Traveling with FTD

We recently went on a road trip so I could visit our new gorgeous grand baby, and my husband could visit his ailing father. I was highly worried about this trip, but my daughter really wanted to see the new baby. She is very excited to be an aunt for the first time!

For the most part, the trip was fine, mostly due I think to the new medication my husband's neurologist put him on. It is an antipsychotic. Boy, that sounds scary. However, the anger/irritation/agitation/anxiety seems to be dramatically reduced on this drug. The difference is truly remarkable so far. I say "so far" because it's hard to trust that things will be better for very long. In any case, there was a bit of a hiccup. While my husband stayed the week with his family, and I visited the new baby and my family, my husband forgot to take this new drug. I'm thinking maybe we need a large pill organizer so he can be sure to take all of his prescribed drugs.

The effects of not taking the new antipsychotic were not fully shown until last night, 2 days after getting back. Last night my husband was lying on our bed and he grabbed my body pillow which I use to prop up my iPad and watch Netflix. My iPad went flying and he clutched the pillow firmly, while appearing to be sleeping. I carefully tried to remove the pillow and he started yelling at me, being weird and abusive. I try very hard to be calm with him but he accused me of blowing things out of proportion, yelling at him, and being rude. These things are very concerning to me because it's like he is being delusional about what is actually happening. After this, he grabbed his blanket and spent the night on the couch. It's very bewildering. It seemed like he may be experiencing another blackout period.

This morning after asking how his mood was, he was still hostile but did apologize after talking for a few minutes. He said I was being incredibly rude, loud, and condescending to him about the pillow. He did remember everything that had happened so it was not a blackout. We talked about how I was very careful to be calm and non confrontational and came to the conclusion that his brain was lying to him. This is very concerning but also interesting in learning about how Frontotemporal Dementia can affect the brain. It must be difficult for my husband to believe that people who should love him are being mean, rude, and condescending. This behavior makes it very hard to talk and relate with him sometimes.