Reply to moving mom to AL--she is in denial

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not accepting that she has dementia is part of having dementia. It's normal.[/quote]

This, with dementia, she doesn't understand or remember.  [/quote]

It's called anosognosia - ancient Greek for "without knowledge of disease."  People with dementia (and people with mental illness) are often cognitively unaware of their condition due to physiological damage to the brain.  It's a lack of self-awareness.  Their brain simply cannot process the fact that they have dementia.

My mom is 82 and in the moderate stages of Alzheimer's.  She lived with us two and a half months, until it became unsustainable and we moved her into assisted living.  Two months later, she had a pretty serious wandering incident so she was moved to the secure memory care wing of the facility.  To this day she says there is nothing wrong with her and complains about having to live with "all these old sick people."[/quote]

Well yeah, memory care is basically prison.

Op, is your mom on meds? Something like Aricept or were quell or both could help. You need to consult a psychiatrist, neurologist, geriatrician etc about meds that might help. They can improve mood.
[/quote]

My mom loves her memory care.  She suffered in both independent and assisted living because she was struggling so much cognitively, was anxious all the time and basically terrified.  Going in I also thought memory care was a prison.  I initially wanted my mom in a one bedroom because she’s always liked her space.  Turns out her world needs to be smaller right now.  She feels safe in her studio and in her smaller world.  Life is simpler, she doesn’t have to worry about getting lost, things are familiar, she knows the routine, she likes the staff and the residents.  All of these things are so incredibly important to those with dementia.  There is no magic medicine to fix this.[/quote]

agree. my mom is is memory care. it is a prison but she needs a prison -- just imagine if you had trouble remembering things, wouldn't you want your days to be filled with familiar sights and sounds and no choices or experiences that could overwhelm you. [/quote]

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