Alzheimer's Disease Support Group

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. An early symptom is memory loss (amnesia), usually manifesting as minor forgetfulness that becomes pronounced with illness progression, with relative...

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tabby2010 12/17/2011

Hello my grandma this morning got up went to the bathroom and came out of the bathroom Instead of going back to her room while the other people in the house were sleeping she goes and wakes me up to open the baby gate that we had to put up for the dogs She said tabitha please open this gate for me I was laying in the floor in the living room trying to sleep So then I got up and opended the gate for her. so she could go sit in her chair. thats in the living room. She makes me upset because she did not seem to care that I was trying to Sleep. and once I get woke up I can not go back to sleep. she did this at 6am and if your doing something like watching tv She will wait until your watching a show that you like then she will say well are you going to feed me Im hungry Then you have to get up and go fix her food. and sometimes she will wake up at 3.00 and wake everyone up.

deleted_user 12/17/2011

I sure understand.My patience is about zero when I get woken up abruptly.After a cup of coffee I can handle it much better.
My 90 year old MIL does the same kind of things.It seems that with dementia they go back to being like a little child.It is all about them,all of the time.They are oblivious to the needs of others.

Is there somewhere that you could sleep, where you could lock your door?Or maybe something to keep your grandma in her bed? Hope you find a solution soon.

Pam65 12/19/2011

Is the living room floor your usual sleeping place? If it is, and your grandmother's chair is there, I might suggest you find somewhere else to lie down if possible. I know how my 90 year old mother feels about her chair. When she wants it she'll go through hell to get there. And...by the way, my mother has become the rudest, most self centered person you can imagine. She behaves as if she's a bratty 5 year old. I think in her mind that's exactly where she is. Mentally she is between 3 and 5. Good luck with this one..... When Mother is awake..... everyone is awake!

tabby2010 12/19/2011

Yes My grandma acts like a littlle child more and more She gets mad if she does not get what she wants when she wants it Yes the living room is my usual sleeping place. I have my own bedroom upstairs but I don't like sleeping upstairs because its cold in the winter and in the summer its to hot. up there to sleep Another reason I sleep in the living room is if my grandma falls while going to the bathoom I can hear my mom call me if she needs help getting her up when she falls. If I sleep upstairs my mom has to yell for me to come down to help her her with my grandma. My grandma will not stay in the bed at all. If she wakes up at 3.00 in the morning she expects to get her breakfast and for everyone elese to be awake. The other night she woke me up at 2.00 and I never did go back to sleep She needs to learn to stay in the bed until everyone in the house is awake

grammyx3 12/19/2011

I hate to tell you this, but your Grandmother's ability to learn ANYTHING new
is gone. You are the one who will have to make the adjustments or changes at this point. They all seem to like to sleep in their chairs. Could you put one in her room? My hubby had a recliner in the room so that if he couldn't sleep in bed, he would sit in the chair instead. It is important for you to remember that her mind is like that one of a child with no manners.
Maybe it is time to look into placing your grandma in a NH where there are people on duty and awake at all hours.
good luck..I know it is difficult.

tabby2010 12/19/2011

We may try putting her chair in her room and see if that helps We don't want to put her in a Nh If we can help it. But I told my mom this morning that we have to make sure that we don't get down. Because its getting harder to take care of her we are thinking about putting her in a day program for a few hours a day so that we can get stuff done that we need to get done

Pam65 12/19/2011

Mother's chair is in her room and she loves it there. At first she hated it but now it's become her "safe" place. Day care will wear your grandmother out! If you can, put her there. That would be awesome and she'd probably sleep through the night. They keep their patients pretty active and most love it. My mother hated it. She thought all the people were weird. She absolutely refuses to go.

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