Alarm to detect creeping

[pamela]

My dear Mum has dementia and has taken to creeping quietly around the house to covertly listen outside rooms to phone calls, Needless to say, she completely misunderstands what is said and gets distressed at imaginary plots which put her into a terrible state for hours if not days.

It would be helpful to know she is there by using a sensor which transmits to a receiver to flash a light or make a discreet beep.

A remote sensing shed alarm, garage approach alarm or even some intruder alarms might work but they have a loud siren. Is there something which might fit the bill?

[Tim Streater]

My FiL IIRC used pressure pads under the carpet or rugs for this purpose.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Is it just the one location you need to cover? An ordinary alarm PIR could be situated for this and fed to any sort of display you need. Might be easier to start out with a ready made shed or whatever one and modify it. One which perhaps had a relay or whatever to allow linking into a main alarm system and just disconnect its sounder.

Trying to find something ready made which does exactly as you want might be tricky.

[GB]

I suggest that you completely reverse your thinking. Leave doors open and invite her to listen in on your phone calls and explain to her what it's all about. Keep calls simple and very bland. Discuss the weather, not care homes. Mysteriously stopping calls when she approaches is just going to heighten her paranoia.

[Harry Bloomfield]

pamela formulated on Thursday :

Maplin used to sell a button cell powered small RD ID tag which you attach to a dogs collar. The receiver for which you would carry. The receiver beeps and shows you the range and direction to the tag.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Get her into an EMI capable care home ASAP.

The process of watching someone's personality and life disintegrate in front of you is best left to paid professionals, not to people who actually have deep emotional involvement.

As I said to the doctor who patched up my mum the last time 'if this was my beloved dog, I would have put it down a year ago'. She ended her life in complete confusion, in pain and on morphine. As her organs packed up as her brain forgot how to operate them.

You have 3-6 years of terminal decline followed by death to get through. Don't make it harder on yourself than you have to.

There will be a few good days taking her out, in those years at first, but there is nothing you can do once she doesn't even remember having children....

[pamela]

Unfortunately my Mum's state is such that she is prone to auditory hallucinations in which she hears something entirely different to what is actually said.

She will comment on a tv news item about bombings in Syria and ask "Did you hear what they just said about pensions?".

She can hear anything in a phone call. Glasnost doesn't work. We tried it.

[pamela]

Great idea. Except in my Mum's case the occupational therapist wants to remove all rugs and mats because she is unstaed on her feet and they are a trip hazard.

[pamela]

TNP, you and I have our differences which have caused us to josh here so thank you for your kind words.

My Mum is dead set against living in a care home and has perversely refused all visits from carers but now she is currently being tested by the docs for capacity to make decisions which may allow us to organise a personal assistant to help her even if she is initially grumpy about it.

[pamela]

Blimey that's a good idea but I doubt she would would wear or carry such a thing. Especially not first thing in the morning (and sometimes much of the day) when she hasn't changed out of her nightclothes.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Internal CCTV

[GB]

You have my sympathy. It can't be easy.

[pamela]

Yes, maybe I could use a screeching shed alarm and physically dampen its piezo sounder.

I once had a great remote PIR alarm by IQ Group with a nicely designed remote sensor that activate a mains powered receiving unit which would switch a neat built-in mains socket (for a lamp or whatever) and also play chimes. That main-socket was a nice feature which I haven't seen since.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Or use that signal to drive an LED. It's what I did with an alarm clock in the bedroom. Wanted a nice large LED display but also wanted it to switch on the sound system. Used the bleeper output to switch a slugged relay which switches the mains to the sound system. I simply couldn't find anything ready made to do the job.

Thinking laterally, would it be possible to soundproof the door so she couldn't hear anything of the call? A good seal round it would make a big difference.

Oh - you have my sympathy. My mother went from being fairly ok - apart from talking to the TV etc - to the point of not knowing anyone or doing anything (even being able to speak) very quickly - about 6 months. So we had no option except a geriatric hospital. Doctors there said the only consolation is she may have been quite happy in her own little world. No way of knowing, though.

[Bill Wright]

Normal passive IRs have contacts that switch in the alarm condition. You could use those contacts to switch a relay, which in turn would switch anything you wanted; a buzzer, a light, a door chime, anything. This is all very simple and easy. Everything could run from a little 12V power supply.

Bill

[John Rumm]

A stand alone PIR of the type designed for controlling lighting etc could do what you need. They would need to be fixed covering an area of interest, but could then be wired to a lamp or buzzer etc. The modern microwave type sensors will even see through walls, and so can cover an area of a house from one room.

[Brian Gaff]

Doppler radar? Or one could just use the PIR part of these little altia units you see on sale and make them operate something else instead of the sounder?

Brian

[harry]

This is not bad advice. She may eventually end up in a state where she is physically fit but dangerous to herself and others in the house. Especially if she's creeping about at night. This quite common I'm told.

They get to a state where someone has to watch them 24/7 and they have to be kept under lock and key. They recognise no-one but live in a world of years ago. (The 1930s in my mothers case.) Their previous personality completey disappears.

My mother attacked my father while he was asleep at night and put him in hospital. He never came out. He had been looking after her for years. No-one else knew how bad she was.

You need to have a good hard think, especially if there are vulnerable children/other people in the house. It's tough.

[Bill]

I bought this cheap rechargeable device to offer up to the daughter's cat. It just used a sim to ring or text a smartphone if the cat wandered outside a defined area. There are ones that use wifi as well for local areas.

But, as expected, the cat wouldn't wear it, and recharging, even with swappable batteries was very awkward.

It should be fine as a car tracker, though. Not that we have a vehicle worth stealing.

[pamela]

Through walls? Are you sure?