My Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 3 years ago, I know she had symptoms for several years before she was diagnosed. Mom lives with me now and I have noticed that there is not much change over the last three years, she has trouble remembering things but its not as bad as a lot of things I read on the site and that friends that have had a parent with Alzheimer's tell me. Mom is still active, helps me around the house with small things loves to have people around. I believe this all happened because of the loss of my father it devastated her she had also lost her Father and Mother 2 years before losing my Father, that is so much grief for anyone to handle. Is it possible that she could just stay this way and not progress any further, I could be wrong but in the last three years I do not see a big change. Has anyone else had someone with Alzheimer's progress this slow? I do not know that much about this but sometimes I wonder if there may be something else wrong.
Is a disease, one of many that can cause dementia.
You are right. Each person is different. But it would be interesting to hear from you what seems best from your perspective.
donepezil (generic for aricept) since that time and am still doing well. How-ever when I tried going on an extended vacation it seemed that I did better in my old home surroundings! I'm sure everyone is different! Don't give up hope for your loved ones--we are finally very close to a few drugs which may change the course of this horrible disease!
Positives - ie the good homes
Encourage individuals to do as much as they
spend time with them to encourage speech
Make sure they know in advance in what order people eat their food (oddly this is really important)
Know their history and understand the impact it has
Understand medication and what well being in the individual looks like
Have thened days of music art dance games etc on a regular basis and I mean 3 or 4 times a week
Provide outings
have church or religious engagement
Make sure individuals are showered/bathed regularly
Make sure that everyone has enough drinks to keep them hydrated
Negative - ie the bad ones
residents are over medicated and not treated as individuals
Sluices arent cleaned properly hence the stench or urine and faeces
residents not cleaned properly and bed sores common and not cared for effectively
staff are verbally or physically abusive
cares dont check on residents hourly at night
None of the stuff in the positives is evident
residents constantly found rocking wandering or sleeping
Staff often found drinking tea or smoking or chatting with each other rather than working
Bring on euthenasia in time for me please and be nice to your kids - they get to choose your care home!
This is one smart doctor!
I actually wish for that drastic "event" that will propel her into a care facility. I don't really understand the desire to prolong the onset of dementia symptoms, once they've obviously arrived and things will only get worse.
By the time symptoms appear, the brain has already experienced quite a bit of irreversible damage. Also, many times relatives are not aware of a person's decline because they only see them occasionally or in limited social settings. If a person has excellent social skills, often these are retained fairly late into the dementia process, so they may "fool" even physicians who do not pick up on the subtle signs of dementia.
It was a visit back home from several states away that made me realize something was terribly wrong with my father. He had become disheveled, not bathing regularly, and was not paying his bills. All of these behaviors were totally unlike him.
love him but dont want to live with him. he probably feels the same way.
as a nurse highly experienced in aged care and dementia specific nursing I can see shining out at me a light, from your story which clearly tells me that you are the single most positive effect and shining light on your mothers life and I would go as far as to say that you being with her and fostering a relaxed company environment has seen a marked improvement in her cognitive ability from a state which could have been heavily depression/grief/shock related mind sets along with early dementia or just memory loss due to shock. well done you marvellous lady xx