Any suggestions?

Forget-me-not

New Member

Joined : Jul 2003

Posts : 13

Posted 12/10/2003 1:07 AM (GMT 0)

Hi, everyone:

My mom (95) is getting worse with the alzheimers disease these past 3 months. She is now in a phase where she talks and talks continually (not making any sense), for hours, mostly 6 to 8 hours straight non-stop. Day or night it doesn't matter, as she has no perception of time. My sister looks after her full time, and her nerves are shot listening to it. We are also concerned for our Mom's health, as she is exhausted after all that talking. A lot of the talking includes crying and begging sounds, and sounds like a wounded animal. It is really depressing seeing our mother like this. Is there anything we can do for Mom, some kind of medication or something to calm her down? Any suggestions to deal with this?

For-get-me-not

PDUB

New Member

Joined : Dec 2003

Posts : 3

Posted 12/12/2003 2:40 PM (GMT 0)

I've just a quick moment having just read your post. My name is Paul, I posted just before yours about stopping the Aricept.

Since we have discontinued it over two months ago, we've seen the rapid decline we knew would come. It seems we all have a goal in mind, after mom asked us numerous times if there was anything we could do to give her peace, to give it to her became our goal. She'd been on the medication for nearly 6 yrs. We decided it was time to let her go, and she has been less agitated recently as a result. So we think we've accomplished what we'd set out to do. But as you know, our expectations always have to change with Alzheier's disease. So at any time, the agitation may return. A day at a time, yes?

Now for your goal. Be specific about it with her doctor. Does your mom have a physician that is used to working with the elderly, specifically Alzheimer's patients? Her constant speaking could be a result of agitation? My mom is taking and tolerating Celexa and Remeron for depression, maybe this would help yours? I'll be back later with links to a site where you can compare medications, and another excellent site that has quite a bit of activity.

Paul

Forget-me-not

New Member

Joined : Jul 2003

Posts : 13

Posted 12/12/2003 4:18 PM (GMT 0)

Hi, Paul:

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciated hearing from someone regarding this alzheimer's problem.

Yes, our mother has a good doctor. He only looks after the elderly, and is quite experienced. We will definately ask him about those anti-depressants you mentioned, when she goes in for her next check-up. The Alzheimer's Society nurse that comes once per week to visit mom and my sister, said to give mom "gravol", as the side effect from the medication will calm her down. I wasn't too impressed with this suggestion, and was worried about it interfering with mom's heart failure condition, etc.

We stilll take our mother out with us for " lunch out" once a week, and she seems to enjoy it. She even has a few moments of wisdom, once in a while, when she remembers who we are, etc.

Hope to hear from you again, Paul. Sincerely, Lorna. (Forget-me-not)

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