Thought I would call on the fabulous Kos Community for some tips and insight on this...
I'll just make it quick, interested to see the response here regarding dementia and the general pain in the ass-isness of having a parent with Alzheimer's Disease.
Anyone here going through this? Obviously so, since I think one in four will get some form of mild dementia or eventually end up not knowing how to operate a remote control.
My step dad is about 68, retired Navy and was once the best at everything. Just three years ago he flew about 4 Air Force officers to Venezuela to pick up some military planes and convoyed them back to the States. Today he can't remember why he needs to dry off after a shower.
I'm curious what types of remedies people are trying. I just moved in with my Mom and him for a couple months after being laid off. She/we are so occupied all day long just answering his questions and reminding him what is going on that we barely have time for Internet research or support groups, etc. He wouldn't attend those anyway.
He went to a good doctor and all they did was giving him some stupid patches to use that don't do a thing. He will literally drive you nuts all day long from dawn 'til dusk. He's military too so he's still the best at everything and will not admit to himself that anything is wrong. In his mind we are the ones that are crazy.
He wakes up at 6am sharp, immediately starts talking out loud, "Let's get some news on, up these stairs? What stairs? These stairs? Why do I need to take a shower? Who's gonna take a shower? This shower?". This goes on for the next 12-16 hours, exhausting.
He has his moments of clarity. He still remembers every single word to any country or 50's song and can play them on guitar. When he starts telling stories it's like nothing is wrong. It's the day to day mechanics of life that blow his mind. But he's still perfect in his mind so if you raise your voice it starts a big huge senseless argument.
You have to spend 30 minutes each and every night convincing him that he can go to bed by himself, "What bed am I sleeping in? Why aren't you coming? This is hopeless, you people don't know shit and are useless I'm going to bed. What bed should I sleep in. Why aren't you coming".
Our throats are soar from explaining to him what commercials are or repeating ourselves, telling him over and over again what is going on each moment, where we are, where we are going, what we are doing, it's crazy. But you just gotta deal with it. One must become a caretaker, but he's still fully present and can be a real handful, like an evil six year old child. Can't change the channel, hardly wants to do anything besides watch endless episodes of NCSI and we have to help with alomost everything.
Anyway, just wanted to see what people are doing in their own families. I've ordered some Chlorella powder, going to get him eating 7-10 grams of that per day for a while. Also cooking with lots of coconut milk, taking ginkgo biloba. The Chlorella is an algae super food that supposedly reverses or limits memory loss in 62% of test subjects.
I'm also trying different psychological techniques to just make the days and nights more peaceful, trying to not give in, say the magic words, etc. that will make him just quietly go to bed or not talk all damn day long. Nothing works. If you tell him not to do it, he does it. If you tell him to be quiet he talks louder, just like a child.
We have our laughs, but it's like Chinese water torture. Comments and tips, please!
Live from the funny farm...