Am I right to be concerned, and want to seek a diagnosis?

[Ti0101]

Hi. Very long one this, but have reached my wits end and need some support.

Let's start at the beginning - my father, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which required some substantial surgery to the back of his neck & head - removing lots of tissue and also parts of some blood vessels.

Since then, my dad has progressively shown signs of losing control of his reasoning & moods. To name a few:

Failure to pay the mortgage
Story telling - making things up about people and places
Constantly losing car keys / wallet etc
Random bursts of anger
Poor decision making (I.e. Being gullible/falling for sad stories)

Now, there is a family history of Alzheimers on his side, but our family doctor says this is all a result of depression and bears no resemblance to Alzheimer's.

Can any of you offer suggestions, or advice on where to get his behaviour assessed?

My gut feeling is these are symptoms of a condition - be that Alzheimers or perhaps vascular dementia.

 

[Cat27]

Welcome to TP

It sounds like dementia to me.
Write down everything you are concerned about & ask the GP to refer to the memory clinic.

 

[Saffie]

Some symptoms of depression can resemble those for dementia, so it's difficult to say with any certainly. I'd do as Cat suggests and keep a log of things that seem wrong to you. Best of luck.

 

[Ti0101]

Do you know what the assessment entails? I'll start logging it all down

 

[Ti0101]

And thank you so far! Really appreciate the responses

 

[canary]

Hi
It sounds like it could well be dementia to me too.
I dont know if this fact-sheet will help
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=167

 

[garnuft]

It may not be dementia, it could be a complication of his surgery.

Either way, my first port of call would be the team connected to the surgery and then I would, if they found no reason connected to the surgery (and frankly, i'd be amazed, from what you've said about the range of his operation) then I would expect and require them to refer to the appropriate departments.

I would say that he is showing signs of dementia, that doesn't always mean it is an irreversible kind, there are conditions where dementia is a symptom not a diagnosis.

The ONLY way you can know is by talking to his Doctors about ALL your concerns.

Best wishes to you and your Dad.

 

[fizzie]

Sometimes it is very difficult to make that differential diagnosis, presenting symptoms are very similar in some cases and as others have said there is the complication of surgery. I think this is going to be difficult for you because you may be sent down the path of multi consultants.

The symptoms you describe are typical of dementia and I'm not sure that a GP is qualified to rule it out without testing

I agree that you should keep a log BUT whilst you are doing that I would ask the Doctor for a referral to the memory clinic. If he won't you are absolutely entitled to ask for a second opinion at your surgery.