My Mom had depression all her life. She held a good job but now older and in Assisted Living, and my Dad passed almost 3 years ago she has no will to live at all. She seems to have AZ, and lays in bed all day. She will not even get up to eat and I know she urinates in her depends instead of getting up. Depression is a definitely can be an inherited . Her father wanted to die so he quit eating and passed at 64 lbs and 72 years old. Her brother hung himself at age 60 with a note saying "I do not want to get old". Most all of her life specialists tried different medication to no avail. The Assisted Living Place will not tolerate her putting no effort at all into trying to get out of bed and be Hygienic. She has odors and that is something my Mom used to make sure she never had. I can not take care of her as I have tried and I cannot get her out of bed and she would rather lie in diarrhea and sleep then to get up . She has gotten worst the last 6 months. I am so upset about this situation and it is literally taking it's toll on her and me. Her blood work comes out great.. She has diabete but is doing good on that, I am sure not eating is keeping her sugar low, normally it is around 170. She forgets a lot and my two half brothers have stolen money from her and do not visit her as they can not get anymore money. I am POA. I have been physically abused by my half-brother 3 times. He is Bi-Polar, but no excuse, he drinks now and ruined his 17 year marriage. Anyhow, Mom in a Nursing Home seems a bit much, she just wants to lay in bed . No will to live. What can I do? I am declining in my health.This is like slow torture.
She has started on an antidepressant a little over a week ago. She seems to be more alert and involved, but she's still sleeping in and refuses to eat until after noon on some days. I'm hoping that once the meds kick in, that behavior will stop, however, from my reading, being uncooperative is a symptom of the disease and is likely to progress as the disease progresses.It may not be just depression that is causing it. I'm exploring a Memory Care facility, since they tell me they are trained to work with residents who do those kind of things. The Assisted living staff are not equipped or trained to deal with that behavior if it becomes the norm.
What if they changed your mom's meds?
But, one thing at a time. Whatever treatment she is on now isn't working. Please get her to a specialist for evaluation.
Let us know how all this works out for you. We care!
(I hope this goes without saying, but you are in NO WAY at fault for your mother's depression or her dementia. You are awesome to be working toward improvement for her.)