Loss of co-ordination.

[Galloping grannie]

I don’t know why I didn’t expect this to happen but my OH is increasingly knocking things over. This evening it was a glass of red wine, all over the carpet, the third time in a couple of weeks. Yesterday, it was a cup of coffee at our dementia group. We are going on a cruise in a weeks time. I thought this was the safest option for a holiday but now I’m worried about it. We have opted for a table on are own as he struggles to speak to people. We go to a balance class and he copes well with the exercises, some of them are done with our eyes closed. He has had this disease for nine years now so I suppose things could be a lot worse!

 

[nitram]

Maybe decrease in spacial orientation.

 

[Chizz]

I don’t know why I didn’t expect this to happen but my OH is increasingly knocking things over. This evening it was a glass of red wine, all over the carpet, the third time in a couple of weeks. Yesterday, it was a cup of coffee at our dementia group. We are going on a cruise in a weeks time. I thought this was the safest option for a holiday but now I’m worried about it. We have opted for a table on are own as he struggles to speak to people. We go to a balance class and he copes well with the exercises, some of them are done with our eyes closed. He has had this disease for nine years now so I suppose things could be a lot worse!

Hi @Galloping grannie
Yes, loss of co-ordination is quite common in early stages of dementia. My OH then suffered a change in perception, so for example, she'd go to pick up a cup but only half get it and a spill or breakage occurs. Similarly, she'd reach for the side of a chair before she quite got there, and thus sometimes try to sit down in the wrong place, or have a fall. The lack of co-ordination of my other half went on to become a problem for her with cutlery, and she'd be unsteady using cutlery. That was quite some while ago, and now a few years on and I have to feed her her food and drink.
My OH did various things, like play the piano and the guitar, but lack of co-ordination meant she couldn't do it like she had before, which frustrated her. Gradually, she stopped trying as she didn't want to do it badly and as time has gone on she's lost interest. Similarly, she has stopped being able to fully control a pen or pencil and has stopped trying to write altogether. Then, being able to do up buttons became a difficulty, and she stopped putting on make up as she couldn't do it as she wanted to.
You'll have to be v watchful with your OH. The struggling to speak can be him in trying to get the right word in the right context at the right time, or it can be a difficulty in processing what has been said quick enough to be able to respond. Thus, when he's thought of what to say and how to say it the conversation has moved on to something else. The inability to join in a conversation with you or others can give the feelings of frustration and isolation. Most people are fairly impatient, so when he can't quite respond they stop talking to him and talk to you, which is also isolating.
We are past all this as my OH can't talk properly - she'll say three or four or five words and then drift into sounds that are incoherent and random and not words at all. We don't travel anymore.
Best wishes and good luck with your travels

 

[canary]

Its a spacial awareness problem.
They can see things, but they are unsure of where they are in relation to themselves. They often think that thinks are either nearer to them, or further away from them, than they actually are. When mum was at this stage she could not work out how high a step was and kept probing it with her stick before she stepped up/down. She also worried that we were too close to something, when we were actually quite far away. There was a lady in her care home with an extreme presentation of this - she would want to sit in a chair, see a chair and think she was right next to it, but would end up sitting on the floor as the chair was still several feet away