Worried about my Dad

chimp51

Registered User
May 25, 2015
2
0
Hi, over the past couple of months my mum has noticed and told me about odd things my Dad has been doing, usually in the middle of the night.

I'm concerned he is showing signs of some sort of dementia but unsure as his memory seems to be ok but he is behaving oddly. For the past few years he has had trouble sleeping, he often naps during the day or late into the morning. But at night he often stays downstairs listening to music watching TV as he can't sleep.

However, in the past couple of months he has started doing peculiar things; he put a paint pot in a food cupboard, he has medication that his GP advised he 'grounds' down between two spoons (he has difficulty swallowing) but on one occasion he found himself grounding a piece of bread instead, he took all the coasters out of the living room and put them on top of the fridge, he found himself in their outside shed, plus last night he made his dogs dinner at 3am and put it inside a normal dessert bowl.

Is it possible to show these sorts of signs without the common memory lapses/forgetfulness you normal associate with dementia? He has never been a sleep walker.

Would love some advice, he has so far been unwilling to go to the GP but after last night has agreed to make an appointment tomorrow.

Thanks for reading
:)
 

River15

Registered User
May 28, 2015
9
0
Hi Chimp,

Its hard to say it could be a number of things, diagnosis is very difficult.

My Mum is currently being tested for Alzheimer's, they have confirmed it is a type of dementia but as she's in her early 50s and we have no family history so they are struggling with the diagnosis.

When we first started to notice signs of her unusual behaviour they were not really associated with memory loss. The first thing I remember that worried me was when she was cooking a dinner and went to check on it and realised it wasn't cooked enough so then turned the oven OFF. She came back in the room and said the dinner needs longer so I've turned it off. She couldn't recognise that what she was doing or saying didn't make sense. I'd say my mums overall symptoms haven't really been memory related. When I call her she will always offer me a biscuit over the phone.

Like you Dad, my mum didn't want to go to the doctors but after a lot of convincing she went and nearly two years later she is still under going tests.

How did the appointment go?
 

buggy25

Registered User
May 28, 2015
2
0
Hi chimp, too hard to provide you a definite answer im afraid, it does sound like something neurological with ur dad. Is he a young man? Has anything in his life been peticularly stressful? The poor swallow u mentioned- is it post stroke? Depression can cause disturbances similiar to dementia at times. His own gp will probably screen for these things. Let us know how appt goes.
 

chimp51

Registered User
May 25, 2015
2
0
Thank you to both of you for responding :) River15, it's so nice to hear about someone else who has a relative that has shown signs of odd behaviour but not necessarily memory problems. Dad (who is 69) went to the Drs on Wed, they have taken blood tests and today he got a phone call asking him to come in for a chat next week. This is now worrying my mum who is thinking it's something serious. The Dr seemed a little concerned with my Dads speech, I went in with him & mentioned all the things he's been doing plus the fact he keeps randomly falling asleep (he did it in the waiting room 2 or 3 times). Since the appointment my mum has found his mobile phone in the saucepan rack which is another odd thing, he is usually so careful with important things. Our family have never had to deal with things like this before & it's very stressful. Nice to come on here & read other peoples stories :)