They are sending her to a geropsych unit because she is hitting the staff. My nightmares never end. I should of had her come home, omg, I’m so worried about her ...what are these places like ?
My mom fell and broke her pelvis and her back. They gave her so many pain meds she went berserk. They put her in the phych. Hospital for 2 weeks. Basically they took her off her medicine and started over. Everyone was very nice there. We did not visit too much. They helped her so much. She has some New depression meds and is now off the pain meds and is at home and doing fine again. I too was horrified of the name behavioral phych. Unit. It was a wonderful blessing for us all. Mama is so much happier and her anxiety level is not through the roof anymore! She has moderate dementia.
I'd try to focus more on mom getting relief from her symptoms and not the name of the unit. If she was so agitated that she was hitting people, then she must have been pretty scared and or upset. Hopefully, the hospital can figure a way to treat her so she will feel better and not be so upset. There's no way to predict the course that someone's dementia will go. Regardless, we provide the best care that we can with what we have available. No need to second guess that.
Hello, I am sorry to hear about this situation. Are you close by? You should be able to go and see the facility and evaluate if you think it is an appropriate place. If your mother was being physically violent having her in a psychiatric unit may be the safest thing for her and for the staff. Was she violent before? If not, have her medications changed? If this is a drastic change of behavior I would definitely explore the causes. But if this is something that has been escalating, she may need the psych unit in order to get a handle on things. Hopefully, you will be able to go and visit and speak with the doctor and nurses to find relieve your worry. Best of luck to you Margaret
No she never acted like this at home , that’s why I’m so surprised ,,she has a UTI and I hope this will help her ..I’m a RN but know nothing about psych patients ,,,I always picture one flew over the coo coo ‘s nest sort of thing ...yes she is scared I’m sure that’s a lot of it
Thank you so much for your insight ,,I knew it was coming to this ,,I want Mom and to be happy and I want her to enjoy what she has left and being miserable with Alzehemiers and dementia is not the way to do it ..the visiting hours are 3 to 5 daily so I will go see her Tommrow
Thank you so much I am feeling better and taking it one day at a time ...tomorrow I’ll go see her and I just want what ever years she has left to be happy ,,hugs to all of you I don’t know what I’d do without you
She has a UTI? OMG, even older people without dementia can behave in very strange and scary ways with a UTI! Just getting that cleared up will help a lot. And the psych ward should be able to help a whole lot more with anxiety and reactions to meds.
Keep us informed of how this plays out. We learn from each other!
Ditto on Jeanne's answer. Once the UTI is cleared up, the psych doc will have a much better idea of what the problem is (if there's even any aggression after the infection is gone). It will probably be straightened out real soon. Try not to worry.
Please do not be afraid of a psych ward. In my lifetime, my mother has been admitted to one at least 30 times. This is because she would not take her meds for bipolar correctly. When we started monitoring her medications, she had very few visits to the psych ward. I can't remember one that was bad.
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/what-do-they-do-in-a-geriatric-psychiatric-unit-432573.htm
I'd try to focus more on mom getting relief from her symptoms and not the name of the unit. If she was so agitated that she was hitting people, then she must have been pretty scared and or upset. Hopefully, the hospital can figure a way to treat her so she will feel better and not be so upset. There's no way to predict the course that someone's dementia will go. Regardless, we provide the best care that we can with what we have available. No need to second guess that.
I am sorry to hear about this situation. Are you close by? You should be able to go and see the facility and evaluate if you think it is an appropriate place. If your mother was being physically violent having her in a psychiatric unit may be the safest thing for her and for the staff.
Was she violent before? If not, have her medications changed? If this is a drastic change of behavior I would definitely explore the causes. But if this is something that has been escalating, she may need the psych unit in order to get a handle on things. Hopefully, you will be able to go and visit and speak with the doctor and nurses to find relieve your worry.
Best of luck to you
Margaret
I hope your Mom is doing okay in psych. unit. I hope you are taking care of yourself too!
Keep us informed of how this plays out. We learn from each other!
Once the UTI is cleared up, the psych doc will have a much better idea of what the problem is (if there's even any aggression after the infection is gone). It will probably be straightened out real soon. Try not to worry.
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