Hi, My 87 year old mother in law fell back in April and was admitted to rehab. The rehab facility released her and said she can no longer live alone. So, she's now living with me and my husband. She's been here for about a month. My husband is an only child and so the responsibility falls squarely on our shoulders.
I've known my husband and her since 1995. I've always had a cordial relationship with her. However, she's acting strange lately. Her diagnosis is "mild cognitive impairment." I asked my husband to confirm that she has a dementia diagnosis and he said, "I assume so."
Lately, she does nothing. She'll get up when the physical therapist comes in and do the exercises he gives her. He told her she needs to get up and walk every hour, but we can't get her to do it. She won't go anywhere with us although we offer to take her. And, some mornings, she completely ignores me. Like, she'll say nothing. I'll bring her food and try to talk to her, but she doesn't say anything. Some days she does talk.
My husband says I'm taking it personally and maybe I am, but it's just so different than how I'm used to her being. She did hit her head when she fell. Could this be brain damage? Or is this dementia sounding? I'm so confused. I'm only 43 so I don't have a lot of experience with this. My Father in Law passed away at 93 5 years ago and he had dementia but we didn't see him all day, every day. We just saw him occasionally.
Thank you for any insight anyone can provide!
Who is following her condition? Has she seen a geriatric psychiatrist? Has anyone mentioned her apathy to her doctor?
We tried to investigate the reasons for the fall, but we really don't know. She was home alone when it happened. She was capable of living by herself before it happened. A neighbor found her (thankfully) and called 911.
Yeah, probably a good idea to get her seen by a geriatric psychiatrist and mention this to her doctor. She has another appointment coming up.
Thanks again.
The really key point to drive home to her doctor is that This Is Not The Lady you have personally known for over 20 years, clearly all is not well, and if he doesn't have a well-reasoned idea of what's going on then it's about time he stirred his stumps and found out.
That happened to my Mom, she had a major fall at home, and it turned out Mom had a brain bleed. But Mom seemed herself so the hospital had her go home but she needed to have caregivers. Not in a million years would my Mom accept any strangers in the house. Oh well, Mom was still sharp for being in her late 90's.
A couple weeks later, another serious fall, again head trauma. Another brain bleed. But this time Mom accelerated quickly into late stage Dementia. She was moved to long-term-care.
So with your Mom, it could be a combo of dementia that had moved quickly to a new Stage due to any type of head trauma, and possible brain damage. When you think about it, dementia is pretty much brain damage within itself.
Dementia involves brain damage that has been building up for years. Where the damage is located and the nature of damage determines the symptoms and what the dementia is called. (Alzheimer's, Vascular, Lewy Body, etc.)
The fall may have done some damage of its own, or, if damage has been building up, it may have triggered the symptoms associated with that buildup.
In any case, it sounds like some kind of brain damage to me. And she may also be depressed, the two are not mutually exclusive. Taking her to a geriatric psychiatrist is a good approach.
I'll join your husband in saying don't take this personally. It really is not about you. It is something going on within your MIL.
Come back and let us know how things are going. We care.