I have a friend who is caring for a lady with Alzheimer’s. This lady gets violent and starts hitting and kicking at her. When she gets her to bed and puts up the rail, this lady starts yelling and carrying on. My friend just lets this go on until the lady gets it out of her system. I don’t have any other details. I suggested giving her a stuffed animal or maybe a box to rummage through. Do you have any other ideas?
Seriously, here's the abstract for this at least: www.neurology.org/content/early/2013/08/07/WNL.0b013e3182a351aa.abstract. I know this sounds like something made up for laughs, but actually, something in the cacao bean is very good for us human brain owners. And it does not have to be mixed with loads of bad fats in order to be helpful or palatable, fortunately for folks like me.
Once, Ms. Alonzo said: “The state tried to cite us for having chocolate on the nursing chart. They were like, ‘It’s not a medication.’ Yes, it is. It’s better than Xanax.”
If this lady is in bed with the rails up your friend is right to just walk away until the episode is over. Go back a few minutes later, see if the lady is calmer, then pretend like nothing happened. Giving her a box to rummage through is fine if your friend doesn't mind picking everything up after the box is thrown onto the floor but there is little that can be done when someone with Alzheimer's becomes combative except wait it out.
If this behavior continues someone might want to speak to this lady's Dr. to see if there's medication he can prescribe to keep these outbursts at a minimum. They're exhausting and upsetting to the person with Alzheimer's and upsetting to the person caring for someone with combativeness related to Alzheimer's.