She is 84 years old and in at least middle stage of alzheimers. She weighs about 110 pounds but she can still pack a punch! And she does! I understand that part of her knows the humiliation of us having to change her, and she cusses us and tries to fight us, but she has to be changed and she is not goin to do it! The good part is that she still eats real good and will eat all day if you put food in front of her. I also understand that her medicines may be messing up her stomach that causes diaherra and such. But how do we keep her clean? She lives at home with my brother who is her caregiver and he takes good care of her but it takes two of us to change her. I work and have to leave work to go clean her up during day. We do have a nurse who comes 3 times a week to give baths and more personal hygeine care. My question is, besides the depends, which do not hold anything, is there something else on market that we can get to keep her drier and cleaner? She does seem to get UTI's alot and know it is because of the wetness and messes but she won't let us change her! What can we do? We are not putting her in nursing home because she had told us years ago not to ever put her in one!! She was a RN till she retired at age of 72! She knew what went on in them and never wanted to be in one!! Other than the incontinent problem, she is pretty easy to get along with. We do have locks on all cabinets and doors and she does not wander. We want to keep her in her home and happy as long as possible. She is on Aricept and Namenda...........can anyone tell me if they think the combination of the two helps? It has been 1 year now for both and we think it is a waste of money.............Also, her neurologist put her on some sleeping pills to help her sleep all nite and they don't seem to work either. Any ideas for helping her sleep during the night?? Any suggestions are welcome!
Both my mom and dad did not want to accept any help for toileting etc. from us their daughters but would accept it just fine from someone else. That might be what the problem is.