PSP and Dementia

My husband (74) has had PSP for at least 7 years and has now been bedbound for the last 18 months. He is starting to show non PSP symptoms such as attacking the carers and grabbing hands and squeezing them very painfully. Could this be part of dementia or an infection? It is getting very serious as several carers have walked out.

[Yvonneandgeorge]

Hi my husband would squeeze my hands, but he never attacked any careers, my husband passed away over 3 years ago but I still remember him squeezeing my hands. Xxxx

[AJK2001]

Mum would squeeze hands and hug tightly but in a wanting to show affection way. Would suggest you get him checked for an infection, they can make people behave in very odd ways. Fingers crossed it passes.

[Joze121]

My husband was diagnosed with psp around 3years ago and frontal temporal dementia. We don't have carers as he refuses to have them but he is aggressive and verbally abusive with me. He swears and shouts at me and has raised his hand to me although he's haver actually struck me. His consultant put him on metazapine to improve his mood and calm him down but they said if this didn't work they could increase the dose or put him on something else but it would make him very drugged up so I declined.I've been told some psp sufferers develop this unfortunately and maybe it's a combination of frustration along with everything else. Not easy to deal with and I sympathise with you as it makes it tougher to deal with when they are aggressive. Your not alone.xx

[oilman1]

My wife has conditions similar to what Joze121 comments on. She can get verbally abusive and has now started kicking me and at times will squeeze your hand very hard. She also was prescribed with Mertazapine but it is difficult to find the right dose so that you are not trying to deal with a 110 pound wet noodle. I only give it to her on the "very bad" times. I also agree that a lot of this probably comes from the increasing frustration with the disease. It is a long journey.

[Joze121 in reply to oilman1]

So sorry to hear this oilman and I completely understand what your going through. My husband barely speaks to me and when he does it'd rude or aggressive. I just class myself as his carer now and not his wife so it helps me to deal with it. I have my own bedroom and my own space and I've tried to do some online classes and get some new interests that will take me out of the home situation if only for an hour or two as I can't leave him unsupervised for longer than that. I feel there is little support for carers in this area of the disease if I'm honest. But if you can take yourself out of the situation for a couple of hours or get some new hobbies etc it does help to mix with normality as sometimes I forget what a normal life is like.😞

[Denisejoy1]

My Mum did exactly the same, squeezing and pinching. She also developed paranoid psychosis. It was thought to be part of the disease progression (perhaps some dementia too?) Her consultant prescribed some antipsychotics to calm her and gradually reduced the dose as the symptoms subsided. It was so heartbreaking to see but the meds did calm her so worthwhile asking about that for your husband. Take care and sending love x

[Cappy11]

Increased impulsiveness is part of the disease so it can result in an inability to control anger.

My father would at times get very angry and be verbally/physically abusive. Now he physically can't manage it, but he's also been taking citalopram which has helped calm him down a lot without any serious side effects. He still gets worked up over small things but not nearly as much as before.

Going through the illness leads to a lot of anxiety and depression, and that understandably causes frustration and anger, which then can't be controlled. Pretty shitty stuff...