Behaviour
People with Alzheimer’s and dementia can often display signs of aggressive behaviour. We have noticed this many times in grandads case, we found that aggressive behaviour was mainly brought on by bouts of confusion and this was his way of acting out and showing his frustration. I think his inability to do things for himself also made him more aggressive. We noticed that when he was trying out a new medication that, although it would bring him back to us for a little while, it would also make him aggressive. I think the more he remembered who he was and how ill he was the more frustrated and aggressive he became Signs of aggressive behaviour are:
- Verbal Abuse
- Agitation
- Lashing out
- Being physically violent
- Overreacting to everyday situations
In grandads case I have felt that the best way to deal with the aggression is to ignore it and try to distract him from what was causing it in the first place. In the past year we have learnt not to let him watch certain things on the TV and not to discuss certain things where he can hear. Of course there will always be times where he becomes confused and even upset so the only thing we can do is to try to calm him down. In some ways he is a lot like a young boy and in most cases a firm voice explaining that everything is going to be alright and we are all here to look after him works a treat.
Birthdays
Hi freddo,
Today is my 26th birthday, I’m not sure if you have remembered but that’s Okay. It has made me think of when I was about 16, you had written me a poem on the back of my birthday card about smoking and how I was to beautiful to smoke. I’ve kept it but I can’t for the life of me find it. You always wrote inside the birthday cards diagonally too and used to sign Grambo Fred. This was a nickname we had given you when we were younger we went through a phase of watching the Rambo films and you had decided you were Grambo :)
Beans
One of my favourite memories was stealing your green beans from the garden. You would come in from your walk and say to nan “those bloody birds have been at my beans again.” You even tied carrier bags to the tops of the canes thinking that they would rustle in the wind and scare the birds away. But it was Andy and I stealing them :)
Love you xxx
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