My husband wears a watch, but can't tell time anymore. If he looks at a wall clock, he sees a different time than what it really shows. The same thing with a calendar, but not so bad.
My husband is 76 and has vascular dementia. I need to know the time etc.. But he doesn't and doesn't care. He still wears his watch too. I got him a big clock but I had to get a silent one because he hated the ticking. What bugs me is that when he gets up at 4 am and I tell him it's 5 hours until breakfast he has no clue what that really means. The only thing he is aware of is Sunday breakfast. "It must be Sunday because we have a good breakfast!" I do tell him every morning what day it is and what the plans for the day are.
Understanding calendars and clocks takes a kind of thinking that is taken away by the disease. In fact, some of the earlier tests (which some doctors still use) is to have the person with dementia draw a clock face. The doctor can track the deterioration of the brain by the deterioration of the person's ability to draw a clock face correctly.
I'd imagine that a calendar would be much the same. The ability to organize and plan is more about how the brain works than vision (though that matters, too, of course). Some of this works into making sense of a clock or calendar.
The thread here mentions watches which brought to mind other issues: My mother and my mother-in-law both needed to wear watches because they always had. My mom could have interpreted the numbers but they were small so she didn't really use it. She had large faced clocks all over - both digital and traditional. Still - when the watch battery ran down I was called at all hours to replace that battery (immediately!).
My MIL picked her skin (common with Alzheimer's) and got it so raw under her watch that we had to take her watch away to avoid serious infection. I got her a watch on a neck chain so she had something but it never was right. None of it was about time - it was about the familiar.
Much of what we do as caregivers is to try to provide a sense of calm, which often means keeping things as familiar as possible. So, whether or not a watch can be read isn't always the point.
One of my clients had three watches. She claimed she could not see the numbers. A Swatch watch with large numbers worked for about 3 months. She wore a watch because she always had. If a person has Early Onset Alz (EAOD), then more expensive digital clocks might be a waste of money. But if the disease is progressing slowly and the constant questioning drives you crazy, then buy one for your piece of mind. Sometimes, I answer the time questions repeatedly because it allows me to connect with a person. My trick is knowing that it takes 5 secs to answer a time question. It takes longer to point to a clock.
Hi yes very very typical with dementia and will drive you insane. mum used to ask me at least 15 times a day what time of day it was and was utterly fixated on it. She is on what is called Aricept in the US now and it works for her (although it doesn't for a lot of people). There is something you can buy although be warned it is expensive. It will now need to be a digital clock not an analogue and you can get talking clocks too where you just press the button on the top and its tells the time. Google clock for dementia and you will see a whole host come up and you can then choose what would be best for you.
Yes! Very common. My mom in law wears a watch every day and it might as well just be a bracelet. It's just a lifelong habit and she feels strange without it on her wrist. I found her a large format digital clock that not only displays the time, but the date, written as for example: "Sunday" "November 29 2015" not "11/29/2015" "Sun" It was on Amazon.com and I think I searched clocks for Alzheimer's patients. It has helped her a lot. But we understand that at some point all of this is going to be just useless, just helps for now. We also do a print off calendar every month with doc's appts, church and maybe movies we want to watch and holidays and such and she crosses off the days with our help every morning. That has been a huge help. God Bless and help you in your caregiving!
Tried a digital clock, calendar and a wipe off white board. Nothing helped FIL, but it did orient US! Sometimes we don't leave the house for days or have time to read the paper, so never know what day it is for sure unless we turn on TV!
Jessie's right. As to dates, my sister bought a large calendar and developed a small ritual of crossing off each day at the end of that day. What also might be done is to get a calendar of soothing photos, such as baby animals, so that looking at the calendar also becomes a pattern of activity to help provide orientation.
Although I don't like the digital clocks, they might be of more help in orienting as to time because the instant conclusion of large and small hand placement on traditional clocks doesn't have to be made.
Time and date can be so tricky for someone with dementia. It's like there is a distorted pathway in the brain when it comes to time. What my father did was had a station that had simple numbers for that day. It had the year, the month, the day, and a digital clock. I believe it helped him stay oriented. He also had a little weather station next to it that would show the temperature outside and inside.
He used to get the newspaper every day. This helped to orient him. I'm glad that the paper didn't change its schedule until after he died. It comes only 3 times a week now. That would have been hard for him. People with dementia depend so much on familiarity. If something changes, it can make them disoriented. (I saw this yesterday when there was a strange service at the church. My mother got so disoriented that she became distraught.)
What bugs me is that when he gets up at 4 am and I tell him it's 5 hours until breakfast he has no clue what that really means. The only thing he is aware of is Sunday breakfast. "It must be Sunday because we have a good breakfast!"
I do tell him every morning what day it is and what the plans for the day are.
I'd imagine that a calendar would be much the same. The ability to organize and plan is more about how the brain works than vision (though that matters, too, of course). Some of this works into making sense of a clock or calendar.
The thread here mentions watches which brought to mind other issues:
My mother and my mother-in-law both needed to wear watches because they always had. My mom could have interpreted the numbers but they were small so she didn't really use it. She had large faced clocks all over - both digital and traditional. Still - when the watch battery ran down I was called at all hours to replace that battery (immediately!).
My MIL picked her skin (common with Alzheimer's) and got it so raw under her watch that we had to take her watch away to avoid serious infection. I got her a watch on a neck chain so she had something but it never was right. None of it was about time - it was about the familiar.
Much of what we do as caregivers is to try to provide a sense of calm, which often means keeping things as familiar as possible. So, whether or not a watch can be read isn't always the point.
Take care,
Carol
If a person has Early Onset Alz (EAOD), then more expensive digital clocks might be a waste of money. But if the disease is progressing slowly and the constant questioning drives you crazy, then buy one for your piece of mind.
Sometimes, I answer the time questions repeatedly because it allows me to connect with a person. My trick is knowing that it takes 5 secs to answer a time question. It takes longer to point to a clock.
Although I don't like the digital clocks, they might be of more help in orienting as to time because the instant conclusion of large and small hand placement on traditional clocks doesn't have to be made.
He used to get the newspaper every day. This helped to orient him. I'm glad that the paper didn't change its schedule until after he died. It comes only 3 times a week now. That would have been hard for him. People with dementia depend so much on familiarity. If something changes, it can make them disoriented. (I saw this yesterday when there was a strange service at the church. My mother got so disoriented that she became distraught.)