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My 93-year-old mother has Alzheimer's and aggressive behavior and spent a month in a psyche center to get her med's under control. They finally found med's to help her, so she is less anxious during the day and no longer violent, although she is also lethargic from the drugs. Unfortunately, she is still not sleeping at night and is disturbing the other residents. The Memory Care center where she lives wants to keep her so drugged at night that she is a zombie during the day and cannot even hold her head up. I don't want her to be this drugged during the day, so the facility is giving up on her after trying everything else (melatonin, moving her bed next to a wall because she says she is falling out of bed even though she is not, weighted blanket, etc.) and they want her out. They told me that they are not sure any other facility will take Mom. I am not sure where to go from here. Does anyone else have any ideas on what the next step is for us? Does skilled nursing take care of patients like this? I am at a loss.
The way these facilities work, at least in our area, is that the doctors rotate among them and don't have set appointments or even necessarily set days. They go to a facility and might have one patient to see there on that day, or six, and don't know how long it will take to see each one. It is frustrating but on the other hand the patients are seen there rather than having to be taken out, and the doctor can leave instructions for the facility staff.

Also, some residents don't have involved family members who want to be kept in the loop, or there are HIPPA issues/lack of POA, etc., so it's not automatic for the doctors to communicate with family the way it would be if you were going with your mother to an appointment.

The staff should definitely give you an email or phone number at which you can talk with whichever doctor(s) sees your mother so you can find out from him or her whether they're aware of the nighttime issues. It's possible that your mother hasn't been seen by a doctor since this issue arose, or that the doctor did prescribe the meds but hasn't been made aware of the excessive effects, and could change the dosage or the medication. Based on what you learn from them you can be better informed when you get her an outside appointment. But more immediately, this doctor might be able to adjust the meds to be more effective and appropriate for her, and resolve the issue so you don't have to find a new place.
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Does she have a neurologist, separate from the facility staff, who can evaluate her combination of medications and adjust them?
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Lee188 1 hour ago
No neurologist. There is a psychiatrist and medical doctor that I have only talked to briefly twice. Oddly, the memory care facility does not seem to want me to talk face-to-face with the physicians that visit there. I have asked the RN in my mother's ward for Mom's doctors' last names and said I would like to schedule a meeting with them, but she always hems and haws and says they come into the facility at different times and maybe I can catch them there. Only once have I been able to "catch" one there.

I have thought about having Mom see a geriatric doctor outside the facility, but had not thought about a neurologist. Is this something that a lot of Alzheimer patients need to do?

Right now, I think Mom is going to be given the heave-ho and told she is no longer welcomed there, and I need to find something else for her.
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