Hospital placement due to aggression - no nursing he will take him until aggressive behavior under control - any help would be so nice - my husband is 59 and was diagnosed at 53 - I can no longer take care of him and he was just sent to a hospital yesterday -
I can only tell you that my husband became so aggressive & violent that he was taken away by the police and involuntarily committed for 72-hrs in a lockdown facility. I was told that his care facility would not take him back unless he was medicated and no longer violent. I never thought they could accomplish that, but they did get him under control and he was re-admitted to the facility. I hope the same outcome for you and your husband. I know you cannot take care of him the way he is. Let the hospital try, they will do their best. You have my understanding.
Yes I have just gone through the very same thing and he spent a week in the hospital. They did get his aggressive behavior under control and he was able to go back to the care facility. He is only 61 and just newly placed in care and it was not an easy adjustment. I can just imagine how fearful and confusing it must be for them and if the meds can make them calm and happy, I'm all for it. Good Luck with your husband.
katiemikaelian, Hospital placement to get aggression under control is a frequent occurrence for ALZ patients. While the hospital doctors are working to find the meds that work you might want to ask the hospital social worker for facility recommendations. Finding one that you feel good about can take time. He is so young and in my experience some facilities have no clue about taking care of a younger, physically active ALZ person. You might also want to consider calling your Adult Social Service office and ask for assistance in finding a facility. If you have reached the point that you know you can no longer take care of him, in my humble opinion, I would not let them discharge him back home. My DH was officially diagnosed at 64 but I know he had symptoms several years earlier. He has been in LTC for 3 and a half years and is still physically active. All of this is so hard, but on Joan's website you will find understanding friends and excellent advice. We are here and we care.
Katie, I'm another member who went through the same experience with my husband who was 58 at the time. Police came because he was physically violent, arrested him and involuntarily confined for 72 hours in a psych hospital to work out meds to calm behaviors. In our case it took 4 weeks in hospital to get him calm. Doctors refused to release him home because he was a safety risk to me. Only 1 ALF would take him due to his behaviors, so we really didn't have a choice.
I agree with AliM, it can be very difficult to find a facility that has a younger, more functioning population that will accept your husband, so get advice from the hospital social worker, social services and if you have some extra cash available, perhaps hire a geriatric care manager for the specific purpose of finding a suitable facility for your husband. Make sure the care manager does not receive a "placement bonus" for placing your spouse in a facility. Many accept "kickbacks" and I feel if they do, then they really aren't unbiased in their recommendations. The way to find out is to be up front and ask. You can find a certified care manager at www.caremanager.org.
This is hard and I wish you success during these trying times.
ps if you use a "Place for Mom" referral service, just know in advance the facilities pay to be listed.
The psychiatrist (she is temporary and will leave 10/10 and the permanent psych will be back) thinks my wife should be moved to a facility with younger residents. Where? It doesn't exist. And I don't think it would help, my wife insists that residents at her cognitive level are really way beneath her (she also insists she is smarter than various staff). If L was with people at a higher cognitive level they would possibly ignore her, partly because she has lost all of her social skills.
I strongly suggest a good geriatric care manager to help with the search, I wish I did it a year ago, she would have initially been placed in a better ALF the first time around. A geriatric care manager should assess the person just like an ALF which would help focus on an appropriate one. They should also know which ALFs are top tier, my wife's first ALF was not (it was a Sunrise). One of my first questions were "Are you paid by LTC facilities that you recommend." The answer was no, I am the only person paying them. Some people who do get kickbacks are unbiased and very helpful, but best to avoid any temptation to steer people to a particular facility.
paul, when dh was put in a facility 6 years ago he was quite functional. He slept in a room in the dementia wing but the facility management tried to "main stream" him with the regular ALF residents during the days because he was so functional. He was rejected by the men's club which were much older but had no "memory" issues. I think there were several reasons for that - groups in facilities tend not to accept newcomers, they knew he was in the memory unit at night and perhaps he was not quite at their level. He still had good social skills, could do crossword puzzles, spoke well and coherently but the men would not accept him. Only the older women who wanted to gossip accepted him.
I only mention this because it is possible that L could be ignored by more functional residents, for whatever reason.
When I was looking for an ALF over a year ago the director of the local Emeritus recommended that L go to the dementia floor. Said she could be allowed to visit the other floors but that the residents on the regular floors tended to be mean and would make fun of anyone's shortcomings. That the residents on MC were much more accepting.
You might call your regional nursing home ombudsman - he or she has a lot of experience as to which homes might be a good fit. In our case, it was one with a lock down psych wing that was also rated highly on the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website. (Always check facilities there - the ratings are based on inspections and you can read their violations and reports). My partner had to be hospitalized for medication adjustment/aggression 3 different times. The rage seemed associated with loss of abilities, in his case specifically toileting and speech loss. He later was gotten off the antipsychotic drugs they put him on (after suffering a blood clot and seizures from them) and functions without aggression now. But the result of the crisis from the side effects left him far more disabled (due to breaking shoulder and hip during event). He too was in a facility prior to this that advertised they were adept at Alzheimer's care, but in fact didn't have a clue or staff to monitor a young, mobile person with dementia. Look for a facility that has both an ALZ and a Psych unit - they are better able to cope with these folks. He is now in with the general population, as the dementia unit there is too much stimulation (noise from people sundowning, too crowded). He needs more quiet.