Hi to all
I am new to all this and unsure what to write so if I waffle a bit please bear with me. I'm also unsure about political correctness and have no wish to cause offence to anyone so please tell me if I use terms that do so. OK so here goes....
I am a full-time carer for my father in law who is disabled and has diabetes and has now been diagnosed with alzheimers. I first began caring for dad about 5 years ago when he and his wife could no longer manage in their own home (mum had cancer and dad is disabled,and could'nt cope) My husband is in the armed forces and we found that the new posting didn't allow us to live near enough to help out as we used to. So we all made the decision that mum and dad would come to live with us and bought a place with an annexe. I gave up work and cared for both of them until mum died about a year later. Since then I have cared for dad.
It is only in the last 18months that I have gradually become aware of some of the support availabe for carers and I am still finding out about things. I only found this site a month or so ago and the is my first post.
Dad has recently been diagnosed with alzheimers after developing some increasingly "odd" behaviour and memory problems. I appologise for the term "odd" - what i mean is odd for dad - he has become obbessed with food - wanting to eat at strange times of the day/ night, forgetting that he has eaten at all, feeling that he is being starved or that he is having something put in his food - i don't really know how to describe everything properly. He also get lost even at home, cant remember things or what is discussed a few minutes ago. He's also become a bit of a magpie - if he sees something he likes the look of he takes it and hides it (particularly shiny things) indeed if anything goes missing the first place we look is in dad's dresser.
I'm told that all this is fairly typical but when I look back just a few years ago dad seems so different and even though I've been reading about alzheimers and in theory know something about what's ahead, I do feel at bit at sea here ...
I am new to all this and unsure what to write so if I waffle a bit please bear with me. I'm also unsure about political correctness and have no wish to cause offence to anyone so please tell me if I use terms that do so. OK so here goes....
I am a full-time carer for my father in law who is disabled and has diabetes and has now been diagnosed with alzheimers. I first began caring for dad about 5 years ago when he and his wife could no longer manage in their own home (mum had cancer and dad is disabled,and could'nt cope) My husband is in the armed forces and we found that the new posting didn't allow us to live near enough to help out as we used to. So we all made the decision that mum and dad would come to live with us and bought a place with an annexe. I gave up work and cared for both of them until mum died about a year later. Since then I have cared for dad.
It is only in the last 18months that I have gradually become aware of some of the support availabe for carers and I am still finding out about things. I only found this site a month or so ago and the is my first post.
Dad has recently been diagnosed with alzheimers after developing some increasingly "odd" behaviour and memory problems. I appologise for the term "odd" - what i mean is odd for dad - he has become obbessed with food - wanting to eat at strange times of the day/ night, forgetting that he has eaten at all, feeling that he is being starved or that he is having something put in his food - i don't really know how to describe everything properly. He also get lost even at home, cant remember things or what is discussed a few minutes ago. He's also become a bit of a magpie - if he sees something he likes the look of he takes it and hides it (particularly shiny things) indeed if anything goes missing the first place we look is in dad's dresser.
I'm told that all this is fairly typical but when I look back just a few years ago dad seems so different and even though I've been reading about alzheimers and in theory know something about what's ahead, I do feel at bit at sea here ...
This darned disease throws up all sorts of behaviours, some that we never thought we would meet in a million years from our loved ones. We never know what to expect and I think that is one of the hardest things to comprehend, is there any wonder we all feel 'wrong-footed' most of the time.