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I have been a caregiver for over 10 years. I'm also a nurse. I work as a caregiver as my supplemental income because I love taking care of people outside the nursing scope. I have a patient that has dementia. He is very nice but this weekend he became very combative, and attacked me. Only thing I did was keep him safe until family could get there. I have dealt with dementia and Alzheimer patients before. But nothing to this magnitude. He seriously could have hurt me. Then he states that I hit him and a bunch of other things of which are untrue and the family didn't believe but to be accused is still scary as I don't want anything to jeopardize my nursing license .The family states that this has never happened and asking if I would please stay on as his caregiver. The whole situation has made me uneasy because I know it can happen again and it is a little unsettling. I'm just looking to see if anyone else has experience something like this and how they handled it.

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So sorry that you had to go through that. What a frightening situation. It is no unusual. Thankfully there are meds that his doctor can give him to calm him down.

To learn more about Alzheimer's/Dementia, and the different aspects [such as you had witnessed] go to the bottom of this page to the blue area... click on ALZHEIMER'S CARE, then scroll down through the various articles. There are articles about what you went through. While reading the articles you will see advertisements at the end of a couple of paragraph, scroll over them to read the rest of the article.
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There must be groups within the professional healthcare field that can lend support and advice. It sure would be concerning to me. I'm not sure how I would handle it. I've always thought that it takes a very special kind of person to work with dementia patients. I hope you get some responses from others who have gone though something like that. I don't think I could work under those conditions. I hope the family can get their dad some medication to help him.
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I'm sure that was a frightening thing for you to endure. One can have an understanding of the dementia a person has, but it's disconcerting when they become violent. I used to be a nurse also and I understand your concern regarding your license. You could be under investigation by the state, or might possibly need to hire an attorney should the family decide not to believe you. It does sound like they are very understanding and trusting of you and I hope this continues. I think I would protect myself in the event this type of incident happened again, by having the family sign some type of waiver, only to protect yourself should they not believe you one day. It's better to go ahead and plan for what could or might happen in the event it does happen. As dementia goes, no one knows what a patient is going to do when they have this disease.
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