Follow
Share

Ao backstory about 2 months ago my mom was in an inpatient psychiatric facility due to a 1013 hold. After brain scans the psychiatrist diagnosed her with BPD and FTD as evidenced from scans and testing. We moved her to assisted living from there. Fast forward a couple of weeks and this past Friday it was discovered she was self harming. Biting herself leaving bruises and broken skin because "she was so angry" mom said. AL called an emergency behavioral health nurse practitioner in same day. Mom is caliming they retested her and said there is no way she has BPD or FTD and its just grief as she has told us all along. Of course it was late Friday and nobody called us to discuss the outcome like they said they would so all i have is what she is saying. I guess im looking for anyone elses thoughts. I think she was showtiming for the nurse because earlier that day she got a warning from the director that she was dangerously close to going back inpatient if she didnt try to settle down and calm down. I could tell she was trying her best to behave after that. Has anyone else been through something similar? No scans were done again if first scans showed moderate FTD how can someone talking to her for an hour that has never seen her before say it was wrong. Could she be making this up? She is 69 by the way.

Find Care & Housing
If I had a dime for every story my mother concocted to support HER theory that "nothing was wrong with her" and she "had no business living in Memory Care Assisted Living", I could buy those Gucci sunglasses I've had my eye on.

When you combine BPD with dementia, what ensues is chaos like nothing else. My mother had BPD and vascular dementia so all I dealt with was histrionics, I'm sorry to say, since I was a child. The dementia just intensified the lies and the confabulating, at least in my mother's case.

I'd take what your mother is saying with a grain of salt until you can verify it with the NP.

Best of luck to you.
Helpful Answer (4)
Reply to lealonnie1
Report

Kaki, she was diagnosed with BPD and FTD, you should listen to everything she tells you through those diagnosis. That will help you as this journey, for lack of a better word, descends into a nightmare.

My dad told me and everyone else whatever he thought would best serve his purposes. It was crazy making at 1st and it took me a while to listen knowing what I knew was truth, not his version of the truth.

Great big warm hugs! This is hard when mental illness and dementia collide in a brain. It will be a roller-coaster, so prepare yourself, you'll be okay.
Helpful Answer (3)
Reply to Isthisrealyreal
Report

I can't advise you here because you are getting DIFFERENT stories from Medical.
It is EXTREMELY concerning.

Scans don't lie. If you had a skilled assessment done, those results do not disappear, and something here is radically amiss, especially in light of the self-harming and the DECREASE, not increase in normal mentation.

You truly need to take scans to a good neuro-psyc and this needs to be fully medically explained and worked on by a good hospital with adequate neuro-psyc department. I see in your profile that there have been mental health issues, right along. And it is often difficult to assess patients who present with two modalities going.
But scans don't lie.

Anything that a Forum of strangers would say to you now is complete guesswork.
We can't know what medications or med cocktails are being tried. We don't know your Mom, her diagnosis or prognosis, or history. It is very likely that she does have both dementia and mental illness.
I am afraid I can only wish you good luck, and advise you to follow up.
Helpful Answer (2)
Reply to AlvaDeer
Report

I would go with the findings of the psychiatric unit she was in, not a nurse practioner. Who by the way should be under a Doctor who monitors them. I would also contact this NP to see what she said to Mom. If the NP did tell Mom that, I would ask her why she feels her diagnosis is correct after Mom spent time in a psychiatric unit being given all these tests that those doctors felt she is BP and has Dementia.

If Mom has FTD she may very well be making this up. Mom self harming herself and should be brought up to the doctor who was seeing her in the unit. She may need to be medicated.
Helpful Answer (1)
Reply to JoAnn29
Report

I can’t see how a visit with even a knowledgeable NP can supersede the results of inpatient scans and evaluation. I would arrange for a neuropsych to see the previous tests and mom, if needed. Sorry this is such an ongoing struggle
Helpful Answer (1)
Reply to Daughterof1930
Report

She 100% has FTD and BPD.

You know this.

I’m sorry you are looking for an exit ramp (I don’t blame you), but this is what’s going on.
Helpful Answer (0)
Reply to Southernwaver
Report

A patient may have BPD and FTD, or any psychiatric disorder.

If they get a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) it can exacerbate their behavioral symptoms.

exacerbate: makes the behavior worse

If a patient has had frequent UTI's needing antibiotics, they may get Candida, a yeast infection. I am sure that having a yeast infection can cause a person to cry.
Helpful Answer (0)
Reply to Sendhelp
Report

Regardless of your mom’s claims, her behavior will be the determining factor. The test results do not cause her behavior..
The threat of going inpatient may deter her in the moment but if she were able to control her behavior with just a warning wouldn’t that be great….
If mom is self harming then her meds may need adjusting to help her with her “grief”.
I would just assure mom that you will be visiting with her doctor soon.
Helpful Answer (0)
Reply to 97yroldmom
Report

Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter