My mother lives in assisted living but might as well live in a prison bc that's what she's' made her apt.to be. I understand someone the why, but wonder if she's stopped taking her meds.
Her dr perscribed "abilify", within the first two weeks she'd called me and all her grandkids apologizing for anything she may've said to hurt our feelings or foul mouth she may have had spoken during the month of April.
She sounded different, her face softend she was speaking in complete sentences and making sense.
This evening she called to tell me the _itch across the hall snuck into hear apt while she was socializing and messed up her drawers, stole all her keys, stole things...etc. She doesn't have a way to get into her apt now.
My husband had told me not to get too excited just yet (last week) and of course that made me angry.. and he was correct.
Her words were "I'm so sick and tired of this place, I wish I had a car so I could go kill myself".
I turned the conversation back around to her keys and that we would get another set made for her tomorrow, of course we can't bc management isn't
there and we don't have an extra set due to the fact I gave my set back to her bc she kept accusing me of sneaking into her room taking her clothes and selling them.
She likes to be the center of attention, always has and we think sometimes she does things like this to draw attention to herself, but who knows.
Any and all replies are taken very seriously and very much appreciated.
Sincerely,
marue
What do you think has happened to her keys? Does she lose or even hide items and then forget she has done that and think they are stolen? It sounds like she has exhibited this kind of paranoia for a while.
Is her comment about killing herself just her way of speaking, or should it be taken seriously? Has she ever said this before?
Mental illness is very hard on the entire family. Drugs are often extremely helpful, but they can also contribute to the problems. Is she taking too much? Has she stopped taking it? Is she experiencing side effects? Those are important questions, but it can very frustrating trying to get straight answers. Could you tell what is going on with the meds by doing a discrete count of the pills she has left?
You are in a hard spot. My heart goes out to you.
being so mean and aggressive to everyone, (me most).
Now suddenly a revert to the other person, accusatory, aggressive and mean.
She has mentioned of killing herself before, but it always required a car which she no longer has. Talking with her today, she had been visiting with a friend in the bldg and had to leave her door unlocked when she left. But nothing was any more disturbed than usual she said.
Clients are not allowed to keep their meds in their apts. but she has hidden hers in her mouth before... while living on the health care side of the building. This is another theory that will need to be addressed.
Thank You for responding,
I truly appreciate the correspondence.
The other thing is of course getting delirious, cranky, or both due to an acute illness or infection of any kind, notoriously a UTI.
And yet the other thing is - happened to us a couple times too - occasionally other people in a facility DO go ito other people's rooms and mess things up or take stuff!
I suppose you can verify with the ALF that she is being given the drug, but still not know whether she is spitting it out when they leave.
Make sure her doctor has all the information you have, including the remark about killing herself.
Hang in there!