Showing posts with label delusions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delusions. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

How a Dementia Brain Is Working Now


  • Hubby thinks he needs extra protection. I had a police officer talk with him and then he stopped  this obsession.
  • He tells the waitress that the same couple sat there three days in a row; waitress didn't verify and of course it wasn't true. 
  • He believes that he has been in his new doctor's office before, whereas I know he hasn't. 
  • Recently he called me mommy and said he was sad because I was up early and wasn't going back to bed. That was only once and I do hope he meant that I "mother" our dog. We go to bed so early and I am an early riser now. Early morning I can write better than late at night. 
  • He confused sisters and wives. He thought he had three sisters. He still knows I am his wife and that he has two adult children with his first wife. He feels related to relatives that call or that he sees often. 
  • He has difficulty understanding why he hobbles when he walks. He tells someone it originally was a military injury, but I have never heard that before. 
  • DH thinks a barber shaved his head, but his thin hair was always sticking out and I was the one to give him that bald look with a trimmer. 
  • He is increasingly stubborn. The shave is easier, but not always his shower for me; when Kenny is sick as he has been lately, it is my turn to get the shave and shower done. Sunday morning Kenny surprised us and VERY SMOOTHLY took pills with my husband. This is their "pill pippin' buddies" routine where Kenny takes his pills at the same time. Then Kenny easily gets my husband into the master bath for a shave and shower. He has the touch. I appear to be the nag for my stubborn husband. 
  • He forgets that we have a different car that we purchased last month. 
  • He asks where we live and how we came to live in our home. 
  • He can't keep track of relatives he doesn't see often. I have too many relatives, he says. Have I really been married three times? 
  • How remote controls work and how to put in his false teeth are starting to be a concern for my husband. 

I adjust to what he says and does and do not argue with him. I am rejoicing that I have hubby walking and still at home. 

We changed health insurance in 2014 because I felt there are more benefits for my husband's dementia situation. Monday the new doctor asked hubby to take off his shoes so he could inspect his feet since hubby is a type-two diabetic. I was impressed. Previous doctors have not done that. I told the new doctor how, since anesthesia makes the Alzheimer's worse, we have avoided surgery  on my husband's knee and how the chiropractor has helped him. Even though admittedly husband is in a middle stage of dementia and losing memory and function after five years, the doctor felt that he should continue the Exelon patch and of course Namenda. 


Me: Did I put your patch on this morning?
Hubby: You must have because I am not leaking anywhere! 

Saturday, November 9, 2013

The Hallucinations of an Alzheimer's Patient

DH: I am living among idiots.
Me: Am I an idiot?
DH: No.
Me: Who are the idiots?
DH: Oh, they pop up. 
Me: Sweetheart, you have two disabilities now. You have Alzheimer's and you have trouble walking. 

The walking is getting better, but the hallucinations--those idiots--are popping up. 

I am trying to not be one of those idiots. I am trying to act calm like The 36-Hour Caregiver suggests.

DH: You are acting screwy.
Me: What am I doing? 
Hubby has no specifics on those idiots and what I am doing. 

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind 
don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.  Dr. Seuss

BUT HE DOES MATTER, Dr. Seuss! Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be myself at home. I am so fortunate that I can get away. 

So, are the above hallucinations, delusions or delirium?

According to The 36-Hour Day, hallucinations are hearing, seeing, feeling and smelling things that aren’t there. Drugs can cause hallucinations and so can dementia. I wonder if the new pain pill causes it. The caregiver just has to act calmly about a hallucination. 

“Delusions are untrue ideas unshakably held by one person.” (p. 161 of The 36-Hour Day) The delusion that my husband and Jake have is that they flew in an airplane together and went on a canoe ride together. These delusions make them happy I guess--male bonding. Sally and I do not argue with our husbands about their delusions. 

Delirium, on the other hand, is dangerous and needs immediate medical treatment I read in that book. 
One important distinguishing feature between dementia and delirium is that delirium usually begins suddenly while dementia develops gradually over months or years. Other symptoms of delirium may include misinterpretation of reality, false ideas, or hallucinations; incoherent speech; sleepiness in the daytime or wakefulness at night; and increased or decreased physical (motor) activity. Symptoms of delirium tend to vary through the day. (p. 289 of The 36-Hour Day)
Bob DeMarco reported HERE what Dr. Malaz Boustani said: 
Having delirium prolongs the length of a hospital stay, increases the risk of post-hospitalization transfer to a nursing home, doubles the risk of death, and may lead to permanent brain damage. 

Delirium can accompany a UTI infection, so it is so important to get treatment for the UTI immediately as we have done.  I bought extra UTI strips from Walgreens so I can check. 

Meanwhile, just stay calm about the hallucinations and delusions, unless it is delirium

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Added Nov. 11. I found from THIS NEWSLETTER written by Marie Boltz that these are common causes of delirium:
Reaction to Medication(s)- Fecal impaction- Urinary retention-Infection (urine, lungs, skin)-Hypoxia (not enough oxygen getting to tissues as in congestive heart failure)- Dehydration-Low blood sugar/high blood sugar-Pain-Immobility or hearing and vision loss.


Joe and Brandon enjoyed my raps
My husband has gotten constipated recently (“fecal impaction”) above and so I went to GNC and got their Ulta 50 Probiotic Complex for my husband so he won’t get the dreaded delirium. Brandon and Joe enjoyed my raps as it was a slow day for them today, Veterans’ Day. 

Hey, guys, check out my raps on YouTube and click on the label "Carol's raps" at the right of this blog.