Find Senior Care (City or Zip)
Join Now Log In
D
DIaneAL Asked July 2021

My mom insists that her niece is living in the facility and needs to be returned to her dad. Mom is responsible for her niece. Thoughts?

My mom has Alzheimer’s and lives in a memory ward. She suffers from Sundowner's syndrome. Every night she starts insisting that another lady who lives there, is her niece. Mom insists that she is responsible for her and the niece needs to go home because her dad will be looking for her. Mom follows her around and watches her closely. Mom becomes very agitated and she then agitates the other lady. Her doctor has increased her Trazodone and changed the time she gets her meds to try to calm her before Sundowner's makes an appearance. I called my cousin to see if there is anything from their past that would make my mom act like this. There isn’t. We can’t figure it out. Hoping the Traz will work.

igloo572 Jul 2021
If this continues even with new meds, Id suggest that you speak with the social worker or admissions to see if mom can move to another wing and one that has a different view of the outside world. So she starts her day, looking at something different than whatever she wakes up to now. I bet there’s something in her view that takes her back in time. You might try to put up large pictures of family that are contemporary too, so she can easier identify with the present.

Has the other resident noticed and have they complained? If so, you need to get on this sooner than later.

You know we just don’t know what their lives were actually like when they were younger. My mom had Lewy Body Dementia and her last months she would sometimes - not always but sometimes- think that I was her Aunt. Even if I was visiting with her beloved & only grandson & she knew who he was. This Aunt was much younger than her brother (moms dad, my grandfather) & lived with them in the 1920’s /30’s off & on and died before WW2. Mom also often referred to places from that era as well. I like to think that was when she was the happiest, so reverted to that period in time. I’ll never know.

Hopefully the new meds will quell your moms fretting and anxiety.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ask a Question

Subscribe to
Our Newsletter