Seeking Help/Advice

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone. It has been a long time since I have been here, but for me now

is the time when I need the support and help of others who are, or have, gone

through being the caretaker of a loved one with LB.

When my mother was told she had LB, I researched it and tried to learn as much

as I could. I joined this group and read all the posts and thought to myself how

unbelieveable that one day my mother would be experiencing the things everyone

was talking about; I really never believed that she would; I was wrong and of

course she is. Over the last few weeks so many things that I read on here before

became so helpful to me in taking care of my mother and that is why now I am

back and feel this group will be a great support for me and a place where I can

get helpful information. Thanks for being here!

I am seeking some help with a problem that recently came up with my mother and I

believe that it may be medication related but I can't put my finger on it.

Up to about 8 weeks ago my mom was living alone, but I was coming to her home

three times a day doing various things for her. It was at that time we decided

that maybe she shouldn't be alone anymore so I basically moved into her home to

care for her(she will be moving in with me when the addition is done). So really

up to that point she wasn't to bad and managed fairly well with eating,

bathroom, etc type things.

Then 2 weeks ago, I had returned to her house from being at my house to find her

in stuck between her glider and ottoman. She was not hurt so we laughed a little

and I helped her up. I stood her up, asked if she was steady or needed help and

she said she was fine. I turned and walked away into another room and heard a

loud knock. I stood still and yelled for her, with on answer; I yelled again as

I walked into the room and she was laying on the floor. I rushed to help her and

when I got her up she had a hugh knot on her head and her wrist began to swell.

I took her to the hospital and it turned out she broke her wrist, but the scan

didn't show any problems with her head. She was given moraphine for the pain at

the hospital and a prescription for Tramadal; she was splinted and told to

follow up with a hand specialist to set her hand. The next day she began to have

conversations with people who were not there and had strange behaviors. I

recalled from my previous visits to this group that a UTI could cause these

types of things, so I told my sister (who thougth I was crazy) about it. There

just happened to be a nurse scheduled to visit my mother and I asked her to take

a sample and have it tested for a UTI. As it turned out, she did have one and

was given zpak (I believe) for the UTI.

My mother then went to the hand doctor to have her wrist set and was given a

prescription for Vicadin and told to take for the pain.

Over the last week my mother has gotten so much worse. She can no longer walk or

eat on her own; there are many visions of people everywhere; which seems to be

enhanced when the television is on. She has always been a very loving person who

showed great appreciation for everything I do for her, but last evening, she was

rude and mean and refused to let me help her eat.

Last night she hardly slept at all, neither did I, because of the vision and she

really believed there were many people in the house. I pretended to see them

also, walked them to the door and told them to leave. This helped to settle her

down for awhile (a trick I also learned from this group). This is when I learned

that she was looking/listening to the television and believed the people on the

TV was in the room. I turned it off and she became quite and is now resting.

First I will say I'm sorry for such a long message, and for some you may feel

there is a lot of useless information, but there is a point. As I went through

the last couple weeks I realized that not all doctors have a clue as to what LB

is, nor do they know how different medications affect LB patients. That is why

we need to ask the knowledgable people, such as the nuro and experienced people,

such as those in this group.

As I said before, I believe that my mother's decline is medication related and I

have stopped giving her the pain meds (she is not indicating that she is in a

lot of pain for now) her family doctor told us to give her Tylonol, but I

believe I saw that we shouldn't give LB patients that either. Also, she was

given Citalopram for depression several months ago.

Again, sorry for the lengthly story, and my question is does it seem to others

that it is medication related, and if so, what do you feel may be reacting with

each other. Thank you for being here to help people like me to work through a

very difficult time.