue because when ever we went to the doctor Mom expected me to lay out her current ailments, which another cant always do, so all the doctor was hearing is I am FINE!! which might have prolonged things to the point of no return. First the doctor put her on meds to control the symptoms of dementia, I told the doctor lets try and treat the source instead of the symptoms, he took her off of symptom drugs and put her on Nemedia which is for dementia / alzheimers so far she has not had any bad side effects but not really any change either. The most disconcerning symptoms now are she refuses to eat or drink without at least 2-3 hours of drama. every few seconds it is "AM I SUPPOSED TO DRINK THIS, OR EAT THAT" that is the most frustrating part, she is constantly in tears, I will ask her what the matter is she will respond with "I DONT KNOW" I will ask you dont know what? then the wall goes up. We have always had a fairly good communications skills between the 2 of us, I am the only living son and have always been there except for one time prolly the most important time when my ex son and wife tried to home invade her. My Ex's condered people to set me up to get me out of the picture just to take over, thank god for moms friend that came to the rescue in my absence. ever since I have not left her side. I am going to stop here for now and let a few of you weigh in on this then we can continue if that is ok! Thank You very much

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I'm not sure where you are in terms of getting medical help for your mom, has she seen a geriatric specialist? It would probably be a good idea to get a complete cognitive assessment to document the degree of her memory loss, also to find her appropriate medications for the anxiety surrounding her indecisiveness.
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I agree that it would be a great idea to get her a full cognitive work up and to have her seen, possibly by a geriatric psychiatrist to address the agitation and anxiety.
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As my Mom progressed with Dementia, we had to stop asking if she wanted something to eat or even what she wanted to eat. We had to set a schedule for meals and not give her choices. Same way with medicines. We had to tell her that they are her vitamins and bring her a glass of water and just say "it is time to take your vitamins". Again: Don't give her a choice.
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Welcome, UpInArmsTrying. I don't think there's much we can do about the family drama, but people may be able to help with your mother's memory loss. Does the doctor have any idea what type of dementia it is? He may be able to tell something from the history. For example, if she has had strokes or is diabetic, the doctor may suspect vascular dementia. If memory and logic problems began out of nowhere, the doctor may suspect Alzheimer's. Vascular dementia is usually treated by trying to control the blood pressure and related problems in order to slow the progression. There is no known treatment for Alzheimer's at the present time. Some doctors will prescribe medications like Aricept or Namenda for symptoms. Some people say they help and others say they don't.

Emotions often go along with dementia. You have to decide if something is really wrong or if it is the disease. Sometimes it is a mix of the two. Tell us a bit more and someone may have some things that have helped them deal with things. We all share similar experiences with caregiving people with dementia. When she ask things like if she is supposed to eat something, answer simply -- something like "We'll eat in about an hour." Or if she ask what day it is, just answer, even if you just told her what day it is. :) It can be kind of like talking to a child at times. You'll get the hang of things.
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Just to mention....these days, psychiatrists, especially geriatric psychiatrists, mostly do medication management of behavioral symptoms; they don't delve into the past.

If mom's behavioral symptoms are currently a problem, is it possible that she DOES have a UTI?
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All good responses above. I'd make sure her doctor is aware of how she is behaving and explore if anxiety could be making her upset and not hungry. My LO, who has Vascular Dementia, was like that in the beginning. She stopped eating almost anything and lost a lot of weight. As it turns out, she had dementia, but, also depression and anxiety. Once she was placed on meds for anxiety and depression, she stopped so much worrying and crying, and her appetite returned, though, there is no guarantee that will always happen.

I'd keep in mind that though you may explain to mom what she should be eating or drinking, she likely forgets by the next time, so, explaining to her her over and over may be just what has to be done while she is in this stage.
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Exactly what Barb says. My MIL and Mom both have had U.T.I. infections that nobody even knew about. They didn't have fever or burning pain "downstairs". They just started acting crazy and were trying to fall down all the time. Who knew everything goes haywire from a U.T.I.? Not until YOUR person gets one would anyone believe this happens ha ha! Seemed to make dementia 10 x worse.
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In Specific Reply to waltjeffries:
thank you for this response, I am finding that this has been my moms issue as well for the past 6-8 months now, she will say to me "What ever you think is right" I just kinda took it with a grain of salt in the beginning then realized that this was reality, so your saying just to set firm schedules and do not deviate so it is less confusion for the patient correct??
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In specific response to Sunnytgrl11 but for everyone as well,
this is ditto to my mom Sunnygrl11 thanks so much for this at least I know were both not going crazy (mom and I that is)
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
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To BarbBrooklyn and others
Barb, how much more of an impact on cognitive functions does a UTI have in the elderly compared to not so old. My mom has chronic UTI's because she doesnt drink enough during the changes of seasons. it seems like lately every fall and spring she gets one, 2 weeks on antibodies and it is cleared up. But it can not be good on the system.
R
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