Signs of dementia

[gwstang]

Ask him some questions, like what day it is or what year it is.. what is his birthday and year. Then ask him who the president is. Who just got elected president. Things like this is what a Dr. will ask him and it will become evident very quickly if he has dementia. My wife just went through this with a dear friend she was helping to take care of and that is exactly what the Dr. did. Medicine is helping her now. Not a cure, but does help.

 

[ultrarunner]

Most of these would be answered incorrectly... especially day of the week and month.

 

[ovrszd]

Most of these would be answered incorrectly... especially day of the week and month.

I would hesitate before answering what day of the week it is. I only have two. Saturday and Sunday. Six Saturdays and one Sunday.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yesterday I got the look of disappointment from Mom... saying it's Easter Sunday and none of her Grandkids are going to church with her...

It isn't Easter and last Easter and Christmas the kids all went to church with her.

I let it slip that church is causing a lot of her confusion... for 50 years that Mom has been attending they always had weekday mornings, Saturday Evening and 4 services on Sunday with 3 standing room only if you did not get there early...

In 2015 they went from 10 per week to 3 services...

The weekly bulletin gets referred to 25 times a week and I get calls asking what happened to 8 am services fairly regular...

 

[drssg]

My wife's father was recently diagnosed with dementia, and I was not aware of the variety of ways it can affect people.

In his case, the onset was quite rapid, and his primary symptom is chronic horrible delusions. His family ended up calling 911, because he was freaking out, and they were afraid he was going to have a stroke.

In the emergency room, he would tell everyone he met about all the people he had killed and was going to kill. He's going to commit suicide, he doesn't believe in God, he IS God, he's going to hell. He thinks the hospital is going to cut off his arms and leave him helpless and in pain. It's just an incessant stream of horrible nonsense.

It has been an ongoing process to see if there is any combination of medications that can improve his quality of life. There has been some improvement in his anxiety level, but nothing so far has been able to stop the delusions, and his general mental capacity continues to noticeably decline.

Ugly stuff.

 

[ultrarunner]

No one answer…

Many believe dementia removes the filters and your true self comes out…

Medication or combination taken can be the cause just as forgetting to take or forgetting you just took your dosage.

No simple answers but I found sometimes just being agreeable to the outlandish even if it means a white lie can do wonders to put those suffering at ease.

The problem is it can exhaust caregivers…

 

[Citydude]

My wife's father was recently diagnosed with dementia, and I was not aware of the variety of ways it can affect people.

In his case, the onset was quite rapid, and his primary symptom is chronic horrible delusions. His family ended up calling 911, because he was freaking out, and they were afraid he was going to have a stroke.

In the emergency room, he would tell everyone he met about all the people he had killed and was going to kill. He's going to commit suicide, he doesn't believe in God, he IS God, he's going to hell. He thinks the hospital is going to cut off his arms and leave him helpless and in pain. It's just an incessant stream of horrible nonsense.

It has been an ongoing process to see if there is any combination of medications that can improve his quality of life. There has been some improvement in his anxiety level, but nothing so far has been able to stop the delusions, and his general mental capacity continues to noticeably decline.

Ugly stuff.

Very sorry to hear this. It's a rough road to go down.

 

[groundcover]

Something to look into as well, often missed by the doctors.

Secondary dementia due to Lyme neuroborreliosis

Dementia-like syndromes are rare manifestations of Lyme neuroborreliosis. The clinical patterns are summarized using our own cases and case reports from the literature, which were diagnosed as definite Lyme neuroborreliosis according to the European guidelines. ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Hay Dude]

My Mother in law just passed away 2 months ago. 5 years of dementia. She lived with us for the last 4 of them. It was shocking to watch. Really crushed my wife.

 

[MossRoad]

...

The problem is it can exhaust caregivers…

Agreed.

 

[rekees4300]

For 3 years I've had trouble remembering the names of people/things so Dementia may be the cause? This Spring took Prevagen for 2 months but it did nothing.

Dementia - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

 

[ultrarunner]

The market must be huge because there are so many “Memory” products marketed…

I don’t have a frame of reference but so many families I know are touched by loved ones battling the long goodbye.

I am one of the lucky ones in that mom never had a bad word to say about anyone and remembered me to the very end passing away as she wished at home with me holding her hand.

One of her great strengths is her faith and up until the last 3 days she prayed the Rosary twice daily… and always brought her peace.

She even learned how to hold a smart phone when she could do little else to follow along with Mass and was grateful to be able to do so.

As a daily mass goer the hardest thing for her to come to terms with is how church could be closed… she said even in war with bombs falling and soldiers marching there was still mass…

The other part was the near total isolation of the pandemic… unbelievably hard for those with limited ability to comprehend…

Through it all when everyone around her came down with COVID including the Hospital nursing staff when mom fractured her pelvis Mom never got COVID and she was tested all the time.

 

[caver]

Speaking from experience (Dad) they repeat stories sometimes 2-3 times in a few hours. During coof lockdowns we had to speak to him through a window. He no longer knew who I was and would tell stories like he had lunch with grandparents who have been deceased for a long time.

 

[drssg]

The market must be huge because there are so many “Memory” products marketed…

I don’t have a frame of reference but so many families I know are touched by loved ones battling the long goodbye.

I am one of the lucky ones in that mom never had a bad word to say about anyone and remembered me to the very end passing away as she wished at home with me holding her hand.

One of her great strengths is her faith and up until the last 3 days she prayed the Rosary twice daily… and always brought her peace.

She even learned how to hold a smart phone when she could do little else to follow along with Mass and was grateful to be able to do so.

As a daily mass goer the hardest thing for her to come to terms with is how church could be closed… she said even in war with bombs falling and soldiers marching there was still mass…

The other part was the near total isolation of the pandemic… unbelievably hard for those with limited ability to comprehend…

Through it all when everyone around her came down with COVID including the Hospital nursing staff when mom fractured her pelvis Mom never got COVID and she was tested all the time.

Thanks for the update. I was not aware that your mother had passed away. It's nice that you were willing and able to keep her at home. She sounds like a remarkable woman.

 

[drssg]

For 3 years I've had trouble remembering the names of people/things so Dementia may be the cause? This Spring took Prevagen for 2 months but it did nothing.

Dementia - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

I don't know how to distinguish between normal forgetfulness and dementia. Regardless, I think it would be good for us all to have some contingency in place, in case we aren't mentally able to manage for ourselves.

My FIL has done planning for his estate, but there was nothing to deal with him being mentally not with it. His family is attempting to do the annual required minimum distribution from his IRA, in order to avoid a fine from the IRS, and it has been a problem.

They attempted to get him to sign a required document, and he was having none of that. He thinks he will lose his citizenship, and they just want to take his money and abandon him.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't know how to distinguish between normal forgetfulness and dementia. Regardless, I think it would be good for us all to have some contingency in place, in case we aren't mentally able to manage for ourselves.

My FIL has done planning for his estate, but there was nothing to deal with him being mentally not with it. His family is attempting to do the annual required minimum distribution from his IRA, in order to avoid a fine from the IRS, and it has been a problem.

They attempted to get him to sign a required document, and he was having none of that. He thinks he will lose his citizenship, and they just want to take his money and abandon him.

Sounds like they need to have him declared mentally incompetent and have someone (preferable two that both need to sign things) declared his legal guardian, with full power of attorney, etc.

 

[drssg]

No one answer…

Many believe dementia removes the filters and your true self comes out…

Medication or combination taken can be the cause just as forgetting to take or forgetting you just took your dosage.

No simple answers but I found sometimes just being agreeable to the outlandish even if it means a white lie can do wonders to put those suffering at ease.

The problem is it can exhaust caregivers…

Exhausted caregivers is right. His children were more concerned for their mother than their father. She was always exhausted, stressed out, and depressed. He wasn't sleeping, and he would keep her awake all night long with incessant chatter about all the terrible things that were going to happen.

He hasn't been back home since the 911 call, but his wife would at least need someone to watch him over night, so she could get some sleep and a break.

Another problem they originally had was a lack of available mental health care. The neurologists were booked solid for several months out, and he had no medication or official diagnosis. By taking him to the emergency room, they were at least able to get him some tests and medical treatment.

The hope was to get him stabilized, manageable, and back home, but that hasn't been working out well.

 

[drssg]

Sounds like they need to have him declared mentally incompetent and have someone (preferable two that both need to sign things) declared his legal guardian, with full power of attorney, etc.

They will probably end up doing that, but they were attempting to avoid the overhead. One of his daughters has a power of attorney, but for some reason, it didn't cover the IRA.

 

[aczlan]

Thanks for the update. I was not aware that your mother had passed away. It's nice that you were willing and able to keep her at home. She sounds like a remarkable woman.

Same here

I am one of the lucky ones in that mom never had a bad word to say about anyone and remembered me to the very end passing away as she wished at home with me holding her hand.

Sorry to hear that here time here on this earth came to an end, from your posts over the years it sounds like she was an amazing woman.
Glad to hear she was able to pass at home with you there as she wanted.

Aaron Z

 

[ultrarunner]

Also accounts often locked and passwords blocked.

Through a kind teller I found Social Security still deposited and Medicare Supplementals still going out...

Both Social Security and Medicare Supplemental sent letters that said it can take up to 90 days to correct???

So who pays overdrafts when social security claws back and Blue Cross keeps deducting?

Dad was simple and I just wrote a check to pay back and stopped supplemental payments.

Mom had direct deposit and autopay.

Mom on all my accounts but when bank did change over to digital from index cards somehow my name dropped from her account...

Confident it will all work out... just more leg work and running around...

Off topic picture of mom mountain climbing in her youth which later in her mid 50's to 75 led to distance running (including Western States 100 mile) and the last few years with memory limitations we would walk several miles each day and on occasion she would ask me if I could go a little faster.