Pleasure and Pain

[mumnme]

My mum 80, was diagnosed in 2022 with PSP and it has been a fairly rapid decline. I lived with her and used to shower her before work and came home at lunch time to get her lunch.

However a fairly bad fall June 2023 rendered me unable to give her the care required, so have found a lovely care home, close by, where I visit daily after work. Although 1/2 my wage tops up the monthly bill. It is just me, no siblings apart from steps, that cant/wont give the same support.

She has very limited mobility, incontinent and suffers constant dizziness 24/7, this is making her feel fed up and hoping her end is sooner than later.

Strangely enough, she erupts into fits of giggles that she cant explain, she was never a giggler or laughed a lot, so that is nice to see and laugh with her.

She like many was a very active woman, never sitting still. When she was younger always had a slight head wobble, wondering if this was a pre curser. She has had a couple of bad knocks to her head in the past.

I just wish her dizziness could be rectified to give her some quality of life for whatever she has left.

Wishing all peace in whatever form that comes in.

[Kelmisty]

My Mum has the dizziness too and we haven’t found anyway of getting it to go away. She hates it.

[mumnme in reply to Kelmisty]

Is your mother on Fludrocortisone? I am wondering if this can be making the dizziness worse.

[Kelmisty in reply to mumnme]

Mum was on a drug initially beginning with an F but they took her off it as it made her dizziness worse but didn’t stop her dizziness . And it does appear to get worse on days.

[LFG3]

Hello,

I just wanted to tell you the fits of giggles are called pseudobulbar affect. It's part of the disease process. But you can look it up and read about it.

It's good to know about it because it also can cause fits of uncontrollable crying, so being aware of it will cause you less distress. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your Mom during this difficult journey. My dear husband passed away last August from PSP. He had it approximately 8.5 years. It's a very devastating disease.