<p>My 93 year old mom bit me the other day while I was helping to untangle her emergency call necklace. Has anyone dealt with parental biting? My kids never bit me.</p>
<p>How was your mother’s mood? Was it an accident or was she angry/playful? Did she apologize? Depending on your answer I would call her doctor and talk to him or her.</p>
<p>It was not an accident and she even has a chart with behavior problems. She has kicked several people and hit a new caregiver. Can you imagine a sign, " Blank must not hit others" on the wall?</p>
<p>Fauxmaven. Does your mom have dementia? These behaviors happen with elderly with dementia. Many times there will be problem behaviors, likely out of frustration.</p>
<p>I’d handle it the same way I would approach a frustrated child who is biting as a last resort-by trying to understand what went wrong. She may have felt like her personal space was being invaded, and she wanted to assert some control.</p>
<p>My sister went through a stage of aggressive behavior with her mother in law (95). An anti-depressant solved the problem.</p>
<p>Mom is on an anti-depressant. She is not a happy person.</p>
<p>I have seen similar instances over the past few years. You have my deepest empathy. Its not easy for the doctors to get the medications right on geriatric patients. In fact, for some, it seems impossible</p>
<p>I would simply be aware of it and take logical precautions. Sometimes a stern lecture from someone they can recognize can make some difference. But not always.</p>
<p>Sounds like part of a dementia complex. So sorry your mom is struggling. Its a primitive, automatic reflex-- to self protect .</p>
<p>fauxmaven, have her tested for a urinary tract infection ASAP. I have a family member who does not realize when she has one, and all sorts of behaviors resembling dementia (including mild violence) show up when least expected.</p>
<p>I agree 100% with Colleg4K. My 96 yr old aunt, with vascular dementia, becomes quite agressive when she has a UTI. She had about 9 UTI’s in 5 months. She is now on a prophylactic antibiotic, (had to tell her PMD that we were not leaving his office until he prescribed one for her). No UTI’s since March when we started the antibiotic. No agressive behavior, a little nasty, but the Seroquel and Lexapro has lessend that considerably.</p>
<p>Yes, acute changes in behavior or acute changes in mental status in the elderly can be triggered by UTI’s. It is a good thing to rule out.</p>
<p>Agree with the UTI screening.</p>
<p>Same UTI experience in our family – weird, but it causes a lot of atypical behaviors.</p>
<p>Same here on the UTI. My Aunt was wrongly diagnosed with dementia but it was actually a UTI. She is perfectly lucid now.</p>
<p>Same here on the uti. Sorry about the bite- that had to be shocking.</p>
<p>Agree with uti. My elderly mother also got them quite often but had none of the “painful” symptoms that usually alert younger women to their presence. We learned to look for “off” behavior to recognize when she should be checked.</p>
<p>Fascinating. My DH has had a persistent UTI for going on 8 or 9 years, maybe longer…it’s all a blur to me at this point. I never connected that with his personality change (for the worse), which happened years before any of the brain damage showed up on MRI’s about 2 years ago. I feel like this thread has given me the missing piece of the puzzle. Thank you OP and all who replied.</p>
<p>Yes she has, but that was about 40 years ago. I think (hope) she’s regretted it ever since, though I probably deserved it. </p>
<p>I have heard stories of people getting really vicious after getting dementia. I hope it was just an accident and this doesn’t happen again.</p>