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Dear Betti and others: , Thanks for your sensitive letter and sharing your situation. Since this week is school vacation, I have off from work (I'm a speech/language clinician in the school). We usually all go skiing, but this time my husband went with the 3 kids and I spent Sunday through Wednesday at my folks. The doctor agreed with us that my Dad should go back on the Sinemet since removing it did not help the agitation and delusions and DID make a difference in his physical state. It was harder for him to walk, more of a shuffle and more bent over; his speech was more slurred; he had difficulty going from sitting to standiong positions; he was incontinent a few times (bladder only since he has a colostomy.) With the return of the Sinemet, his physical state is much improved. In addition to that he is also on buspar, oxazepan, and millaril at night. When I was there, he really seemed to be doing well. He did have a few episodes of mild delusions, e.g. knocking on the window at night to the people outside (who weren't there) saying when one comes they will all come over and things like that. It was never difficult for me to either talk him out of it or divert him. I realize this is much much harder for my Mom who has to live it 24 hours a day. He did get up often at night but never became aggressive. One thing we notice, he always looks for sweets. Thank goodness he doesn't have a medical condition to eliminate them.. There were some wonderful, close but bittersweet times these days when he was able to talk about his illness and how he is forgetting names and relationships. He claims his mind plays tricks on him. He is reflecting on his life and says some very poignant things. I notice that he sometimes substitutes nouns so that one may not think he is making any sense at all but frequently his meaning can be deciphered if a key word is replaced with the desired one. I also found that at times I had to treat him as I would a child when for e.g. trying to get him to finish the Ensure Plus. He wanted the Biscotti and so I broke it into pieces, giving him some each time he drank more of the Ensure. It's quite a new role for me, and I was surprised he didn't seem to mind at all. The best part is that I was able to arrange for help 4 hours a day, 5 days a week so that my Mom could have a life. Actually on 2-3 of those days she also has someone for a couple of hours in the morning. She resisted this for a long time and then when things were really bad, she seemed unable to do anything. She can always increase this if the time comes when more coverage is needed. I just hope the meds take care of the nights so she gets sleep as well. I've asked the caregiver to do some exercises with him and to look through the myriad of photo albums my Mom has organized over the years. This encourages lots of conversation and stimulates long term memory. But most important, he enjoys it. I agree with you that it doesn't matter what the mental confusion is caused by PD or Alzheimers. I was just always curious about the differences. I don't know if AD patients have better periods of clarity once the disease is more advanced. My Dad seems to have these periods which might be one diagnostic difference between the two illnesses. I wish Mom had access to this listserv in her own home. I often share your letters with her and think they are quite helpful. Thanks to all who have responded to my questions. Happy New Year everyone. Roni Liebowitz [log in to unmask]