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My 65 year old sister lives in a nursing home near me. I moved her l here last year She had been in a PCH that did not work out. She has done pretty good until this past month. She stays awake for hours and goes through the home causing the disruption of the other patients by going into their rooms, getting in their beds, pulling and grabbing at the caregivers and recently started taking her clothes off. She makes noises that sound like she is saying, ready to go. That is my interpretation. She started eating with her hands, she is walking with short steps and she falls occasionally but usually she just flops down wherever she is. and just sits. When she first went in to the nursing home, she would stand and fall so they put her in a soft restraint. They still walked her every day and she seemed to get better but then her behavior got much worse and her sleeping habits were down the tubes, so to speak. The history of her downfall started in 2007 when she began to get reprimands at work until she was fired, the day before her 61rst birthday after 43 years, She lost her health, dental and life insurance. I did not know this until the day she was fired.Her husband at that time, talked her into cashing out all her funds, so she had nothing. She cashed that in 2005, I think. After her husband died, she really started losing it. (This was her second husband that helped her spend her retirement ahead of time). Her house was in foreclosure and they had declared bankruptcy 2 times in 11 years of marriage.She was in a major crisis. She still had another year before she could get her social security. One of her nurses said she might have had a nervous breakdown but anyway, I am wound up trying to figure out what she has. She spent almost a month, last summer, in a neuro psych ward but they said she had a UTI..The NH she is in has been great. They did move her today to a facility that checks their meds, to see if that is the cause, but someone in the medical field mentioned Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus so I looked it up and it sounds like it could be that. I don't know. I am grasping at everything to find out something. I am sorry this is so long.

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I'm dealing with a doctor that had mistaken my late father's NPH as Dementia and he doesn't believe me when I tell him that he handled all of his affairs till the day he died...
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I actually live with a shunt for hydrocephalus, and provide consulting and monitoring for hydrocephalus & NPH, and put on drum circle workshops for brain health & wellness. Have they done a CT or MRI yet? Has she been worked up by a Neurologist? You can get confusion and changes in cognition in NPH. But not typically sleep changes and bizarre behavior, that sounds more like Alzheimer's or dementia. If she did have NPH, outcomes generally run pretty good after surgical insertion of a shunt. And when it doesn't, families sometimes come to me for help.
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My mom had NPH. She exhibited no behaviors such as you speak of. She would sleep most of the day away and then sleep all night. The NPH also affected her gait. She would walk with tiny shuffled steps. A MRI of her brain was done and thus the diagnosis of NPH. She also started exhibiting the classic dementia symptoms such as not eating properly, incontinence, forgetting things etc. The doctor said as we age, our brain becomes smaller and the space is replaced with water. Smoking for years helped it along. Had she not been so far along, he said they had good success inserting a shunt to remove the water, but my mom was too far advanced to help. I hope you get a good diagnosis and some help. God Bless.
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As far as finances go, have you applied for Soc. Sec. Disability? It sure would help her! It may take time, but they will back pay you from the month it was applied for if she qualifies.
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it was called " bullhead clap" when i was a young soldier.. rumor had it that the doc would slam your p***s with a wooden mallet. i stayed out of the hor houses. didnt want to test the rumor for myself.
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Google "60 Minutes + NPH" and you'll see a good segment about it. What you're saying about your sister doesn't sound like what I know of the illness, but I'm certainly not a doctor. I have a neighbor who's husband has NPH and a friend who's dad has it. I believe their symptoms were more in line with Alzheimers, with the classic shuffling walk that NPH folks have. Good luck with getting your sister a good diagnosis. Please let us know how you do.
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