Dad doesn't know me

Juliem61

Registered User
Oct 13, 2015
23
0
My dad is in hospital at the moment and will probably be going into a care home from there.

Dad hasn't shown any signs of recognition towards me, my husband or my sister since he went into hospital, although he does remember and identify his partner and her family.

His recognition of us was a bit shaky sometimes before hospital but now there is nothing, not even a sense of familiarity.

The only time he shows recognition is on the telephone when he knows me as a child of around ten or eleven (I'm 50 now but that is the age I was when my parents divorced) I need some advice on whether I should constantly remind him of who I am, even though he doesn't believe it when he's told, or, act like a complete stranger and be constantly concerned that he is going to recognise me and be confused and upset by me being so distant.

It causes me so much stress. There are all sorts of other feelings associated with divorce and a fairly domineering father but, I can handle the fact that he doesn't recognise me as his daughter but I am at a loss as to the best way, for him, I should deal with it.
 

lesley1958

Registered User
Mar 24, 2015
107
0
Bristol
This is really tough for you.

My dad increasingly does not know me as his daughter but because I smile at him and laugh with him, he knows at these times that I am someone that he likes and whose company he finds agreeable and in which he is comfotable - and comforted. I do say "i'm Lesley, your daughter" sometimes but only as it were in passing - I don't labour the point. I try to make the fact that he is comfortable with me around enough for both of us, whoever he thinks I am.

It's not great but nothing about this vile disease is.

Hope you find a way forward too xxx
 

sarahjg

Registered User
Apr 15, 2015
17
0
Hi Julie- really feel for you.. this disease throws us all sorts of stuff. My dad doesn't recognise me now as his daughter- but is usually pleased to see me.. today he said 'you're nice'...! At other times his reaction to me is the same as if I was one of the carers in his nursing home. This has been really difficult for me but as Lesley said just stick with it. One of the carers told him that I was his daughter last week and he found this quite confusing.. I really believe that at some level he knows who I am he just can't process it all. Take care xx
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Mum doesnt know who I am any more - she often thinks that I am her mother, but she knows that she knows me IYSWIM, she just cant work it out.
If she asks me who I am then I will tell her that I am her daughter, canary - very matter of fact, but I dont say unless she asks.
 

Raggedrobin

Registered User
Jan 20, 2014
1,425
0
My Dad didn't know who I was but at the same time he started to recognise that I was a friendly being in his world and would smile and be happy to see me. He tended to sort of put other people onto me, I was never sure who he thought I was, some sort of female kindred spirit but certainly not his daughter or anyone I knew he knew.

I didn't have a particularly good relationship with my Dad but ai just would prompt him to talk and I would just try to be whoever he wanted me to be. In some ways he was no longer him so It didn't matter if I wasn't me, either. I just carried on going in and visiting him, taking him treats and trying to make sure he was as comfortable as i could. He seemed grateful for that.

What is harder is when the person goes kind of glazed and has no sense of who anyone is. My mother is like that when she is sundowning, absolutely no one can get through to her at all then. Then when she is more on a plateau, she chats away to me, knowing we are related and I am my sister/her mother/her aunt/her sister and very rarely myself.:D
 

Dustycat

Registered User
Jul 14, 2014
215
0
North East
My mum didn't know who I was for 14 months before she died. At first I used to get frustrated and upset but then learned to live with it. She was always pleased to see me and recognised me as a happy smiling face. It's tough though. Xx
 

Babymare01

Registered User
Apr 22, 2015
315
0
Hello Julie - Its an awful stage isn't it. Its so hard to explain to anyone who hasn't been affected by this evil illness how it feels when a much loved parent, someone who has loved you, and you have loved them all your life, no longer recognises you. My mother has slowly progressed to this and now, when she does open her eyes, her eyes are blank at me and it hurts. But I sit and say its Carol, your daughter, to her often as I talk to her and stroke her arm. Its not so much reminding her, I no longer think I could remind her, but just to let her hear my voice as I think that is something that triggers a little tiny switch in her somewhere in her mind. What you have to hold in your heart it isn't the person its the evilness of this illness and in your fathers heart he really does love you and nothing will change that. Im sorry that I have no good advice but hun - so easy to say but so hard to do I know - try not to stress over it xx

Finally just a )))hug((( xxxxxxx
 

granma

Registered User
Apr 15, 2014
8
0
Somerset
I have dementia

My dad is in hospital at the moment and will probably be going into a care home from there.

Dad hasn't shown any signs of recognition towards me, my husband or my sister since he went into hospital, although he does remember and identify his partner and her family.

His recognition of us was a bit shaky sometimes before hospital but now there is nothing, not even a sense of familiarity.

The only time he shows recognition is on the telephone when he knows me as a child of around ten or eleven (I'm 50 now but that is the age I was when my parents divorced) I need some advice on whether I should constantly remind him of who I am, even though he doesn't believe it when he's told, or, act like a complete stranger and be constantly concerned that he is going to recognise me and be confused and upset by me being so distant.

It causes me so much stress. There are all sorts of other feelings associated with divorce and a fairly domineering father but, I can handle the fact that he doesn't recognise me as his daughter but I am at a loss as to the best way, for him, I should deal with it.

As a person of 65 with dementia all I can say is that your father is the person who gave you life and I am sure that if he could he would tell you how much he loves you, just be happy when you see him, make him laugh, sing and smile and you too will find pleasure in that and always LOVE. :)
 

m0j0r1s1n

Registered User
Jun 16, 2022
19
0
This happened to me today for the first time. My Father thought I was a friend of his who passed away last week. It’s taken the wind out off my lungs trying to talk about myself and remember how the person my father thinks I am would have reacted. I think I’m just going to go with the flow and be whoever but I’ve got to say this has to be the hardest part of this evil disease. The pointers above will just make me try and make him laugh while it’s happening. I just want him to remember me one more time so I can tell him how much I love him.
 

Shedrech

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
12,649
0
UK
Tell him anyway @m0j0r1s1n ... better to say what you need to say than later wish you had ... if you feel he wouldn't respond positively to you calling him dad, then tell him what a lovely person he is is and he reminds you so much of your dad who (then say what you want to say, share a favourite memory, tell him how grateful you are to your dad for ....)
Who knows he may pick up on a story you tell him and respond ...

Just to note, this is a thread from 2015 ... the date of each post is top left of the text box
 

Ramblingrose

Registered User
Feb 2, 2020
84
0
My mum has no idea who I am or my siblings and our partners. Throughout the day she questions my dad about who he is or asks him where her husband is. Neither does she know she is in her own home. In fact she has no memory of most things and constantly asks questions and I mean constantly. I have to say it doesn't upset me.