My 86 year-old- mom with dementia cries all day and says "please help me." We have tried some medications but nothing has worked. What can we do for her?

gracie1 - If you haven't done so yet, you need to start a new post with your question.

Have him evaluated by a geriatric psychiatrist.

My father is 85 years old and has dementia. He cries a lot when he and my mother are alone. In his mind he thinks she is going to leave him. Nothing seems to calm him down. Any suggestions?

This post is 3 years old.

My heart really does go out to you. It must be terrible for you. And for her. Yikes. Have you spoken with her doctor? Can you distract her? Folding laundry works for mom. I've washed socks four times a day sometimes to keep her supplied with something to focus on.

Keep talking with the doc, There's GOT to be something.

A thought. Sometimes dementia patients can't express pain. Is it possible she's uncomfortable? Have you tried plain old pain medicine? If you haven't, I'd sure give it a try. Hydrocodone w/acetaminophen...mild dosage. It 's worth a try.

Sometimes it could be the side effect of medicines, you will need to narrow down what one it is. I remember decades ago I couldn't stop crying, it scared me silly.... turned out it was the new allergy medicine I was taking. Stopped that real quick.

my mother waked up all hours of the night and early in the mornings. She wanders the house alot and often cries. one night she thought her ( inside) cats were outside and was trying to pick them up to bring them back in the house.they were not there. Mom never stepped foot outside, nor were the cats ever outside. they were under her bed, as usual. what should i make of this ?

My mom is 93 in a nursing home. She must have dementia because she has all the sypmtoms. She cries alot and doesnt know why...sometimes she will tell us that she is disgusted because she can't do the things she used to do. The doctor there has here on busbar and is going to increase it a little. What do you do when she cries like that...we have tried to ignore it and it seems to stop a little...or we try to comfort her and that doesn't seem to stop. It is heartbreaking for sure! We don't want her on a lot of meds to calm her down because then she will be sleeping all the time. Is all of this normal for some one with dementia?

Dr. Andrew Saul, who wrote "Doctor Yourself" and "Fire Your Doctor" sites amazing results with Vitamin D for Depression. If it were my mom, I'd get her levels of D and B checked. But that's me - I always hit the vitamin bottle before anything else. I have this funny theory that people are not deficient in any chemical, but certainly may be deficient in a mineral or vitamin. Again; that's just me! It would break my heart to have to hear this crying and not be able to do anything about it... I wish you the very best.

I feel you pain, my mother is 81 dr thinks she has dementia, she has suffered mental illness my entire life, she cries ALL THE TIME too. My dad passed 18 years ago and she she has cried everyday since, he is all she ever talks about, over and over again. The dr has had her on every "mood" drug know to man, nothing works. I send ((((HUGS)))) your way, I so can relate to how heartbreaking and frustrating it is to have the crying all the time and not be able to help. God Bless you.

Oh, that's heartbreaking. I'll bet it really is hard to hear that all day and not be able to help her or do anything about it.

I hope that Hospice can help.

Perhaps an anti-depressant instead of the sedative/anti-anxiety type medications?

I would suggest that you call Hospice because they can offer you support and many times they can send their own Doctor out to help you personally. Many people don't call Hospice when they can because they think that Hospice is only for those immediately dying but that's not the case. They can come to your home to help you and your Mother. It's worth giving them a call at least to see if they can help. Hang in there, there is always a solution. (((HUG)))