My 73 yr. old Mom has a boatload of health issues with her heart, lungs, kidneys, tumor in her retina, and so on. She takes a ton of meds and for years has had issues falling asleep, anytime, anywhere. She can fall asleep in mid sentence or while eating. Her head goes all the way to her lap. The Drs have said its from all her meds.
Lately, she wakes up and will say things like - "I have to get the bingo cards" or ask for weird things. I do not live near here and only found this out this morning when my sister was filling me in on things. She thinks Mom might be having dementia or early alzheimers. My fear it is is something else.
I am trying to look up possible things that could cause that and am finding nothing. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thank you!!
People say things comtaining information that is blatantly false, tell of actions that inaccurately describe history, background and present situations. They are coherent, internally consistent, and appear relatively normal. This despite contradicting evidence. This is distinct from lying because there is typically no intent to deceive and the person is unaware that the information is false. It seems that Alzheimer's / Dementia is fraught with confabulation speak.
"Chicken Little!! Is that really you, Chicken Little??? Oh, my! Well, let me tell you THIS, Chicken Little. YOU'RE A LIAR!!!!! LIAR!!!!! Know what happens to liars, Chicken Little??? They go straight to h*ll, Chicken Little!!! Good. Bye."
ROFL!!!
I woke up from anesthesia one time many years ago after having my wisdom teeth removed...all four at once. I woke up cursing everyone out asking why they didn't take my _______ teeth out. Then I felt the gauze. It was the anesthesia. Many people wake up mean. I wouldn't have known that it the professionals didn't tell me.
I hope this helps if even just a little bit!
Yes, it's an endless cycle. Mom is getting close to end stage right now. Give her too many diuretics and she's a little mummy; don't give her enough and she's swelling and putting on 10# of water weight. In a matter of a few days either way.
You can find one who specializes in the elderly by googling American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. Since it's a dotcom website, if I put a link here, they'll take it out. Many doctors prescribe medication dosages that are appropriate for younger people without understanding the effects on seniors, who metabolize meds more slowly. A senior-care pharmacist can assess all of that.
Helpless!!
As for her tumor - it is behind her retina and cannot be removed. Despite yearly eye exams, it went undiagnosed for about 7 years!! It was only caught when she had to reschedule her annual appt, due to being in the hospital. She had to see a different eye Dr. He started to question her about her vision, and she said yes, she was having problems, but the previous Dr. said it was due to aging. This Dr. said NO, it most certainly was NOT due to aging!! She has had many injections in her eye, but the tumor has remained and robbed much of her site in that eye.