Her delusions are not consistent. Some days she is lucid and some days she insists she’s in jail and the staff at the AL is holding her hostage. She also thinks my brother and I are stealing from her. She is a very negative person. She's healthy otherwise with no other conditions. To have her formally diagnosed isn't an option; she can't leave her bed.My question is this..Do Alzheimer’s meds stem the progression of the disease (I know it doesn’t reverse the damage)? For those of you who take (or has a parent taking) the meds, do they help? Are there severe side effects? I’ve been reading, but don't have clear answers. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks to all.
Let her be in her world without prolonging her misery . There are meds like Seroquel if she seems in distress by her delusions .
At 95, and bedridden and helpless, there honestly doesn't need to be thought of "making this go away". Your dear mom is at the end of life, and the losses there in being still alive mount exponentially.
In fact as an RN I can tell you that we go straight back to infancy, and end in the fetal position, unable to eat or drink, and without speech. It is very sad to have to be forced to make this journey to its end, but you can rest assured that there is at this point nothing in pill form that can arrest the downward trajectory. Nor in any form other than pills.
Science is still searching for the answers. But at the beginning of my nursing career, many decades ago, there was nothing but "senility".
We now know through research that there are many kinds of dementia that come to us from a complicated predisposing set of factor we cannot imagine. Like cancer, it takes very many forms.
And there is simply no cure we know of, nor is there anything to arrest the progression.
That said from what you have described and her age is there really a point to getting a diagnosis?
I suppose one of the reasons to get an accurate diagnosis is be able to provide medications that can help with the delusions. These have to be frightening for her. The paranoia and anxiety as well.
Unfortunately some medications that are prescribed for many with the delusions, anxiety can do harm to people with some forms of dementia.
At this point no medication will help in slowing the decline. And as you have stated there really is no point in slowing it now.
What you might want to do now is see if mom would qualify for Hospice.
Hospice does not mean that she is at the end of life, what it does mean is that you and she will get more support, more care. A Nurse will see her 1 time a week, more often if needed. A CNA will give her a bed bath or if it is possible a bath or shower. (both are possible with the right equipment)
All medications and supplies she needs will be provided and covered by Medicare, Medicaid.
And you will have a Social Worker, Chaplain, that will be part of the Team. And many Hospice have Music therapist, Massage, as well as other people that can help that can be requested.
What you can do now is keep mom as comfortable as possible.
When she is lucid keep telling her that you are there for her and that she is safe.
By the time he was at the stage your mother is, we did a test suggested by his doctor: Stop the Aricept and see if he declines more rapidly. Kept a daily record of
symptoms for a few weeks before we stopped the medication; hallucinations, anger, all of it. Then stopped the medication. His decline after stopping it was about the same. So doctor recommended we stop Aricept altogether as there were side effects and it was no longer helping him.
The Memantine caused chronic UTI's with Mom. Once I took her off, these stopped.
I did not find that the Memantine delayed the advancement of his symptoms at all. We did not notice any severe side effects with Memantine. It did not stem the progression.
He is now 92 and takes Seroquel to help settle him and allow him to rest. I find that this med has helped him get a good night's sleep. He also has 24 hour in home care and has been on hospice for about 4 weeks.
So he has been on a steady decline since age 90.
He has delusions and hallucinations. Recently his agitation was so bad that the caregiver suspected a UTI. The hospice nurse gave him antibiotics w/o testing him. It seemed to curb his agitation. He is still confused, mostly in the evenings, but not agitated.
I this offers you some help.