Yesterday, basically all day, Dad wandered through the house in circles, worried about things he didn't need to worry about. When I went over to the house just before dinner I found Dad on the floor and Mom in the process of calling me to help her get him up. He had wandered through their house all afternoon, anxious about "who's going to make the car payments?" (the car was paid for almost 4 years ago), "where is the paperwork?" (what kind of paperwork?), and who knows what else, because if you try to ask him he either doesn't want to talk about it or can't remember or says "you know". He never actually falls down when this happens, just sort of slithers down because as he walks and worries, he hunches forward further and further until he can't do anything BUT slip to the floor. We got him up, fed him and got him to sit down and rest, as he looked like he was about to go to sleep any minute. His shirt and undershirt were soaked with sweat and had to be changed, and we had to dry his skin off to find a dry spot for his patch. When I went over at noon today my Mom told me he started back up and did the same wandering during the evening, before finally laying on his bed and going to sleep (after wanting HER to go to be at 8 PM!). He appears to be in better shape today! For some reason this kind of thing seems to go in cycles -- it won't happen for two or three weeks, then he's at it again, probably because something set him off and it gets fixed in his brain for a while. Does anyone else have this problem with their loved one? Have you come up with a way to try to take their mind off these anxieties? (Other than more pills!)
My Dad doesn't sundown but in the past he has sorted through a lot of my paperwork, telling me about accounts and clients as though he were still running his business. I lost a real bill a couple of times but it kept him occupied and made him feel useful.