His December seizure was the night before the cleaning ladies (who come once a month). His January seizure was the same. And cleaning ladies were supposed to come today. God doesn’t want me to have cleaning help?!?
It’s pure coincidence. I am sure hubster isn’t thinking about when the cleaning ladies are even coming. Have the seizures been monthly? I do recall reading that they were coming more frequently than in the past. Someone posted that you may see an increase in them. So glad you let the doctor know and I hope he/she is able to come up with an acceptable alternative drug since his previous prescription isn’t covered. Is his coverage through an Advantage Plan? I only ask because they often make numerous changes once a year and doctors may move out of the plan.
I hope he/she is able to come up with an acceptable alternative drug since his previous prescription isn’t covered.
It’s his anti=psychotic drug that was removed from the formulary. His problem with Keppra (the usual seizure med) is that it makes him paranoid and violent. Likely has something to do with his brain atrophy.
Is his coverage through an Advantage Plan?
No. It’s a form of BCBS for retired South Carolina state employees, which he is.
They seem to be more or less every 5 weeks now. He had the first a year ago, 2nd in mid-December, 3rd in late January, 4th yesterday, March 2.
UPDATE
He ate pbj for lunch yesterday and took 4 bites each of mixed roasted veggies and trout almondine for dinner, which I had to feed to him. He wouldn’t take his after-lunch or after-dinner pills yesterday in the wake of the seizure when he was more confused than usual, so only had his BP pill, 1 zoloft, and 1 olanzapine all day.
Yet he doesn’t seem especially more crazy than usual, given recovering from a seizure. When I woke up ~5am, he had taken off his Depends (which he had peed in) and handed them to me, also took off his socks and pj bottoms, which he put back on inside out. He was gibbering up a storm and fiddling with the bedding, so I took him to the toilet (nada), and decided to just fix breakfast in hopes of getting food, drink, and meds into him asap.
He ate a bowl of shredded wheat & fruit, drank half his coffee and a sip of juice, and took his morning pills–yay! During breakfast I took him to the bathroom twice (he showed signs of needing to go). He poo’d the second time.
He’s still walking slower and more stooped than usual, but faster and less stooped than yesterday, and more confidently–no need of help getting up from a chair, walking, or eating. His usual near-term after seizure behavior. He won’t pick up his coffee or juice himself, but accepts them when handed over. He did eat his cereal unaided–I’m he was quite hungry. I’ll give him a large snack before PT at 10am. And hope he’ll eat his dinner leftovers for lunch.
You have your hands fill and can’t be the caretaker for your entire family.
I wouldn’t be his caregiver. I wouldd grocery-shop and cook for him as I do for us, but he’d still have our (shared) aide to take him places, test his blood glucose, handle his medications/supplements. In fact, she suggested this a few weeks ago as her being in my house more (for my brother) would mean she could also keep an eye on the hubster, giving me more free time. We discussed remaking the upstairs tv room (which is used only as an overflow guest rooms these days) into a real guest room and she could sleep there weekdays.
You’ve been fortunate so far. He’s not been standing/walking when it hit him. He will likely crumple if he were standing, and hit anything on the way down (counters, tables, etc). A completely uncontrolled fall. Can result in severe injuries (not theoretical…I know for a fact).
Other than preventing the seizures, I don’t know what to suggest. I don’t think you can prepare for seizures. They’re random, and he can’t tell you if he’s feeling funky prior (which sometimes people do, and sometimes they have no funky feeling warning).
He was in the bathroom for one of the seizures, fell and hit his head. They stapled the gash in the ER. They wanted to get a CT scan to be sure he didn’t fracture his skull, but he’s unable to be still on request (or really do anything on request since he can’t understand requests) so he can’t get any kind of imaging any more. He wouldn’t stop struggling against his last blood test, so that may be in the past as well.
I thought I was going to have lots of awful decisions about denying him medical care, but so far he’s the one making care impossible, from refusing to take vitamins to refusing to be still enough for me to take his BP or get pulsoximeter readings, to imaging & blood tests. And he has a terrible reaction to the usual sedation drug (ativan) and seizure med (keppra).
His next neurology appt is in 2 weeks. I will bring up preventing seizures, but his neuro regards his dementia as more significant than his seizures (then again, that’s his specialty-). So far the the worst effects seem to be dealing with him being weaker and more confused afterwards.
Since besides the seizure he took almost none of his meds yesterday–including zoloft and olanzapine–he was, well, extra-demented today. At least no peeing on the floor, but he came very close once. I had to rush at him with the commode to catch it! (I am caregiver, hear me roar-)
At least he ate pretty well today–unlike yesterday. Sure loves my chocolate protein smoothies! Since he’s spitting out the gummy vites lately, maybe I should go for liquids and add to smoothies. Geezers really need D3, fish oil, K2 and calcium, magnesium, CoQ10…
