How aware is the person with dementia?
- Thread starter Tears Falling
- Start date
I'm very loath to admit this but my Husband, before he was diagnosed, used to say he felt 'lost'. He also used to say his memory was failing. How I wish I had listened. The 'experts' told us he was suffering with 'anxiety' (he had a depressive episode with psychosis) I believed those 'experts'.After all he was young (59) AD was an 'old'peoples disease. This went on for years. His AD was even missed when he had a scan. The scan was revisited 2 years later when Pete was sectioned again and it showed AD. By then his MMSE score was 7/30. No way would he understand the diagnosis.
My beautiful husband always exercised, had a job as an English Lecturer and ate healthily. NO ONe listened to him-even me. I feel so guilty. His Mum had early onset-it's possible that he inherited a gene-who knows.
I wish I had listened, it's too late now.
My beautiful husband always exercised, had a job as an English Lecturer and ate healthily. NO ONe listened to him-even me. I feel so guilty. His Mum had early onset-it's possible that he inherited a gene-who knows.
I wish I had listened, it's too late now.
We all forget things and we accept that as part of life but we don't usually go running to the Dr because we forget things. When someone goes to the Dr because they are forgetting things it is because they know something is wrong.
I think I was viewed as a hypochondriac, which I've never been but have become obsessed with my health since the start of my symptoms, I was never obsessive before either. I mention dementia but do you think the Drs will?? No one has ever discussed my scan with me other than to say 'You don't have a brain tumour' - I think I will go back and ask them 'Have you worked out what I do have?' My current GP just smiles at me without understanding, my old GP knew something was very wrong and was hindered in trying to get me help and they got rid of her
I think I was viewed as a hypochondriac, which I've never been but have become obsessed with my health since the start of my symptoms, I was never obsessive before either. I mention dementia but do you think the Drs will?? No one has ever discussed my scan with me other than to say 'You don't have a brain tumour' - I think I will go back and ask them 'Have you worked out what I do have?' My current GP just smiles at me without understanding, my old GP knew something was very wrong and was hindered in trying to get me help and they got rid of her
Kassy, that is so sad, made me fill up, your poor Mum.
My Mum often taps her head and says there is nothing wrong with her other than her memory.......but then asks "who doesn't forget things??" But she is acknowledging now that she forgets our physical presence with her 10 minutes or so after we have left. I spray my perfume in her room every day before I go in the hope it will enable her to remember a little longer that I was with her.
I have dementia and everyone I know with dementia knows they have dementia personally I can’t believe a person wouldn’t know they had dementia because it’s not an illness that happens overnight it takes years to fully develop
I could understand 30 years ago people didn’t know much about dementias , but now today with all the Television & media coverage Memory Cafes various organizations such as Alzheimer’s Society , DEEP, Picks FTD singing for the brain every G.P surgery waiting rooms have information dementia is a daily household word and talked about much more freely now
Tony, my OH has had LBD for over 5 years and I have never heard of DEEP, Picks FTD or until recently memory cafes. I hadn't heard of Singing for the Brain until I read about it on this forum and my GP's surgery has nothing on their wall about dementia whatsoever. Before my husband became ill I had heard of the Alzheimer's Society but that was it - I knew it existed in the same way that today I discovered that there is a TMJ Association.
Those things which we know about can seem obvious, those we don't are unknown mysteries and for many folk with dementia anything and everything can be an unknown mystery, even their own name.
I think there may possibly be a confusion on this thread now between 'awareness' about dementia generally (which I think is Tony's valid point) and the 'awareness' which a person living with dementia may or may not have about their own dementia
On the second point and in answer to the question posed by the thread,the evidence of this thread is, as anyone who regularly reads TP might expect, some are aware and some aren't.
On the second point and in answer to the question posed by the thread,the evidence of this thread is, as anyone who regularly reads TP might expect, some are aware and some aren't.
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I don't think my mum knows. She will tell anyone who will listen that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her. She knows she's been in hospital, but firmly believes that everything is now fixed. She gets very angry if we say she has to go back to the dr, she says she doesn't, that the dr says she is in wonderful health. I hope, really hope, she doesn't know. Because my real mum, the pre-dementia woman, would do anything on this earth not to be the woman she has become. I hope she has no idea at all, and that she never does.
Jawuk have a look at this site and watch the video
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/research/dementia-engagement-and-empowerment-project
The Dementia Engagement & Empowerment Project (DEEP) aims to explore, support, promote and celebrate groups and projects led by or actively involving people with dementia across the UK that were influencing services and policies affecting the lives of people with dementia.
The first phase of DEEP was a one year project that finished in 2012 but a new, three year phase began in 2013. This will help build the capacity of existing groups, support the emergence of new groups and help develop a network linking these groups together.
DEEP is a collaboration between the Mental Health Foundation, Innovations in Dementia, supported by the Alzheimer’s Society and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/research/dementia-engagement-and-empowerment-project
The Dementia Engagement & Empowerment Project (DEEP) aims to explore, support, promote and celebrate groups and projects led by or actively involving people with dementia across the UK that were influencing services and policies affecting the lives of people with dementia.
The first phase of DEEP was a one year project that finished in 2012 but a new, three year phase began in 2013. This will help build the capacity of existing groups, support the emergence of new groups and help develop a network linking these groups together.
DEEP is a collaboration between the Mental Health Foundation, Innovations in Dementia, supported by the Alzheimer’s Society and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
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My husband is becoming less and less aware as his Alzheimer's progresses. Now he's entering the realm of really not being aware that he has an illness, especially in the mornings and the evenings, when he's tired, or not fully awake. He can still put words together, but it soon becomes obvious that he's not really thinking straight. Soon, I think he will be completely unaware.
I think a sufferer can have lucid moments.
My mother did and used to get very distressed about it and what was happening to her.
My husband too, was aware for a long time.
My mother did and used to get very distressed about it and what was happening to her.
My husband too, was aware for a long time.
I asked this question over a year ago now and things have moved on in our version of dementia.
Initially I thought that my mum didn't have much awareness but in the past 10 months I would say she is aware. She will at times comment that she has done something. She usually says this after she has had an event. An event being hours of distress usually involving tears, screaming, slamming doors, shouting and being angry and very frustrated. I would have expected that awareness would diminish but as everyone is different I guess it can be as it is.
Its a very sad situation.
I think it depends on the person as everyone is different. My OH is very aware and talks openly about his mixed dementia . Our social worker always wishes for him not to be so aware . He does get frustrated at times .
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