Mental Illness Alzheimers

[Elke]

My mom has Alzheimers. A disease that falls under mental illness.

I believe there is a general stigmatisation of anyone with a mental problem. I have BPD and have experienced this all my life in hospital and among therapists. But when it happened to my mother, due to her Alzheimer diagnosis, it made me sick.

My mom, before Alzheimer was a very proud, vital, and beloved woman. Due to a heart weakness, she was short of dying and the pneumonologist said she immediately had to be hospitalized. I did the admittance and when asked about her illnesses (and I still feel guilty I even mentioned it), I told them she had Alzheimers. When she finally got into her room, I heard the nurse outside: "ALZHEIMERS! Oh, God!!!!!!!" My mother wasnt in there for Alzheimers. Her lung was filled with water, she has a weak heart and she needed to be punctured to get the water out of her lungs.

Its another story I dont want to go into here why I wasnt able to visit her for a week. But what I was told by my son and sister was: She was sat down into a kind of baby seat where she could not get out of. The bed she slept in was not "open", but had crib like safety stabs that confined her. My son told me that she was acting like a mentally ill person, throwing her arms around her like wild, when confined to this crib, and blabbering nonsense. THIS was NOT my mom!!

Not knowing what they did was against the law. I was told by the head of the old folks home, where she now is in short term care, that any kind of forceful methods of taking away her free will, is against the law and can only be allowed, by calling a judge and putting in a request to confine her. Which this hospital never did, other than arbitrarily.

[Robz94]

Hey Elke, I completely agree that any form of stigmatisation on ANY mental health issue is completely disgusting. Having worked for a few months in a residential home for people with Alzheimer's, we were always told to treat any resident with complete dignity and warmth - so to hear that professional nurses still act in such a way is disappointing. Hopefully, with time, people will start to understand that this form of treatment is wrong. I hope your mom is okay.

[Threemoons]

Hi. I'm very surprised that Alzheimer is considered a mental illness in your country, in mine it's labeled a neurological disorder which is a bit different. But I agree there is a lot of stigmatization on these diseases too. The nurse there may have faced deep stage Alzheimer before and things may have been difficult to explain her reaction but she could have kept her worries for herself, it's a bit rude to let it out in front of you. I'm so sorry to read about your mother. I hope she can get proper care soon and get out of the hospital. I guess if she felt stigmatized/freedom-restricted it may have degraded her mental state. Take care of yourself too.

[Pickle59]

(((Elke))) My father has LewyBody Dementia and Parkinsons, but when he was admitted to hospital with heart trouble a couple of years ago, like you we were asked about his medical conditions, and although he was in there for his heart, they were more concerned with his dementia than anything else and similarly put bars up on the side of his bed...........He hated this.............but primarily I think the thinking behind it was to keep him safe & also the other patients should he get up and go wanderings, though he wasn't well enough to do that anyway . He had collapsed and gone into a coma like state through very low heart rate and arrhythmia.

I'm sorry this approach happened to your mum too, along with putting her in a chair she couldn't get out of.................again I think they do this when there just simply aren't the number of staff or people around to give them what they need............and to look out for them.......It doesn't make it right and is very upsetting for them and for the people who love and care for them i.e family.

I'm pleased to say though, that following on from his hospitalization and he did come back from his acute condition, where he is now, they don't believe in caging people up, and like has been said respect them as people and their dignity too. To keep them safe and show and give them the dignity they deserve requires a lot more staff though. He does have this now, and we see him as often as we can and shower him with love, and he doesn't have bars on the bed.

I hear you and it is very very distressing to witness.xx

It was bad practice for the nurse to say what she did, but I think there is a lot of fear and uninformed stigma and all the difficulties in behaviour around dementia.

the hospital where my dad was, was not equipped really to handle physically or emotionally either the patients or their families.xx

I hope things will change in this area in the future.xx

So sorry this has happened and I really hope your Mum has made a good recovery from her lung condition.xx

Sending hugs and understandings to you.xxxxx

[Elke]

Hi. I'm very surprised that Alzheimer is considered a mental illness in your country, in mine it's labeled a neurological disorder which is a bit different.

You´re right, it is a neurologicl disorder.