i'm sorry you're facing this at the moment onyx

my grandmother had alzheimer's but we're not sure exactly when it started - it really became prevalent after my grandfather died. we think he must have been covering up small things so that we didn't know. i think also that his death caused the disease to accelerate. however, from that point it was around 3 years before my grandmother died. i think one of the hardest things for me was not knowing whether it was going to be a good day or a bad one. there were phone calls all through the night accusing us of never visiting her (my mum is an only child & used to work full time but would cook a week's worth of meals on the weekend & we would drive them down to my gran each weekend, she lived about an hours drive away) & on the way to my 21st she had to ask to dad who's birthday it was & the name to write in the card (i was the only grandchild). those things were tough. in the end my parents moved my gran to a home that was a 5 minute drive away & we could visit often. plus we knew she was getting regular meals etc.

my gran was a lovely, gentle, vibrant woman who wore heels well into her 70's, still wore tailored skirts & would put on make up each day. i only had one set of grandparents in australia & i doted on her. it was tough to watch her struggle with the disease and see her change completely from the person i had grown up with, sharing secrets & teaching me to bake. she could be very aggressive/angry/nasty and that was so different from how she'd been before.

it was also really tough to watch my mum struggle with the emotion & strain of it all. as an only child she was carrying the burden herself (with support from dad & i, but it was still an enormous burden). she went from being a healthy size 12-14 to not eating & she lost so much weight she dropped to an unhealthy looking size 8. she also started gambling a bit & it was just a really tough time all around. i think lots & lots of support for the people carrying most of the burden is an absolute must - the disease definitely affects more than just the person with the disease.

i can't help with any medication that was prescribed, sorry.