Yes, my mother had it. She would doll up something crazy to see the good looking male doc. When she was there you would think didn't have dementia at all. I think it is common.
I’m a nurse in a memory care unit. One day can be an absolute nightmare and I can be cursed out, punched, etc; and the next day that same person will want to love on me and bump off the other nurse! Hang in there everyone! It’s extremely challenging. Just back away from the situation, take a breath, and keep caring for your loved ones. The main thing to remember is it’s the disease process making them eat lotion or massage themselves with their pancakes.
My 91 year old demented aunt called a rather 'greedy' family member to inform them that she had won the lottery (for about $2,000). She told me about it laughing (wickedly) about how the family member was going to come see her in order to get some of the (nonexistent) 'winnings'.
The fellow who said you kind of have to think of them as children but realize they won't learn like a child does. Things need to be simple. Be direct. Let the little stuff go. They aren't intentionally lying as much as saying what they think they know. The wires are crossed.
My mom seemed to "showtime" all the time. Many people didn't see her problems until they became more constant and severe. Now that she's on medication, she has really improved. I still see the dementia and it shows up some days more than others. However this improvement has lead people who dont see her as often to believe she's "cured". The doctors say just wait, it will be back. So hard to be the person in charge trying to make decisions with this changing disease.
My grandma can’t remember simple things, forgets what she’s doing, don’t remember more & more & when we get upset because we told her not to do something, she does it anyways & laughs. Then when we talk about it to her (I feel like I’m talking to a child) she acts like a child saying your upsetting me, don’t talk to me, I’m not hearing it...but tryna tell her she can’t do this or that’s, she acts childish & storms out. Any advice?
I have to laugh! My mother in law passed the Alzhimers test with flying colors. I told the Dr. that I have lived with her for 20 yrs. and didn't give a crap about some test. We got some med. that slowed down the progress.
My mom has a slightly different twist. On my last visit for my dad's birthday she suddenly told me I irritated her and barely spoke to me the rest of the weekend. When she did it was usually snapping that I should quit asking what she wanted to eat because she was tired of making decisions for everyone(my dad has advanced dementia). She was happy to see me go and "jokingly" told the people in the lobby that they were "kicking me out". Later that afternoon, some friends stopped by to visit with them. They texted me afterwards and told me what a good visit they had and how she said I did so much for them, made my dad's birthday so nice and how much they appreciate everything I do. Hello????
Yes indeed. My mother, who has moderate dementia, has fooled social workers, doctors, most of my relatives, etc. She tells them how terrible I am blah blah blah. My daughter said she thought grandma was a better actress than Elizabeth Taylor ever was! LOL
domesticgoddess: "I hadn't slept in nearly a week, and my MIL was making my life miserable. My husband survived that week, by leaving before dawn every day, going to Starbucks, then shopping at Lowes or Home Depot all day!" I don't understand this at all; he got to escape the house and HIS mother? Why were you left to deal with her????
My mother showtimes for people, unless she's in pain. She definitely showtimes when she talks to my brothers on the telephone. I'm with her the most, as the only local child. I get to see all the holes in her reasoning, how she can't follow conversations very well, doesn't hear a lot, is so bad with her balance, etc.
Definately!!! Every time a carer or other visitor comes the person I look after puts on a smile and says in a bright way "Hello! How are you? When they go he reverts back to the behaviour and odd speaking that he does all the time with me. It is all very stressfull because neither the doctor or his relatives realise how far the illness has advanced
WHEN I READ "THIS IS COMFORTING & GRATIFYING" knowing others are also going thru this...um uh NO, IT'S HORRIFYINGLY EVIL & UNACCEPTABLE!! IT'S NIGHTMARISH. We must SOUND THE WARNING SIREN LOUDER, so that others do not even attempt to even try to co exist With This Living Hell!! it's Dangerous & HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My 81 y.o Alz mother isn't yet as bad as some of your parents here. Her sbowtimer has to do with her walking. Whenever there's company, she always limps slowly as if in pain and with great effort. But if I'm the only one there, she walks just fine.
My Mother in law, 94, was in late stage 6 of Alzheimers. She paced the floor about 22 hours/day, and accused me of having an affair with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall, who were outside my "window" (my big screen TV!). She slung feces on nearly every wall of my home, and spit at me, while biting her finger nails.
Enter the lady who was supposed to assess my Mother-in-law. She shows up on day 6 of our week in Hades with my MIL in my home... I phoned my sister, who agreed to come to my home with me, my husband, and my Mother in law, because I couldn't take much more. I hadn't slept in nearly a week, and my MIL was making my life miserable. My husband survived that week, by leaving before dawn every day, going to Starbucks, then shopping at Lowes or Home Depot all day!
Anyway, my sister had taken me to the grocery store, to give me a break, while my husband stayed at the house with my MIL. I got this phone call begging me to come home immediately, because the AL assessor lady showed up at our home.
My sister and I entered the house, and discovered to our dismay, my MIL, sitting in the living room quietly, with her hands folded, and not saying a word. She wasn't pacing, she wasn't cursing or mumbling, and she wadn't even biting her nails or spitting at them! I looked at my sister in disbelief.... My MIL was a totally different person than who I'd been taking care of for the past week!
My MIL only asked one question during that entire hour... "Where's my Mother and Dadddy?" To which we all responded in unison, "They're in East Texas!" (we didn't mention they were both dead since 1962!)
The assessment lady said she would be able to move into the AL place with no trouble, and that we needed to bring her furniture!
Of course, by the time we had driven half an hour away from leaving her at the AL, they called, saying she was violent, abusive, and trying to claw her way out of the AL place! They said they needed to admit her to the hospital, place her in their lockdown Alzheimers' unit, and get her some drugs. We agreed that needed to happen, but we just wanted to know how she had managed to fool them so well that day they came to our house! She was literally a different person!
She died within 3 months of that. It seems she was fantastic at faking her way through life!
It isn't just the olds, either. My daughter as a child was too thin (with treatment for juvenile anorexia). At someone else's house, she would eat lots. They always gave me kind and well meaning advice about what to cook etc, as it was obviously my own fault. Grrr!
Sue is so right. So many get the sleeping patterns all mixed up. My mom has to have some depakote or everyday the sundowners starts right at 5 p.m. Otherwise people that are dead magically appear in the living room or on the phone etc. It's very interesting to say the least!
Jaynet, The sleep issue is really baffling, isn't it? Mother would be awake most of the night (til 4am), then want to sleep through the day. Sorry mom, that schedule doesn't fit with the rest of the household. We would get her up between 7-8 am, have breakfast then to the couch. She would promptly fall asleep. We would keep her awake, thinking she would sleep through the night-NOT! It didn't matter if she had the nighttime medication or not. It didn't matter if we kept her awake all day, nothing would make her sleep at night. We even tried letting her fall asleep on the couch after dinner hoping she would sleep all night there-Nope. I never found an answer to this problem. Unfortunately, there were so many other issues also, that we had to place her in a facility. No one can be awake 24 hours a day.....except for the person with Alzheimer's. ☹️
Wow. I needed this today. Thank you for sharing. I have a sister that calls Mom every other week and when she’s talking with her Moms alert and seems to be doing great. When the call is over she returns to the “I don’t know what to do” mode. My sisters are clueless. Used to be that way with Doctors but I’ve been able to take control...usually. Caregiving 24/7 is beyond exhausting. I originally searched today for sleep issues regarding too much/wake her/don’t ... I’m just glad there’s a group of people who know I’m not crazy.
I've kept a mini video library on my mother on my phone in case anyone in the family (her brothers and sisters), her doctor or any government agency ever doubted me. Sounds kinda' weird and paranoid, I know, but it covers my behind just in case.
thanks for all of the comments. In some ways I am lucky, my mom is docile, in other ways not so much. She does not like for me to be out of her sight, has stomach aches everytime I try to feed her, she gags and fusses, thinks she has to pee every other minute and has regular episodes of bowel incontinence, which she manages to smear everywhere and I do mean everywhere, I do a lot of laundry!
For those of you who have good actors/actresses, consider video taping them on your phone to show relatives and docs who doubt you. Also, record the docs giving instructions, you can play them back for her.....
I never had a word for this before, but my mother definitely has "show-timers!" I had to go talk to the renal unit social worker about it, because mom was pretending things on dialysis were a lot better than they were and not getting the right kind of care....because she was terrified someone was going to say she belonged in a home. She was an active alcoholic until I was 17, and I've already seen her at her worst - so I turn out to be the one person she can't fake it for. Sometimes I think she resents me for it! But I'm not sure she would be alive right now if I hadn't seen through her game with the health care workers more than once or twice. :-/
How well all of us 24/7 caregivers, that have been at this long enough know that there loved one should get a accadamy award for there performances that they put on for anyone except there caregiver that is overpaid an a common thief...not to mention lazy!!😛
Yes, it's called "Sun-downer's". They can be (more or less) OK during the day but get looney as the sun sets. I'm sure there's a thread on here about it.
Close the curtains BEFORE sundown and turn on the lamps to keep the light level the same as it was during the day. They say this helps.
My mother showtimes for people, unless she's in pain. She definitely showtimes when she talks to my brothers on the telephone. I'm with her the most, as the only local child. I get to see all the holes in her reasoning, how she can't follow conversations very well, doesn't hear a lot, is so bad with her balance, etc.
Enter the lady who was supposed to assess my Mother-in-law. She shows up on day 6 of our week in Hades with my MIL in my home... I phoned my sister, who agreed to come to my home with me, my husband, and my Mother in law, because I couldn't take much more. I hadn't slept in nearly a week, and my MIL was making my life miserable. My husband survived that week, by leaving before dawn every day, going to Starbucks, then shopping at Lowes or Home Depot all day!
Anyway, my sister had taken me to the grocery store, to give me a break, while my husband stayed at the house with my MIL. I got this phone call begging me to come home immediately, because the AL assessor lady showed up at our home.
My sister and I entered the house, and discovered to our dismay, my MIL, sitting in the living room quietly, with her hands folded, and not saying a word. She wasn't pacing, she wasn't cursing or mumbling, and she wadn't even biting her nails or spitting at them! I looked at my sister in disbelief.... My MIL was a totally different person than who I'd been taking care of for the past week!
My MIL only asked one question during that entire hour... "Where's my Mother and Dadddy?" To which we all responded in unison, "They're in East Texas!" (we didn't mention they were both dead since 1962!)
The assessment lady said she would be able to move into the AL place with no trouble, and that we needed to bring her furniture!
Of course, by the time we had driven half an hour away from leaving her at the AL, they called, saying she was violent, abusive, and trying to claw her way out of the AL place! They said they needed to admit her to the hospital, place her in their lockdown Alzheimers' unit, and get her some drugs. We agreed that needed to happen, but we just wanted to know how she had managed to fool them so well that day they came to our house! She was literally a different person!
She died within 3 months of that. It seems she was fantastic at faking her way through life!
The sleep issue is really baffling, isn't it?
Mother would be awake most of the night (til 4am), then want to sleep through the day.
Sorry mom, that schedule doesn't fit with the rest of the household.
We would get her up between 7-8 am, have breakfast then to the couch. She would promptly fall asleep. We would keep her awake, thinking she would sleep through the night-NOT!
It didn't matter if she had the nighttime medication or not. It didn't matter if we kept her awake all day, nothing would make her sleep at night. We even tried letting her fall asleep on the couch after dinner hoping she would sleep all night there-Nope.
I never found an answer to this problem. Unfortunately, there were so many other issues also, that we had to place her in a facility.
No one can be awake 24 hours a day.....except for the person with Alzheimer's. ☹️
And, no, you're not crazy.
For those of you who have good actors/actresses, consider video taping them on your phone to show relatives and docs who doubt you. Also, record the docs giving instructions, you can play them back for her.....
Close the curtains BEFORE sundown and turn on the lamps to keep the light level the same as it was during the day. They say this helps.