never failed i would get my DH all dolled up for our outings and shaved/showered and smelling good -within 10min of driving he would have to go poop. gosh that got old. nothing you can do to avoid it! i got to thinkin gmaybe the movement of the car was activating something!
danielp be cautious with her using the microwave. DH would put dishtowels in and push buttons. she can start a fire asap with stuff not meant to be in it.
kadee, there is lots of debate on why water causes so many issues with AD persons. its an ongoing question with much input and reasons -but no real solutions to the question. someday maybe they will find a link in the brain to h2o
I haven't read "Speaking Alzheimer's" but I will definitely get it. Yes you are right in how you speak to him, I always have to say one thing at a time at least 3-5 times before he kinda understands and sometimes he will say what? Today I have been getting items together to donate to Salvation Army and I asked him to go in the laundry room and look in the closet and bring me the purple bag....I must have said it 6 times and he still had not returned and I said it again go in the laundry room once I see him in there I said look to your left and there is the closet he looks to the right and I say no look the other way and open the door and bring me that purple bag which was the only bag in there. He finally got it but my teenage daughter came out her room and just looked. I bought 2 candy bars home 1 chocolate and 1 white chocolate with white paper....my DH loves choc and I said give the white one to our daughter and the other is for you ....minutes later I go in my daughter's room and he had give her the wrong one and I said why did you give her yours that is your favorite he just looked so confused and didn't understand. Why does it seem that since not working which has been since last Feb he has declined so much when he was the boss over 75 people, it just seems so weird that he goes from this person who is handling alot of responsibility to acting as if he is 2 years old. I literally have to tell him everything.
Charlotte, there is a test that can help diagnose FTD. He needs to have a contrast PET Scan. This will show the Neurologist in living color where the disease is. Also an MRI can show how much atrophy there is. Our Neuro used both. He said they should be repeated no more that 6 months apart. We had the first MRI in Dec and just had a 2nd. Do not know the results yet. Good luck, if you are not happy with your drs quest or lack of, to find the dx, find another who will work WITH you. Good luck, let me know how he does.
Angel, not knowing left from right is very common and happens early on. I will POINT to something for my husband to look at and he looks at my ;pointed finger instead. (Remember when we'd try to show our little ones an airplane and they wouldn't know to follow the direction of the finger pointing???)
One thing the book tells us is not to give them several directions at once. They can't process.."Go to the laundry room AND look into the closet on the right AND bring the PURPLE bag that is in there to me". It becomes a jumble of words in their minds. I'd first try saying, Do you know where the laundry bag is? I need it. He may know it is in the laundry room in the closet on the right.
If I ask him a question that has a yes or no answer, he'll usually reply "NO". Example: Do you want a cup of coffee? NO, he'll say. If I ask him, "Do you want tea or coffee?" He'll chose one. Most important of all t;hough, is loading them down with varients in directions. They will rarely retain all the info.
I used to write directions down for my husband. I knew we were in trouble early on when he couldn't follow a map. Our new van had a fancy-smancy GPS system in it, and we'd set it for everywhere we went. He would be able to follow the commands, "Move to the right lane." - Turn Right - Go 300 yards.. etc. But that was back in Stage 2-3. Before he lost "left and right".
My DH was dx August 2006 with MCI. Dx the same in August 2007. BUT by November 2007, he had progressed to moderate to severe AD. He takes 9.5 Exelon patch and namanda 2x a day. I think he's in stage 5--maybe a little stage 6. He can dress himself and shave. However, he never initiates a shower or shampoo. I have to do that for him. He feeds himself but only eats what I fix him. He can pour a glass of juice but not make a sandwich. He is very faithful about brushing his teeth 2x daily.
He is continent. Sleeps good and takes a couple of 2 hour naps a day. Glances at the paper every morning but cant tell you what he read. He will sometimes read large print Reader's Digest but I don't know how much he understands.
He's very sweet and affectionate. Doesn't remember from one minute to the other. He can't tell you the name of anything, ie, that long green thing that you use to wash the porch. He's talking about the garen hose. Things like that.
When I mentioned frequent need to urinate to the neurologist he said there was medication he could prescribe but it worked on the brain in such a way that it would counter what we are trying to achieve with Galantamine and Namenda.
I told DW's PCP about it and she prescribed Detrol LA. I didn't ask her about possible memory loss side affects because at this point I don't care, I just want DW to be comfortable. I can't see much improvement so far but PCP said it may take a month or so for the med to work. Anyone know anything about Detrol LA?
Susan L - we have the neurologist appt next month. Will see what she says. I would love to have the contrast PET but would be surprised if the VA will spring for it. I will ask about another MRI to see if there has been any more atrophy. That would help to know at the very least.
I just received a copy of the letter sent to Clyde's neurologist from the University of Washington Alz Research center. On the MMSE he scored a 7. He couldn't finish any of the tests. That tells me (as if I didn't already know) that he has gone down hill a lot in the past year. The letter said his dementia is "severe". They are now focusing on it being more LBD than Alz. Guess at this point it doesn't make much difference which it is.He is still mobile and as long as I am healthy and he remains mobile I will keep him at home. He is getting to the point it is quite difficult for him to get up from his recliner, however.
danielp, Oh, yes. Both bladder and bowel problems. If I'm lucky I can catch him before he uses his depends, but now he seems to be having problems sitting on the toilet. It's like sitting down on it scares him.
doneit, thanks for the tip on a lift recliner. I will look into that right away. It certainly would help.
mae- have you checked out the lift recliners? I did, and found that they scared the life out of me. If the person is able to be left alone in the recliner, they can push the button and become completely vertical.. but may not be able to handle that - then when they go to get back in it, it's vertical! Others who have them - do you like them for your spouse?
When my FIL lived with us for a while, we bought (us and Medicare) him a lift recliner. He never used the electronic funtion. He said it was too slow. Oh, and he didn't have and memory/dementia problems. I guess I would question how long it would be useful, it the noise of operation was disturbing, etc.
My lift recliner doesn't make all that much noise. It also only brings me to a partially erect point, not fully vertical. They aren't fast, but that's not what you want anyway. Medicare "helps" pay for these when prescribed, with proper medical need indicate. They, essentially pay for the mechanism, you pay for the rest.
I bought one and have it waiting for later. Right now it doesn't work for him because he forgets how to operate it. You cannot get up from the reclining position without using the control to lift the chair. My sil has one for her dh and has used it 3 years. He cannot walk and he cannot get to a standing position himself so with her using the controls it is great. She would not have been able to keep him home without it. I would recommend trying one out before buying. My used one came through the local free ad paper and it looks like new and I paid $300. for it.
My husband also seems to fear the toilet. Hasn't been near it in months. We got a lift chair when he was first diagnosed and he never did like it. At first, because of the fact that it was so slow and later, he couldn't use the remote and he got "stuck" in it and panicked when he couldn't get out. Doesn't use it anymore either.
I forgot to mention, that as well as he is, he doesn't change his clothes without my prompting. As soon as he gets ready to take a shower, I just pick them up and put them in the laundry bag. He gets very upset with me if he sees me doing that. He says I just put those on or I just got those clean out of the drawer.
Another thing, he will dress himself in whatever is there. I have to pick out his clothes for church or if we are having company. That makes him upset, also. He says his 'other' clothes are plenty good enough. He's not trying to impress anyone.
I do try and not get in his face about this stuff, and I do try to be very discreet when I lay his things out.
This is just part of the disease. He's always been such a snappy dresser, I can hardly believe that he'd willingly wear old worn out jeans to church.
We put a 4x4 under the back legs/crosspiece of an old recliner, very firm, it didn't wiggle. When he pushed it back he could recline comfortably but it would tip him enough to get up when he leaned forward. The thing was from a thrift store and eventually just broke. Friends, dear friends, were determined to buy him a lift chair, and I took him to the store to see about it. He couldn't work it at all. We got a chair with no lift but with a push-button recline function, and he does seem to be able to make that work. I hate it, it's enormous.
I just changed the listing in my account from 3-4 to 4-5 because I think there's been some decline. But my husband can still ride a bicycle like a teenager. Of course he's done it all his life. This is important because it keeps us away from the driving problem and also is excellent exercise. I see nothing on other posts about bicycling. Does anybody have an idea in which stage this ability will be lost?
I am told even though Lynn can still talk and walk (shuffle) that he is in stage 7. His last score was a 4, we no longer test him. He doesn't know he has children, much less their names. But he still knows my name most days, bless his heart. He needs total care. He is wasting away. *sigh
danilep..... My husband has problems with frequent urination......meaning every 15-20 minutes. His urologist did suggest Detrol, but since husband is in the BAP study, it wasn't allowed. However, Saw Palmento WAS allowed! He takes 2 a day now and it seems to have helped. I really don't know if this is of any help to you, but it is over-the-counter.
My DH is beginning to have trouble with his signals. In other words, he will go to the bathroom, and come out saying that he sat down and nothing happened. e felt like he had to go, but didn't. I wonder if that's the beginning of incontenence. he has had a few fecal accidents but none recently.
jeanetteinholland, of course bicycling is much less an issue than the driving abilities- but too- at some point having the judgement even to know how to ride to stay safe will come into play. being able to ride in traffic or around people, cross streets, etc. will become harder as the decision making factors lessen. i have no clue what stage but i am sure you will be aware that his riding has taken a change and you will probably notice things he never did before. getting lost will probably be a first sign more than losing the riding ability. that can happen in earlier stages too. divvi
I just checked & on June 5th, I wrote that my husband doesn't do very well with the clean-up after going to the bathroom. Now, in just a little over a month, he has declined to the point where if I don't catch him going he will not use toilet paper at all. Things seem to be happening faster this year than previous.
I try to have my husband in an absolute routine, morning and night, sit on the toilet. And FOLD PAPER. He's really pretty well learned to do this automatically. Many times he doesn't go, and I just move the paper to where I can use it to help him clean up the next time. Now, during the day I will insist he go to the bathroom before we go out in the car, and he usually will, but sometimes he'll walk in, carefully pull some paper off the roll, drop it into the toilet, and flush. Then come out and be ready to go. Forgot something!
wash hands?? brush teeth?? Ah, no. But he reminds me of our second son who, at about 18 months, would carefully pull his little stool up to the toilet, push the seat up, pull down his pants, and go ssshhhhh with his mouth.
But whathehell, he's pretty happy with himself anyhow.
My husband had his appointment with the neurologist today. She agreed with the neuropsych that he has progressed form aMCI to EOAD. He mostly messed up on the season and month. Yet, when she asked for the date, he said July 13. go figure! She also ordered a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea which can contribute to memory problems.