Urgent please help- mum may be sectioned

[willowtree81]

My mum has vascular dementia and Altzheimers- currently in respite care for a week in a dementia home that specialises in challenging behaviour. Only been there since Friday so my Dad can have a much needed break.

The staff have been brilliant but clearly are really struggling to manage her. I've had so many phone calls already.

She's escaped out of a window and had climbed on a table to try to climb over a fence. She's been aggressive to staff. Broken a chain on a window. Pacing and upset some of the time. Turns out she also hasn't had a medication review for 3 years 😩. (I had no idea about this or would have sorted it.)

Staff are saying they think she will probably end up being sectioned. Very concerned for the implications of this- we are hoping to get a permanent place in a home ASAP but imagining this might be impacted by a section?

Any advice or experience very gratefully received please.

Try not to worry
I’m afraid you’ll find it really hard to get her a place in a home whilst she is so challenging. If she meets the threshold for it it’s better for her to be sectioned and them try to sort her medication, and they will have a responsibility to support with sorting out somewhere to go when she is discharged

Don't know how sectioning works but my grandmother had alzheimers and became very violent towards her carer. In this cases the best option is to get them the help they need from people who know how to deal with it

Good luck

Thank you all so much for every reply. It has been very reassuring. She was sectioned today, as we thought was likely, so we are feeling less worried knowing that it could well be a good thing. Especially as we were very concerned about how my dad/ we would manage on Friday when she was due to come home from respite.

Thank you again and I'm sorry so many of you have experience in this area. ❤️

In all honesty you need to have her sectioned. That way her care will be free and it will be at an appropriate level for her needs. It's not a bad thing, it's for her best interests.

It a good thing that it's happened, especially if your DF was worried about having her coming home. That must have been a hard thing fir him to admit

Now she's somewhere safe where they know how to look after her, take some time for yourselves if you can doing things like walks together or lunch out. It will help you all to come to terms with how you're feeling.

Have they said if and when any of you can visit? My DM was admitted to hospital during lockdown so we never got to see her in there.

She’s safe, she’s being looked after. There’s a lot to be said for that

@TheAirbender I'm really sorry to hear you are also in this position.

I completely agree about not having to make the decision. I asked her lovely social worker if a section was unavoidable now and she said 'absolutely unavoidable.' Which was a relief in a way.
I really hope your Dad continues to settle ok.
Thank you yes, me and my Dad have power of attorney.

My mum doesnt have a dementia diagnosis as of yet, we are waiting on appointment at the memory clinic. She is in poor health with enphesmia rwcently had a heart attack, is being took to hospital every few days in ambulance. She is comfused at home, but once she is in the hospital it seems like some form of psychosis takes over l. She is violent, spewing pure venom, thinks she is in an istitution with sex workers having parties, petrified. 2wks ago she settled just to confused mum and was morfitied, this time she is still spewing venom l, messing up m3dication, trying to fill nebuliser with morphine instead of nebules. I really dont know what to do, any advise would be greatly appriciated

Is she living alone? She sounds like she needs care urgently, sorry to say. Antipsychotic medication to stabilise her, then full time care in a care home. I'm not sure how you can expedite that, does she have the means to self fund care?

Also, do you have power of attorney?

Thanks for your reply, she lives with husband and son, is currently back in hospital, they have taken away the ability to be discharged other than medical professional, has had a ct now waiting on mri and neurology consultant, its a relief to actually have this all happenning as we been banging heads against a brick wall for so long qith it all, although the process and situation she is in is heartbreaking. I'm under no illusion that her other health conditions won't allow lomg with her now just want her to be as comfortable as we can make her

No we don't as of yet

@Garbage77 from what you've described, you won't be able to get POA, as they need to be "of sound mind" to sign. You would have to go to court to apply to be deputy. It's costly and takes a long time.

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/legal-issues/power-of-attorney/what-happens-if-you-dont-have-a-power-of-attorney/

What are your plans on discharge? Are they willing to have her back at home with a support package or do they feel she would be better off in a home?

Have you spoken to them about what they want and has anyone made those wishes clear to the Discharge Clerk on the Ward?

Does your DM have a SW yet?

We had this a month ago. Moved MIL and FIL into assisted living in December. MIL said she wasn't coping with FIL and his now diagnosed dementia. But she was becoming delusional, aggressive - thinking we'd stolen her money, he was having an affair, wanting to cut her head off. We had the usual tests urine test, cat scan etc but they were taking time to come back.

Moved her into a care home for respite just to give her a break and it all went downhill. She became aggressive, pushing the staff around and kept trying to escape. They could not cope with her and the nurses there organised a diagnosis and DOLS for us in a couple of days. She's now self funding in a specialist dementia care home. Has no idea of where she is - she thinks its a hospital and is moving out tomorrow. Constantly saying FIL doesn't visit. He's there every day. He seems to be thriving back in the assisted living flat - it doesn't smell anymore, its tidy and clean - we got him homecare to come in and clean for him.

We had no clue she was worse than him and as soon as they were moved from their house it became so clear. They were arguing all the time and for his safety she is staying at the home.

Sounds like being the joke is the safest for both of them

Shes home, but being shipped off in a ambulance with exhasperations of the enphesmia more and more, they patch her up and send her out again, sends her mental state through the roof, to be honest she's been shipped off 3 times already within a week, I think the end is near and will take decisions out of family hands rather than having make decisions about her care