New member - quick question

Hello! I've been looking for something like this because there's soooooo much information on Alzheimer's and it can be confusing. Especially when the information I read doesn't match up with what I'm seeing. My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a yearish ago, although I've been seeing signs of it for at least 5 years.

I had a question for y'all: A month or so ago, my grandmother fell out of bed and hurt her back. She went to the ER and they gave her pain killers. After she started taking those, she seems to be declining at an alarming rate. She couldn't walk by herself, couldn't figure out how to stand up, etc. Plus, her back was killing her, so that didn't make anything easier. So, they went back to the emergency room and the doctor gave her a pain patch on top of another strong painkiller. Long story short, she ended up in the hospital for a few days. They were giving her too much, and she was confused and not eating. After the medicine was out of her system she was back to her normal self. Anywho, that gave us a glimpse of what she may be like in the near future. So, my grandfather and mother were looking into Alzheimer facilities were my grandmother could go for a few hours maybe once a week, just so they could have some down time (I try to go to their house as much as possible, but my grandmother always has to know where my grandfather is, so it's not much of a break for him). Soooooooo, my question is, how do we get her prepared for a day stay at the facility? Would they let me go with her until she felt more comfortable there? I don't think she'll handle it well, just because she'll be away from her husband. When I take her out for a manicure or whatever, the whole time she's worried that he doesn't know where she is or something'll happen to him. So even though the break would be great for him, would the stress be too much for her to handle? I'm reading a book on Alzheimer's right now, and it's saying that stress + Alzheimer's = BIG NO NO! Sorry for rambling... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

She's on Rimyl, I think it's called, and she's also participating in a drug study for something else that I don't know the name of. But we don't know if she's getting the drug or the placebo. And she's on Zoloft for depression. I don't know if she takes anything else.

****Soooooooo, my question is, how do we get her prepared for a day stay at the facility? Would they let me go with her until she felt more comfortable there?***

IMO, tell her as little as possible about the details. Perhaps mention the doctor ordered some "tests" or "therapy". The staff at the facility will know how to handle her.

BTW, what pain meds did they give her?

Pat

Thanks for the info. Glad she appears to be having a good time at day care. Sometimes change is rough.

Some pain meds can exacerbate dementia. It might be a good idea to research that and speak to the staff the next time she needs pain control meds.

My mom had breast cancer surgery under a local (at my insistance) and I spent a goodly amount of time with the surgeon and anesthesiologist making clear that, in order for them to do the surgery, they needed to follow certain protocols regarding mom's dementia. They didn't particularly like it, but those were my terms. She had no ill effects from the sedation and pain meds they gave her.

Just something to keep in mind for the future. Many meds which don't bother us can really bother a dementia patient and often the effects aren't reversible.

Hope everything continues to go smoothly. That's the best gift

Pat

Pat, thank you so much. I knew that about pain medication, but not about anesthetics, though. We only learned about the bad effects of pain medication after the medication had already messed her up. Luckily, that was reversable. But the nerologist she saw at the hospital explained why it happened (we just thought she was progressing quickling with the AD). I trust him, because he's also my nerologist. This is the main reason why I joined this community. I need to know more about Alzheimer's so can help prevent something like this from happening again. I'm glad everything went good for your mom's surgery.

SnowLynne, that's wonderful your doctors were so understanding and willing to work with you. How's your arm doing now?

<i>If a person is predisposed to AD,not much you can do to stop it.</i>
Stop what?

How'd you tear your rotator cuff? Pain medication, even over the counter stuff, makes me feel strange, so I try not to take them. I find that a nap cures any headache, backache, any ache that I have except for my hand pain, which I have a prescription for, though I have yet to take it because the side effects scare me.

eeks! sound rather painful.

My doctor just diagnosed me with osteoarthritis, too. I don't believe him, though.

I've had pain in my wrists since I was 17 (I'm 20 now). I don't believe the diagnosis because he didn't tell me, he let the pharmacy tell me, which I think is strange. So I'm going to my normal doctor Wednesday to see what she thinks about this. If she tells me I have it, then I'll believe her.