Mom is in assisted living & has Hospice nurses twice a week. She hears her children's pictures singing & talking to her so she's turned the pictures over. She says we talk to her & it comes over her boxes (DVD, radio, CD player, tv) and has had them removed or disconnected. She calls & says "I'm not crazy, so you have to find out how I'm getting these things!" She says she's wanting to get out, will break out, etc.
What are we looking at now? A nursing home or different institution? Please share any experiences or give me advice.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks.
It’s very real to her so don’t try to convince her she doesn’t hear what she describes.
Read the article on Wikipedia on auditory hallucinations. It might be helpful.
She only takes a few meds due to being on Hospice & refuses any new meds.
Will read article. Thx!
Ask social services or her MC Administrator if her medical caregiver or
the psychological/psychiatric services used by the facility to offer her a trial of mood stabilizing medication, or suggest some other type of medication that might make her more comfortable and relieve her of her discomfort.
Two of my long term care LOs experienced this. One would often “see” her brother “out the window”, wave to him and talk to him. Another watched “chicken thieves” stealing the chickens next door.
My mother spoke FIRMLY of her “second husband” but she was only married once.
Unless this causes distress to the resident, this probably concerns the caregiver more. It did me, until I got used to it.
She refuses to take any new medication. This has gone on for 4 long years. Then, Hospice took her off a few & she takes few pills.
One time my Mom kept saying she was hearing voices. Turn out it was her hearing aid, once it was adjusted, the "talk radio" station went away. That can also happen with metal teeth fillings.
Could also be a side effect from any new prescriptions she is taking. Read up on the side effects. Or a mix of prescriptions that shouldn't be mixed.
She has dentures & her meds are few & stable due to Hospice.
Thanks!
Plus, ALs will normally put up with a resident indefinitely if/while they are on hospice. If not and if your mother becomes too great a burden for them, then she will have to be placed in a Skilled Nursing Facility with Medicaid, like you said. Or into a Memory Care AL which Medicaid does not normally pay for.
But the bottom line is this: If the AL is telling you they can no longer handle your mother, then she needs to be placed elsewhere for the duration of her life. Somewhere they CAN handle her and where you're not feeling stressed out that she'll be asked to leave at any moment. And, even more importantly, your mother needs help and relief from these hallucinations that are causing her anxiety and it is hospice's #1 job to provide comfort care to their patients at the end of their lives. If the hospice company you are using cannot do that, for whatever reason, they need to be fired & another hospice company needs to be hired; one that can manage your mother's care properly & provide her with the medication she requires to remain calm & comfortable. Period. How they manage to get that medication into her is their problem, not yours.
Wishing you the best of luck getting your mother's care handled properly & finding some relief for her!
Nurse says they cannot give her anything for anxiety without her consent. For 4 years no one has been successful with this because 50 plus years ago a doctor gave her meds that were too strong & she went wild. She'll never forget it & therefore refuses. Nurse says she has to consent. I'm having trouble trying to understand why my mom cannot be calm & civil before she passed away.
This is all I can do for now.
With your Mama being in AL, unless she were to actually try to break out, I would not worry, unless you feel she needs extra care and attention, which I do not know if AL has 24 hour care like NH does or not.
If AL does not have someone looking after her around the clock, and she has to move to a NH, yes, it is quite an adjustment for her and for you. But at the same time, you would know someone was watching her 24/7 to make sure she was okay. If you do move her to NH, be sure to check and see what their Covid rules for visitation are first. Some are much stricter than others. I had to only see my Mama through a window for 15 months at the nursing home (before she went to heaven...and I was not allowed to be with her when it was her time, either).
Prayers for you and your Mama. Take care.