To ask for help on dementia advice please

[pinkpetal2]

Hi I really don't understand anything about dementia or Alzheimer's.

My Nan has been decking for a whilst I only see her maybe once every two years, so I didn't really know the ins and outs of her life as she is a very private and distant person as it is.

She has been going like it for years but in the last few it became apparent she is suffering from one of these conditions.

She has refused to be helped apart from one appointment they managed to diagnose her with a personality disorder and now they think it's dementia or Alzheimer's they aren't sure which one.

She had to be banned from going to her own home to live as it was so bad with bed bugs they've had to throw every single item she owned in the bin.

She was red raw with bites. She hasn't let any family in for years so no one knew how she's been. We was all banned from her house about 10/15 years ago.

She had to have an operation this week and by coming into hospital to have this done they was going to section? Her I think so she had to be kept in.

She escaped in the hospital gown and they have tracked her down and now signed a Deprivation of Liberty order against her.

My questions are what can we do to help?
Will she get better now or worse? What happens with someone with dementia/Alzheimer's.
She forgot who we was about 5/6 years ago now.

She owns her own home and one of her daughters has power of attorney is it called over her financial stuff and was told to find a care home ASAP.

Sorry this is so long just I don't understand any of it I'm not sure what to google and I wondered if anyone else had been through this.

It's quite a complex case we don't even know how old she is or what even her real name is she was quite strange bringing my mum and her other siblings up and some are no contact now.

Hi OP, I'm an OT who works in social services so hope I can help you understand what's going on a little bit.

If someone is diagnosed with a dementia, including Alzheimer's, they wont improve and will sadly continue to deteriorate but often continue to live with support for a number of years. From the information you've provided it sounds like there's already been a deterioration over a period of a few years. For someone to be put on a DOLs (deprivation of liberty) they must be considered to not have capacity - this means they are unable to understand, weigh up and retain information relevant to making a decision. In instances where someone doesn't have capacity, someone who has power of attorney can make decisions on their behalf. There are two types of power of attorney, one regarding finances and one regarding health - you mentioned a family member has this for finances. If someone doesn't have a power of attorney, and in this instance it sounds as though there isn't one for health, professionals make best interest decisions on behalf of that person, usually in collaboration with family although family without power of attorney have no legal input and professionals can go against family's wishes in that person's best interests.

As it has been recommended that your nan moves into a care home, it sounds as though she requires quite a lot of support. If she doesn't have other medical conditions you would need to look for a residential care home as opposed to a nursing home (typically cheaper), although if your nan has challenging behaviour she may need an EMI unit. If there isn't one already, it would be beneficial to have some input from a social worker to answer any questions regarding support and ongoing care.

Hope that helps.

@carleyemma91 Hi thank you so much for all that information. Apparently a social worker is coming out later this evening to discuss everything as she's attacked one of her daughters quite badly. My mum will ring me tonight and tell me more but it doesn't look very good. It's a shame it really is

@pinkpetal2 No problem, if you have any other questions i'll try my best to answer them for you. It doesn't sound good at all, hopefully getting her into a care home with people who are trained to manage her behaviour will make it easier for all of you.

@carleyemma91 I hope so we only recently found out how bad it was, she had been hiding porridge oats bags of them in her oven then forgetting and putting the gas on! Then she had been knocking on the neighbours houses screaming early hours of the morning she was hungry but had lots of food in.
Will her personality disorder make her having the dementia too?

Worth going over to the Elderly Parents board - a lot of practical information over there, and support.

@pinkpetal2 The dementia will be separate to the personality disorder as dementia causes physical changes to the brain, but any behaviours as a result of the personality disorder might be made worse by the dementia.