I am my 86 year old Mom's caregiver. About a month ago, she was diagnosed with dementia by her doctor, I am still waiting for the neurologist to determine what type of dementia. This is all new to me.
Problem 1: My mother sleeps all night, and talks a lot while sleeping and sleeps all day. They say this is normal. ??
2: She fights with me about taking her medication. She thinks I am overdosing her.
3: She constantly has nausea and at times is vomiting. The doctors can not find the reason for this or a medication that will help her.
4: Even though she has nausea, she gets hunger pains. She could eat breakfast in the morning and at about an hour later she is starving again. This is all day long, so she is eating all day long.
5: I feel bad when I have to leave her alone because I am afraid something will happen to her. But I have two jobs.
I am new to this form, so sorry for so many questions at one time.
Thank you
Refusing medication is pretty common. Ask her doctor if you can put the pills in food so she doesn’t know she’s taking them.
If shes eating all day, she may just be too full, and that’s why she’s vomiting. Keep up with the doctors on that. And, if she feels the need to eat, give her very light meals, like cheese and crackers, fruit, jell-o, etc.
It concerns me that she’s being left alone. Can you enlist the help of another family member or even have a home care aide come in to check on her?
she dreams vividly every night & talks in her sleep. Luckily the dreams are good not nightmares but she believes her dreams really happen. If she dreams my sister visits and they are going out to EAT she gets up & gets ready! Come to think of it usually it’s a dream about going to eat that causes her to believe wholeheartedly. The other thing is she also forgets she ate or drank so somedays 15 minutes after a meal she’s asking when that meal will be served. I’ve started taking pictures of her eating but she’ll usually say that was some other day. I prepare carrots, celery,strawberries, apple slices & hand her just a bit between meals. I’ve told her caregivers to reduce portions by 1/2 & go ahead & prepare another plate when she asks. It’s hard with the CHF fluid restrictions, I can’t allow her to get to out of hand but I can’t have her angry & feeling deprived either. Caregiving is often a balance. Mom doesn’t get nauseous but she does have incesstant itching. We did drug investigation, changed shampoos, soap, creams, laundry detergents etc. She gets some relief but not much. Oh the suspicion of poisoning with pills is a 4/5 day occurrence around here. If I don’t hear it, I worry! Good luck, stay strong & take care of you too.
Try to find activities for her during the day that will keep her alert.