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This may have been answered before but I have been away from this board for awhile. My husband now 14 months in memory care has become very combative and they have increased the medication against this.  Does it follow the stages of progression? God bless

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Mom is getting more and more combative. Thank goodness she's immobile, else she would also be chasing the hallucinations probably. Whenever I, or anyone else, is messing with her, she hits, bites, scratches and makes awful threats. She was always the most loving, peaceful woman so I don't know where she learned these behaviors. She has vascular dementia for about 12 years now. We are trying generic Zyprexa for the combativeness. Tiny dosage right now, but she has such a sensitivity to medicines. Wish there was a sure cure. What medication are they giving your husband?
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It does follow the progression unfortunately. My friend kept her husband home until he was so bad the neighbors called police. He would leave the house in pursuit of bad hallucinations, yelling at them.
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From what I read on these boards, it is not that uncommon. I will say that I haven't seen much of it in my cousin's Memory Care facility. The only trouble that I am familiar with is that her second roommate tore some of my cousin's things off the wall and destroyed them. The staff told me that they had written her up. (I'm not sure how that works.) But, they moved my cousin into another room and things are now just fine. I also found out that this same lady would pull the lever on the fire alarms too. I got the feeling that she was difficult to control.

How long have they been trying to adjust your husband's medication? Does he have a geriatric psychiatrist? I'd discuss it with the staff at the Memory Care facility, but depending on how severe his combative behavior is, I might see if they could have him evaluated by a geriatric psychiatrist.

Does he have access to a hospital where he could go to get his meds adjusted? Depending on how severe the problem, that might be an option.

Also, have him checked out for a UTI. That can cause strange behavior.

And what about pain? Does he have any medical conditions that might be causing him pain? Sometimes, pain that the patient cannot verbalize makes them act out. He may be able to talk, but just not able to relate the information about the pain.

Yes, I think that being combative can be part of the progression of the illness, but, not all patients encounter it.

Does your husband have Vascular dementia, Alzheimers, Lewy Body, etc?
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