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She has had a lot of mental health issues for years now. She has been seeing a psychiatrist for almost 10 years. He diagnosed her with anxiety and manic depression. She is currently taking 5 medications for mental health issues.
Over the past several months...maybe even a year...her memory, etc. has gotten really, really bad.
It started with her not remembering conversations with my brother and I. She'd tell us or ask us stuff that she'd just told or asked us. Whatever, right?
Then, she started forgetting that she'd even talked to one of us. She'd call me for a third time before noon, and we'd have a very similar conversation all three times. I'd mention that she'd already told me something, and she'd say, "Have I already talked to you this morning?" I found it weird and maybe slightly annoying, but I chalked it up to her medication or something.
There were a few situations where she lost her car keys and her eyeglasses and couldn't find them for days until someone else found them. Weird, but we all lose stuff, right?
Recently, it has gotten much worse. She told me she went to go pay a bill, and she was trying to say "four hundred" but couldn't stop saying "four." She's gotten to where she can't do simple math, so she'll call me and ask me to calculate very simple things for her. She has said to me, "I just feel like I can't get my head screwed on right...I can't even add 2 and 2 together." She called me a few weeks ago and told me she honestly didn't know what bills needed to be paid, and asked me to help her rattle off all of her bills so that she could determine if she'd paid them or not.
This was when me, my husband and my brother all started worrying about her a lot. We all thought it might have something to do with her medication, although she insisted she didn't think so because she's been taking the same medicine for almost a decade now. She promised she'd mention her memory loss to her doctor at her appointment (she only goes every 6 months now vs. once a month like she did before, since she HAS been on the same medicine for a long time.) We asked her if she did, and she said she forgot.
In the past few weeks, things have gotten worse. She's working in an unfamiliar city about 45 mins from her house, and she told me a couple of weeks ago that she "messed up" and was DRIVING ON THE SIDEWALK. Even though she has been working there for about 3 months or more, she still has to rely on her GPS 100 percent...she doesn't even know which way to turn out of the place she's been working in.
What got me (and her) REALLY scared was the fact that she has gotten lost twice in the past 3 days in the immediate vicinity of her home. She has lived in her current house for 15+ years, and she was very familiar with the area long before that because her mom lived right across the street for many years. Yet, she still got lost taking a very simple drive (once from Walmart and once from McDonald's) back to her house.
Mom got a little more scared after that happened, so she went to a doctor today. She doesn't have insurance, so she went to an Urgent Care facility. She said the doctor kept asking her if she had a history of Alzheimer's in the family. No -- not at all. Finally, mama asked her what she was thinking. The doctor said that mama will need to see a regular primary care doctor and get a referral to a specialist, but that in her professional opinion, she thinks my mom has Alzheimer's. I asked if the doctor at Urgent Care was aware of all of her medication. She said yes, and my brother confirmed that mom took all of her medicine bottles in with her.
Mom has been telling me lately that she thinks she has dementia. I just laughed it off and said that she's too young. But in light of what the doctor told her and after doing some research today...she has all the symptoms.
So...what now? My mom's job is taking care of old people. Her job right now is taking care of a 96-year-old woman who has basically just been sent home to die. I worry about whether or not she is able to do the job properly, honestly, but home health and hospice are coming as well, so mom's job is basically to comfort the lady, clean up around her house, take care of her cats, etc., and I think she's capable of that. Mom said she doesn't want to tell the family about what the doctor said today because a) She hasn't been formally diagnosed by a specialist, B) As cold-hearted as it sounds, the lady she's working with is dying, and there's really nothing that can be done one way or another and C) She doesn't want to abandon this woman at this time.
Beyond that....what? Obviously, I understand that mom needs to see a primary care doctor and specialist. What is the possibility that it's NOT something like this? Or...what if it IS? My mom isn't even 50 years old yet. She's nowhere close to being in a financial position to retire. And what about her and her life and her happiness? She's so young...
I am sorry this is so long and am thankful for anyone who actually read all of this. My heart is broken, and I'm so worried, but part of me is hoping that all of this is for nothing and that this Urgent Care doctor jumped the gun and that it is something much more simple.
I'm sorry you and your mom and family are dealing with this.
Of course, anything is possible and she could have Alzheimers, but I would slow down, take a deep breath and take one step at a time.
I could be wrong, but 5 medications for anxiety and bi-polar disease seems excessive to me. I would start by looking all those meds up to see what they do, what their purpose is and what the side effects are. Then I would schedule an appointment with the psychiatrist to go over all that and fill him/her in on whats going on. You or your brother(or both.....one to listen and one to take notes) need to go with your mom.
He may be able to refer you to a specialist to test for Alzheimers.
Just because she has taken them without problems for a decade doesn't mean she cant now be having problems with them. Is she menopausal? Maybe some shift in her hormones is altering how she reacts to the meds.
Depending on your comfort level with the shrink, I might get a second psychiatric opinion because like I said I am skeptical of a shrink who is prescribing 5 meds for the stated conditions.
Then, I would do what the Urgent Care doc recommended and get a primary care doc. Have them do a physical and blood test, especially for things like thyroid and vitamin deficiencies.
Get the specialist recommendation if you don't get one from the shrink and go from there.
Simultaneously, you or your brother should start researching Social Security Disability in the event she does have some debilitating mental condition that cant be treated and will prevent her from working. Start with their website. I'm sure there are others here who can chime in with more info on this.
You may want to look at whether or not she should sign up for Obamacare if she doesn't have insurance. Check the website. Do that soon as I think there is a deadline around this time of year to sign up.
You and your brother need to discuss getting her to give one of you power of attorney and/or putting your name on her checking account in the event you need that to manage her finances. Do it now before she receives any kind of diagnosis of mental incompetence.
Ikmax, I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I agree that your mom is young for Alzheimers but there is such a thing as early onset Alzheimers. You might want to look into that.
My MIL had Alzheimers and we first begin to notice some of the symptoms you have described when she was in her 50's. At 58 she forgot my husband's birthday. She was with him that day and no idea it was his birthday. That set off alarm bells but looking back she had other symptoms before that. No one else in her family had ever had Alzheimers.
Might your mother be eligible for Medicaid? It will be costly to have all the tests for dementia without insurance.
Good Luck and please keep us posted on your journey with your mom.
Last edited by BrassTacksGal; 12-19-2017 at 11:28 PM..
I have never been comfortable with the amount of medication that she is taking, but she says her psychiatrist saved her life...and he did. She had written suicide notes, was hiding in the pantry or closet thinking that there were satellites pointed at her (??), thinking that seeing too many cars of the same color passing by was a sign of people trying to hurt her, etc. She finally went to get help and begged to be "committed," but the doctor said he thought he could treat her without all of that. He didn't start her on that much medication, but he had her coming every week, then every two weeks, then every month, and gradually adjusted her medicine. I have to say that in comparison to how she once was, the medication has seemed to help a LOT in the past 10+ years. Until now.
She is not menopausal yet. She's still having regular menstrual cycles, like clockwork, same as always. We actually just had a random conversation about this because she started her period yesterday while sitting at the hospital with her client (who was just sent home today.)
When I was growing up, she was diagnosed with mild hypothyroidism. A couple of years ago, though, she went to see a doctor for it to see if her thyroid was preventing her from losing weight, and the doctor basically said she was borderline and didn't need medication.
I will feel a lot better about all of this when she sees a specialist. There is a part of me that is wondering if her psychiatrist has been treating her wrong this whole time or something?
Ikmax, I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I agree that your mom is young for Alzheimers but there is such a thing as early onset Alzheimers. You might want to look into that.
My MIL had Alzheimers and we first begin to notice some of the symptoms you have described when she was in her 50's. At 58 at that age she forgot my husband's birthday. She was with him that day and no idea it was his birthday. That set off alarm bells but looking back she had other symptoms before that. No one else in her family had ever had Alzheimers.
Might your mother be eligible for Medicaid? It will be costly to have all the tests for dementia without insurance.
Good Luck and please keep us posted on your journey with your mom.
I am sorry to hear about your MIL. That sounds awful.
I have never been comfortable with the amount of medication that she is taking, but she says her psychiatrist saved her life...and he did. She had written suicide notes, was hiding in the pantry or closet thinking that there were satellites pointed at her (??), thinking that seeing too many cars of the same color passing by was a sign of people trying to hurt her, etc. She finally went to get help and begged to be "committed," but the doctor said he thought he could treat her without all of that. He didn't start her on that much medication, but he had her coming every week, then every two weeks, then every month, and gradually adjusted her medicine. I have to say that in comparison to how she once was, the medication has seemed to help a LOT in the past 10+ years. Until now.
She is not menopausal yet. She's still having regular menstrual cycles, like clockwork, same as always. We actually just had a random conversation about this because she started her period yesterday while sitting at the hospital with her client (who was just sent home today.)
When I was growing up, she was diagnosed with mild hypothyroidism. A couple of years ago, though, she went to see a doctor for it to see if her thyroid was preventing her from losing weight, and the doctor basically said she was borderline and didn't need medication.
I will feel a lot better about all of this when she sees a specialist. There is a part of me that is wondering if her psychiatrist has been treating her wrong this whole time or something?
I am loathe to interfere with someone else's medication regime. Just so you know. If you question her drugs, you need a second opinion from a professional. I am still going to say I think 5 medications for anxiety/bi-polar is excessive. On the other hand, the symptoms you described seem like something other than bi-polar to me and just as an aside, I frankly think bi-polar is overdiagnosed. But, again, I do not presume to be able to diagnose your mom and you need a second professional opinion if you question the current professional.
I will say that I'm not sure there is any such thing as "mild" hypothyroidism. My own experience with so called "borderline" hypothyroidism was that I felt like I had lead boots on, was depressed and felt like I could barely get up off the sofa and walk, much less function. In fact, I remember yelling at the very young doc who told me my test results were borderline and did not warrant medication that "I didn't care what his textbook told him, I wanted medication and I wanted it NOW". He gave it to me lol and in a week or so I was fine.
BTW some of the drugs used to treat bi-polar, lithium specifically, can cause hypothyroidism. I know this because I developed bi-polar in reaction to Prozac which was being taken solely to combat depression. The Prozac caused me to be manic.....i.e. bipolar....a side effect little known when it first came on the market. Then I was prescribed lithium to combat the mainia. That caused hypothyroidism which is a not uncommon side effect of lithium. Just an example, of how some of the things wrong with me were caused by the medication to treat the initial problem. Hence, why I would review all the meds she's taking and their side effects.
You also need to be sure she is not self medicating, either by taking excessive amounts of any one drug or by adding alcohol or other over the counter stuff.
I would think professionals would know all this stuff now, but you never know.
Unfortunately early onset dementia does happen and also unfortunately it tends to move more quickly. Can I say that my mother has had very severe depression at times in her life and had shock treatment when that was fairly common in the 1960s. Mum did not develop dementia until a couple of years ago when she was 89. But the specialists are telling us that her brain is damaged from the depression and its treatment and that is making it more difficult to deal with some of the symptoms of the dementia.
Whether they or right or not, I feel you must get proper tests as there is a drug which can slow the progress of the condition for a while.
I am so sorry. My mother had Alzheimer’s so I know how scary dementia is.
It could be a brain tumor. My advice is to see a neurologist as the first step. They can run imaging tests of the brain and also advise whether they think the medication is playing a role if it’s not a tumor.
Without insurance or Medicaid she will have to go to ER (have you or brother take her) and get the work up that way. You could say you had to pick her up from somewhere because she called and didn’t know where she was. That would qualify as an emergency.
She is not menopausal yet. She's still having regular menstrual cycles, like clockwork, same as always. We actually just had a random conversation about this because she started her period yesterday while sitting at the hospital with her client (who was just sent home today.)
When I was growing up, she was diagnosed with mild hypothyroidism. A couple of years ago, though, she went to see a doctor for it to see if her thyroid was preventing her from losing weight, and the doctor basically said she was borderline and didn't need medication.
I will feel a lot better about all of this when she sees a specialist. There is a part of me that is wondering if her psychiatrist has been treating her wrong this whole time or something?
OP, please look at information on perimenopause. Don't discount the hormonal imbalance suggestion just because she is still having a period. She is in the right age bracket, and while some women transition into menopause seemingly unaffected by it, others feel like they are losing their mind. If she had an oophorectomy (one or more ovaries removed) at a younger age, she would naturally experience the symptoms of, and go through the process of perimenopause and menopause at a younger age.
Menopause and perimenopause effects your thyroid and other glands too. Mood swings are among the symptoms, as well as issues with sleeping. It would be very easy, and probably more common than many want to believe, to interpret premenopausal mood swings as bi-polar disorder.
It might be a good place to start - a MD that specializes in treating women in perimenopause/menopause, as well as an endocrinologist with a slant toward those conditions. A lack of hormones and vitamin and mineral deficiencies can account for a lot - not all - of what you describe.
Please note, I am not saying she is NOT bi-polar, but she wouldn't be the first person who wasn't thoroughly checked out and properly diagnosed either. Its worth the investment to see if some supplementation of the hormones vitamins and minerals can begin the process of weaning her off those much stronger RXs.
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