Sectioned under the mental health act - Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Message Board

georgie04 · 04-30-2008, 02:04 AM

I don't know if anyone remembers me - I'm still here although I haven't posted for ages. My SIL has Alz, also my father and potentially my ex-partner. I split from from my partner (after 20 years) but not from his sister who I had become very close to.

She (my ex-SIL) has today been 'sectioned' under our mental health act and forcibly removed frome her home. She was (is) completely delusional - constantly attacking neighbours and passersby. We have put so much effort into keeping her in her home, and I know she has to be taken better care of, despite all our efforts over the last eight years.

It is all just so sad - you all have been such a life saver for me over the years, I want to say thank you to you all.

I just hope this 'transition' works well, but I can't stop thinking of the pain of it all at the moment.

Martha H · 04-30-2008, 04:49 AM

I remember you, Georgie,

I hope the authorities will take good care of your ex SIL. It is such a sad thing.

How are YOU?

Love,

Martha

georgie04 · 04-30-2008, 11:08 AM

Thanks for replying Martha, that is so lovely of you. How am I - well I'm doing OK now. It is a couple of years since the pressure of the situation forced me to make some hard decisions, I had raging high blood pressure, lots of other serious medical problems, no quality of life, and stress to the max. I actually took a year off work altogether, which was very expensive and a big setback financially but something I needed to do.

I've just recently started a permanent management job (after a year of contracting) and am doing OK, although I'm very wary of the stress that in itself brings - more so my ability to handle it. And being single after a 20 year relationship is very strange, but in my case better than the alternative!!

If we could have gotten residential care for my SIL five (or eight even!) years ago I can't help thinking none of this would have happened. And to have gone through everything we did to give her the care she needed at home, only to have her carted off by the police like some raving nutter (which she pretty much is nowadays) is so heartbreaking. I can only hope she makes a peaceful transition, we have found a place for her in a reputable dementia unit, but while this process has to play out she is locked in the high-security unit for dangerously violent mental patients and I can't bear to think what she is going through.

I was so sorry to hear about your mother, who I think we all came to love, and thanks again for the wonderful support you have been throughout this time. I hope things are going well with you?

love
Georgie

Gabriel · 04-30-2008, 02:10 PM

Georgia, I am so sorry to hear all that you have gone through to care for your SIL, father, and Xpartner. I am glad that you have found your grounding again and are going forward with your life. I do understand the health consequences when you give so much of yourself to a situation that you neglect yourself. It sounds like you have a good handle on life now. I watched my grandmother and aunt progress though ALZ. My father now has vascular dementia and my Mom has ALZ so I do understand.

I am truly sorry that your SIL has to go through what she does but hopefully she will be transitioned into a good facility where she will be well cared for.

Welcome back to the forum. I will keep you and your SIL in my thoughts and prayers.

Love, deb

georgie04 · 05-03-2008, 12:34 AM

Thanks so much for the reply Deb, you certainly sound as though you have been through the wringer too, it must be awful for you.

An update on SIL - my ex went to visit her (he has POA and I'm not so sure he should given his own problems) and apparently she went through a whole range of reactions: first childlike, didn't know where she was or why and wanted to go home - sad and crying, then very defensive - why was she there?? Apparently she had a conversation with one of the nurses who explained to her about the worries about hygiene and her diet and security. She had an iron-clad defence for all of those things - the reason the house was dirty was because she had to go to the club (that is the day-care we arranged) four days a week when she should have been home cleaning, she always cooks healthy food (she can't cook any more at all and would have lived off ice cream and chocolate if we hadn't taken food around/had it delivered). Then she got very angry, but thankfully not violent, blaming everyone from her cat through to my ex for "putting her away". Apparently that was the most lucid state, in that she understood that the next step would be to put her into a home.

All so so sad, and now we don't know whether to visit or not - according to the nurses she is relatively calm and very much enjoying the meals. I'm kind of thinking she might be better off without visitors for a wee while since anyone who does go to visit will, in her mind, get the blame for her situation and possibly set her into a cycle of rage that doesn't go away.

In the meantime I am looking after her cat, who is grossly overweight due to constant overfeeding. The house is an absolute catastrophe zone, despite her having three hours domestic help a day. Has anyone else come across crumpled up tissues everywhere? They are all over the place, in every drawer and nook and cranny. And that is probably the least of the problem in trying to clear it all out - for one thing she just might come back so we can't wholesale get rid of things at this point.

Anyway, I'm rambling now - I guess I'm very relieved that she is safe and not violent, and still hoping for a peaceful transition despite the evidence to the contrary.

Thanks and love to you all
Georgie