My mother has Alzheimer's disease. How do we deal with her yelling and screaming?

I'm the caregiver for my wife living at home. She was diagnosed with stage 5 ALZ in July of 2013 at age 58. By October of the same year she was full blown stage 7 needing help with all functions of daily living with lost of speech, and having both urinary and bowel incontenence. Its been almost 4 years now and we've run the spectrum of medications including antipsychotics and anti-anxiety meds. All the medications do is sedate her, cause her to be more of a fall risk, not eat and drull heavily. She yells and screams (what I call anxiety attacks) and appears to be fighting someone 70% of her waking hours...which is a very sad situation and mentally tormenting for her. The yelling, screaming and anxiety attacks have been going on for a little over two years now. As far as eating...breakfast is her best meal of the day; lunch and dinner is a lot of chewing and very little swallowing with food constantly falling out of her mouth. ALZ is a horrible disease!

My 88 year old mom has aphasia and yells whenever she is alone... we have started using medicinal marijuana (in baked goods) for her - it seems to help her anxiety a lot and calms her down to a level where her behaviour is more tolerable

I'm a caregiver for an Alzeimer lady that is bedridden will not walk or talk! I totally do everything for her, she eats excellent and is in perfect health other than the Alzeimer. Lately she has begun to Yell and Pull her hair and it is extreme! She is givine Tylenol for pain but it does No good! She always starts about the same time everyday? Now thats strange? What is the solution? What do I do? I'm ready to Pull my own hair somedays!!

My mom has had alheimers for about 5 yrs now. She is no longer talking much or responding to anything. She is in good health tho. But for the 1st time, after church, my Dad took her to Dairy Queen, and she didnt want to leave. And he told me she screamed and yelled for the 1st time. I just didnt know what it meant. She lives in a small home for over a year now with 4 other woman and caregivers. Wish I could figure out this dreaded disease. I miss my Mom terribly.

Hi Linda,
Earplugs, a good sound system and storm windows so that the neighbors will not complain- Only kidding! but I wish that it was easy as that. Dealing with a person who is screaming or wailing is beyond difficult. Cindy gave very good advice- have mom checked for any medical or physical problems that is causing her discomfort. If she gets a clean bill of health and the vocalizations continue- it can be caused by an inate self soothing response. Some people feel better by wailing. You can try putting her in a rocking chair and then add a soft blanket, and later a stuffed animal and see if the behavior improves. Try playing music from her teenage years as a distraction. Sometimes anti anxiety medication may work. Does she stop at night or just continue? How are you and the family now dealing with this- can you get some sleep?

Would he be willing to go to a doc if he thought the visit was for you and once you are both in the office you could bring the topic up with your MD-since he is being abusive to you -your safety may be a risk you really need somehow to get him medicial attention do you have children or other relatives who could help or someone from church some pastors or clergy have some training in this areI hope you have someone to reach out to it is hard enough for you but if you are alone that is sad.

My husband is 74 I am 67.- He has all the signs of Alzheimer, but refuses to admit it and will not talk to our doctor or to nobody about it.- He is getting abusive and insults me all the time.- What can I do to make him go the doctor so they can start him with medications.

If you can determine why she is yelling so much you can maybe go along way in addressing the problem. Pain (even chronic pain like arthritis, etc), fear (losing sight/hearing/sensation?), boredom (lack of stimulation?), anger? I also suggest you have her evaluated first by her primary care physician for any obvious medical conditions and/or medication interactions then by a geriatric psychiatrist (these people can be God sends when it comes to meds). So many of the medications we give these folks just messes them up and we have no idea how some of them work, let alone how they affect the demented brain!