Is this wrong? When we go to bed like 11:00 she should be up stairs too. In the middle of the night she goes down stairs wandering around. She is hearing impaired. Leaves water on or refrigerator or freezer open. Or could fall. She drives me crazy...always up opening front door slamming it locking it over and over. I give her lorazepam and Seritriline at night. She claims a man is in my dad's old office in the next room. But no one is in there and it leads to the balcony. She ties belts and strings on it puts a chair in front and stacks clothes. She has a potty chair because she will urinate in objects in her room. It smells horrible. We clean the carpet all the time. Nothing works. She argues about everything and says I'm mean. I don't know what to do. But mostly I don't want her to fall down the stairs. I gave her a cane but she forgets to use it. And forgets everything as well. She's complaining about her knee and will not sit down long enough for icing. I looked into giving her a serious sedative. But the side effects are really bad. Someone please give me any advice. Please! And thank you in advance.
If she has declined to the point where she is urinating in inappropriate places, that’s very unsanitary and will cause your whole home to smell. I’d would worry that she could turn on the stove and cause a fire. Medicating her into oblivion at. Isn’t isn’t the answer and could be dangerous to her health. Plus, those sleep meds don’t work for long.
She needs constant, 24/7 supervision. This is something that takes 3 shifts of trained aides and nurses. Because of her behavior, she should not be left alone, day or night. She needs, in a word, to be in a Memory Care facility.
Locally, a few years back an older couple put a lock on the outside of their disabled, adult sons bedroom door to keep him from wandering. The house caught fire and the poor guy died. The parents were arrested. I’m sure they were devastated about the loss of their son as well. It was a sad and tragic situation.
I feel your pain. I have an adult, disabled son at hime who gets up in the wee hours of the morning - like 3am early. Rainman gets into everything as his usual routine. Turning on the stove burners is something he’ll do...
We installed a motion sensor alarm just inside of his bedroom door. It helps. Not so much with us sleeping through the night - let me tell you, when that thing goes off during a deep sleep it’s enough to leave you hanging by your fingertips from the ceiling - but we’re up and getting him hustled back into his bed - with a scolding that keeps him there till morning. The next night? Maybe - Maybe not. It’s a crap shoot.
Maybe its its time for a facility of some sort? But please - please rethink a lock. It’s a bad idea.
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I think it maybe time for Mom to go to a NH. She maybe passed an AL. My Moms the front door at the AL had a button lock but the fire doors didn't. They had alarms but the person was outside by the time someone got to the door.
With a bad knee it could give out while she was on the stairs and down she'll go. I would put a lock on the room with the balcony. I have a split level and Mom had the bottom room where there was a bath and easier access to the outside. Because of the stairs going down in her room, I gated her in at night with a baby gate. TG she never figured out how to get it down. But it kept her from roaming my house at night where there were 2 more flights of steps.
If you need a "push" in the direction of a NH, ur house is a good reason, stairs and Mom no longer aware of the dangers. Wouldn't it be nice to have a good nights sleep.
Locking her in the bedroom isn't really a workable solution. First, unless mom has been declared legally incompetent that could be considered kidnapping and/or false imprisonment. Second, it's not very safe in the event of a fire or medical emergency. Third, if Mom's anxiety has her up walking the house then she may really start bouncing off the walls if she cannot get out of her bedroom.
BTW - try adding some white vinegar to your cleaning solutions to get rid of the smell.