Martha H

These problems are almost universal in AD. My Mom ate very erratically, one day a whole box of chocolates, then nothing. She never knew if she had eaten or not.

I prepared food and if she ate it, fine, if not, fine. She was neither overweight nor underweight so I ignored the odd eating habits.

I agree that PJs or not, hot room or cold, can be ignored. Getting the person to bathe is a hard one. Until Mom went to the NH she was bathing too little. It was such a battle that we just let it go. During the 3 months she lived with my brother and SIL, my wonderful SIL took showers with Mom whenever she could persuade her.

More important are taking meds incorrectly, driving, giving away money or getting 'taken' by some schemer, getting lost. It was Mom's wandering off the beaten track and getting lost that caused us to hire a home health aide for her. Then she said she felt like a prisoner, not allowed to go out alone. But she had forgotten what the red or green lights mean, and had walked in front of moving traffic a few times. This was in New York City! I remember how appalled I was when my sister said 'her freedom is more important than her safety - if she goes out and gets hit by a truck, she had a great life." I thought, and what about the life of the driver who hits her, or the passengers in a car that gets hit while someone swerves to avoid hitting her?

Drugs - Mom either forgot them, took too many, or not enough. I had to dole out one day's supply at a time, and since she was afraid of heights, I kept the pill bottles on a very high shelf. One day while I was at work she decided she hadn't had her pills, got up on a chair on top of a stepstool and a telephone book and got her pills down. She felt very proud of herself too. I don't know how many she took, or maybe none at all.

You have to keep one step ahead of the patient, and that is hard to do, especially if they are keeping you awake all night.

I am happy Mom is in a good safe nursing home!

Love,

Martha