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beenthere60 Asked August 2015

Why can she remember when it is important to HER but not when she doesn't think it is important?

When my 95 year old Aunt was diagnosed with a UTI, I let her know that a UTI can sometimes get serious enough to send her to the hospital. I also explained again about water and how important it is to change her Poise pad. Up to that point it was a daily fight to get her to drink enough water and get her to understand the necessity of changing her Poise pads even if it didn't feel wet to her. On the 2nd full day of taking the medicine, she woke up feeling the urge but unable to pee and it freaked her out. (I did call doc office). Well I'll tell you that day I never had to remind her about either. She drank twice as much water and changed that pad WAY more times than necessary. She didn't have any trouble remembering to do it. The next day, without the scare of not peeing and the burning becoming less painful, all of a sudden we are right back where we were. My mind tells me that when it is important to HER....when SHE believes something will help her, then she remembers. But, now it isn't important anymore so we are right back where we started. She has never understood the need for all this water, which is why she never drank ANY her whole life. And I mean that literally. And she has never believed me when I tell her that her pad is wet when it doesn't feel wet cause she can't see it or smell it. So, my question is am I right. If SHE decides its important, no trouble remembering. But if SHE doesn't think it is important, memory problems galore. I am frustrated about this.

Lovestinks Sep 2015
I caregive for my 83yr old MIL. Drinking water is always an issue. If she drinks she has to go. If her back hurts she drinks less so she doesn't have to get up to go. What I do is...I don't serve ice with water anymore that was a problem, not sure why. I mentioned the frequent urination to the Dr., she prescribed Ditropan. Then I started the drinking game, I need to drink water too so I would hand her a glass...obviously smaller than mine, and toast to things I know she likes, sometimes it ends up in a ridiculous game of toasting the mailbox, the tissues etc. For us it works, her lips a visibly better her headaches are less frequent, her bowel movements are regular and I don't have to worry about her getting the dreaded UTI from dehydration. You know at first I thought she would feel belittled with my water drinking "game" but it seems like she looks forward to it...I think it also helps that I drink with her cause she feels like she is the one helping me drink, she actually is....

Salisbury Sep 2015
It is the disease.

I had similar frustration with my husband not wearing or caring for his hearing aids.

Here is the quick and easy solution: I take care of it myself. I set up a time to change the batteries and tips of the hearing aids. Then he can hear and I am not in a constant state of frustration.

So my recommendation to you is: put the glass of water on the table at each meal, no food until she drinks it, and for "dessert" she get s new pad to change.

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Countrymouse Sep 2015
Well, when you are old and tired and remembering anything is a massive effort, it makes a certain frail sense to concentrate only on the things you really care about - for as long as you're able to concentrate on anything at all. Your aunt, once the uti was under control, thought the equivalent of 'thank goodness that's over' and went back to normality.

It is frustrating, and you can't help feeling that the person is sort of doing it on purpose to be provoking, but in reality there is no intent and it isn't even wholly illogical. Try remembering that your priorities are not necessarily hers even though it is her welfare you're concerned about, so save your breath when it comes to reminders and run your own checks regardless.

Jinx4740 Sep 2015
I've noticed with my husband that he remembers what he dislikes better than he remembers what he likes.
My shrink always asks me, "Does that belief empower you?" If it gives you satisfaction to think they forget on purpose, go ahead and think that! If it makes you feel unloved and angry to think that, please choose a different explanation. Our life is so hard already. We should try as hard as we can to accept what can't be changed. And the truth is that they don't have the brainpower left to be considerate.
Cultivate serenity because serenity feels SO GOOD!

laurabutler28 Sep 2015
You are trying to be logical with a Demenia patient. Time to rethink your approach. Maybe a reward system would work better.

blannie Aug 2015
I see this in my 95-year old mom all of the time. Things that are very important stay for a moment, then are gone, with no consistency.

My mom lives in a senior care facility and last week a man came in a window on the first floor at night and sexually assaulted a woman. When we talked about it at 10 PM that night, when it was on the news, my mom was understandably very concerned about it (she lives on the 4th floor, BTW). By the next day, she'd forgotten about it. She then called me twice about a notice she'd gotten about a community meeting on the subject. She couldn't remember we'd just talked about it a half hour before.

I doubt your aunt is forgetting on purpose, I think their brains at that age just come in and out of clarity, with no rhyme or reason. That's been my experience with my mom anyway. I've "experimented" with drilling her on something to see if she can remember it. She'll remember it for the time we're drilling on it, then 30 minutes later, it's gone. Pffffft.

Jnelson Sep 2015
No symptoms, no urgency, no remembering. Salisbury has it all right. Go with her suggestions and attitude. Your aunt really doesn't remember her UTI and her lack of vision and sense of smell don't help.

OzarkOlly Sep 2015
I see this all the time with my mom who has dementia. Every time we go to the doctor she assumes it's to evaluate her need for a nursing home & immediately starts saying she doesn't want to go to a home. She's as alert & sharp as a tack the whole doctor visit & it blows me away how well she passes the orientation questions asked by the doctor & how skillfully she covers when she's not certain how to answer. It must take every ounce of energy & concentration her brain can muster, though, because the INSTANT we leave the appointment & she doesn't have to be "on" any longer, she's as DIS-oriented as I've ever seen her & she's like that for the remainder of the day.

Salisbury Sep 2015
The thing of it is here that the line or responsibility can be a moving target. I often don't know what is my responsibility and what is my husband's and when does that change and to what degree. If I do too much, he feels that I am babying him. So, I have to tread carefully.

This doesn't sound too important when it is about the batteries in hearing aid. But imagine how important this becomes when it is about paying bills. The other week he snatched a bill from my hands, with generous intentions to pay it for me. but then he forgot it for two weeks.

That sort of thing makes me nervous. He does it with our tax bills, too! But I have decided that the worst that can happen is that he pays one late and gets the penalty charge. Maybe that will induce him to hand them over.

tooyoung Sep 2015
I heard it explained this way: We only have so many spots on our short-term memory "shelf." They sit there until they get processed into long-term memory, where we'll remember, or they "fall off" the shelf, because something else bumped it off and we forget. As we get older, the shelf get smaller and fewer things fit on it. With Alzheimer's, there is a barrier between short and long-term memory, so things do not get processed into long-term memory.

My husband has Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), which a problem with executive functions, such as making decisions, following instructions. Sometimes he remembers how to do things and sometimes not. I hear it explained that it is like a filing system, where someone came and threw all of the papers in a pile. Sometimes you can find something quickly and sometimes not.

One of the symptoms of LBD is egocentric, being self centered, it's all about them. That sounds very selfish, but when you realize that they are able to control less and less of their body and mind, the rest of the world is not so important.

This has helped me understand and be more compassionate, and it helps me explain LBD to other people. It also helps to think of this, when I get frustrated.

I heard some of the above on videos by Teepa Snow on youtube, and from others along the way.

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