My wife, 68, has moderately severe dementia. I care for her at our home. I can handle most of her behaviors like wandering, aggression, and resistance. It’s the crying/sobbing that breaks my heart. It’s just so hard to take and she, of course, can’t communicate with me why even if she knew because her aphasia is so bad. It doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it tears me up. She has a doctor’s appointment coming up and I’ll ask about it but I was just wondering if anyone else has any suggestions.
Is your wife in any pain?
Do you have a list of questions like this to ask her doctor?
Used with non-verbal kids on the Aurism Spectrum, a picture book with photos or drawings of various objects and activities can be adapted for patients with aphasia.
A speech therapist made one for my mom as she was recovering from a stroke.
Pictures of various foods, clothing, activities, bed, chair, and pictures of various emotional states can be useful.
You can cut stuff out of magazines and slip them into laminated sleeves that can be placed in a binder. Or use a photo alnum.
My Husband made moaning sounds, he was pretty much non verbal. Sometimes quiet sometimes loud it depended upon how excited he seemed to be. If there was a ball game on he would start getting louder. I did not know if it had anything to do with the game itself or the background noise. (I am not a fan of ball games so I never paid attention) Many times the moaning was a very quiet noise, he would be chewing on his blanket or a teething toy I got for him and the moaning was like a noise a child would make to soothe themselves.
Crying for your wife might be just a noise she "knows" how to make.
Look for facial cues for signs of pain or discomfort.
When she is crying and you talk to her does the volume change? Does the "intonation" of the crying change? Does the intensity change? If you touch her does the crying change in any way? I would think if anything you do changes the crying in any way that she is communicating with you.
I think you are stuck with knowing there may be utterly no reason. For men with their "fix it" minds that is such a helpless feeling.
I am so sorry for this. I wish I had a better answer.