Dementia Delirious Most Mornings
By Twinty Karat
Mr. Q has been a mixed bag of results this past three weeks or so. Some days he is partly aware of things, while others he seems delirious and almost totally out of it. It is hard to tell if dementia is the culprit or his medicine.
We have had the doctor try various medicines, but all seem to have some negative effects. Most noticeable, probably because of the commotion and stress involved is when he gets up in the morning.
This varies from 6:00 am to about 8:00 am. He really seems out of it. He is almost always fixated on grabbing the caretakers arm (s) and won’t let go. Unfortunately her arm bruises and hurts behind the extreme force Mr. Q exerts. I usually hear the cries of pain and come and have to pry his hands off.
The grabbing of the arms occurs when he is guided to the toilet stool to do his business. That’s where the trouble begins. Most of the time he puts up a fight and is very difficult to get him to cooperate. Now days he is almost always wet and needs his double diapers changed. He is no help in doing that. In fact he is a big hindrance.
Many days it takes two of us to restrain him while we change his diaper and clothes. He cannot seem to resist grabbing anything in sight and once he grabs something (towel, washcloth, soap, cup, rug, etc.) then it is a real struggle to get it out of his hands.
The other day there were two caretakers trying to change him and get him to cooperate. They were having no luck as he was holding one tightly by the arm and the other by the wrist. They were unable to get away from his superman-like grip and I came running when I heard the yells of pain. Fortunately I am stronger than Mr. Q and I was able to extricate the two from Mr. Q.
Summing it up Mr. Q seems delirious or lost when he gets up in the morning. He resists with all his might most mornings in changing his soaking wet diapers (now he needs two) and putting on new clothes.
Also most times when he gets up during the night, or rather early morning (i.e. 4:00 am) he is almost totally confused and has to be told what to do in the bathroom. He gets to the bathroom by himself.
After that it’s anybody’s guess what he will do. He usually has to be guided back to the bed and in many cases I have to virtually lift him into the bed to get him in the right position so he is on the big pad that helps prevent the bed from getting soaked if he wets during the night.
In general Mr. Q seems “out of it” most of the time. His ability to write has diminished to almost no intelligible writing. When he came to us almost 4 months ago he could easily write words (not complete sentences), but not now. We took him to the doctor and he was unable to sign the papers required by himself. Enough said…
Dementia is taking its toll on Mr. Q.
