She's been hallucinating and her behaviors have been truly demented, regardless of supplements or Acupuncture. Acupuncture makes her less agitated, which helped us get through some of her demented episodes.
I know my mom needs more fluid. I know that she has become dehydrated, sitting in the heat of the summer sun. She refuses to come inside. Part of her problem is just to be defiant, to keep control of her life... "I'll come in when I'm ready!" Is a phrase that I've heard often.
The more dehydrated my mom became, the more disagreeable she had become with me. It was frustrating for me because I knew that if she stayed in the humid heat, day after day, she could have a stroke.
Disoriented. Hallucinations. Fatigue. Exhaustion. All symptoms of dehydration; symptoms similar to urninary tract infections. We had her tested for a UTI and it came back negative. What could it be? Is all I could think. What could be the root cause of her sudden changes. Is it the progression of her disease? I don't know.
Makes me wonder if other Care Givers who experience difficult behaviors with negative UTI results in their wards are really dealing with dehydration symptoms? Symptoms that seem to be magnified by the neurological disorder in their brains.
I made my mom Chicken Soup. I put in fresh herbs from the garden, sage, parsley, thyme and tarragon. I sprinkled in Turmeric and tossed in 6 peppercorns with a few bay leaves. Chicken wings always make the best soup; I had wings in the freezer. I cut up fresh carrots and celery with a sweet vidalia onion chopped into chunks.
She got home from the foot doctor with Cheryl and was clearly disoriented and weak. I had her eat soup which seemed to revive her a bit. It also seemed to turn on her appetite. Her appetite had been awful the last few days. She ate chicken and a mortzarella, tomato and basil salad that I had made with some ingredients from the garden. She loved it. She ate an orange. She had more water. She had a coconut ice cream.
By the time my mom was going to bed, she was coming back to life. She was more pleasant.
Today we need to go and have blood work done for her visit to the Cardiologist tomorrow. She woke up early and I told her about the test. She agreed that laying down for an hour would keep her mind off wanting to eat or drink. Logic. My mom is logical this morning... Yay!
Water... we need it to live. My good friend Pauline, she has a parent with similar issues as my mom. She wrote me a note yesterday about her dad and how he had become dehydrated when he was out with her and her kids one day picking strawberries (I think it was strawberries.) A little bit of an IV drip fixed his disorientation and weakness.
My mom refused to go to the hospital. I think she was afraid that I was going to bring her to a nursing home. I got her to drink because of her fear of the hospital. She is better today and she proved something obvious, water... we need it to live.
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