I'm new to the forum, finding it helpful and a little bit comforting to read other people's experiences, as I am feeling slightly alone. Sharing my current situation on here as a way of letting it all out.
I first started to notice my mum becoming more forgetful and easily confused about 1 year ago, she was putting it down to old age (she's 72). She lives with me as she has always needed someone to "keep an eye on her" due to being epileptic, although she hasn't had a seizure in almost 10 years thanks to tweaking of her medication.
As last year went on, she started struggling to grasp what time of day it was, and started eating meals and going to bed early. While I was on holiday last July one of my brothers popped in at 7pm, to find the front door was open and she was in bed sleeping. He woke her up but was unable to convince her of the time, or even what day it was. My other brother came over and they decided to get her to the GP the following day.
She scored low on a memory test, and had to give a urine sample as they suspected an infection.
1 week later, the tests were inconclusive but the GP prescribed anti biotics, and she did better on the memory test.
A couple of months later I felt she was getting worse, to the point where I started making notes of dates where she did/said something particularly worrying.
Around this time she had blood tests and was found to have an iron nd folic acid deficiency, which has since now improved after a course of pills.
After another visit to the doctor in October the GP did another memory test which also included doing simple tasks (folding paper in half, writing a sentence etc), and from this the doctor referrred mum to the memory clinic.
The nurse from the clinic visited the house at the start of January (she actually forgot the appointment, I had to call to find out if she was still coming - certainly lightened the mood!). The nurse carried out a further memory test and gave me a form to complete, after which she referred us for an ECG and CT scan. The ECG was today and we're still waiting on the scan appointment.
We've been plodding along ok, one concern was my mum gets confused when using the oven/cooker so I'm having to be around at meal times. Going to arrange for home care when I'm away overnight (got a couple of small trips planned).
It's been a constant worry for me, but things took a turn for the worst last Thursday. I came home from work, mum seemed her normal self (what I've come to accept as "normal" anyway), but later on in the evening she turned angry and nasty towards me, and started talking about people who have been "coming into the house" during the day. She said they don't talk to her, but they are trying to trick her. She told me they had been in the house all week, so I asked why she was just telling me now, which is when she became a bit nasty towards me, accused me of being "one of them" and that she had been testing me all week to see what happened.
At this point I had to walk away as was getting upset. I told her I was going to bed and she should do the same.
The next morning she woke up and I asked if she remembered what she was saying, hoping she would have forgot, but no she was still adamant people had been in the house.
I called the nurse from the clinic who said it sounded like a urine infection, so I got a GP appointment and while there, mum told the doctor about these people she sees in the house.
The urine test came back clear yesterday so no infection, to be honest I had hoped that was the reason behind her imagining these people. I hadn't mentioned them over the weekend but last night told her I was concerned about what she said, as people shouldn't be getting in the house, she is still of the mind that they were coming in. It's made me worry even more, as otherwise she seemed ok apart from a bad memory and the confusion.
Hoping the CT scan will give some answers but I do realise diagnosis can take a long time.
My friends have been great to talk to about this but as I said, this forum and reading of other people going through similar is helping me. I hate that my mum and this situation is becoming the main topic of conversation with my friends, as strange as that might sound.
Thanks for reading (if you've made it this far!)
I first started to notice my mum becoming more forgetful and easily confused about 1 year ago, she was putting it down to old age (she's 72). She lives with me as she has always needed someone to "keep an eye on her" due to being epileptic, although she hasn't had a seizure in almost 10 years thanks to tweaking of her medication.
As last year went on, she started struggling to grasp what time of day it was, and started eating meals and going to bed early. While I was on holiday last July one of my brothers popped in at 7pm, to find the front door was open and she was in bed sleeping. He woke her up but was unable to convince her of the time, or even what day it was. My other brother came over and they decided to get her to the GP the following day.
She scored low on a memory test, and had to give a urine sample as they suspected an infection.
1 week later, the tests were inconclusive but the GP prescribed anti biotics, and she did better on the memory test.
A couple of months later I felt she was getting worse, to the point where I started making notes of dates where she did/said something particularly worrying.
Around this time she had blood tests and was found to have an iron nd folic acid deficiency, which has since now improved after a course of pills.
After another visit to the doctor in October the GP did another memory test which also included doing simple tasks (folding paper in half, writing a sentence etc), and from this the doctor referrred mum to the memory clinic.
The nurse from the clinic visited the house at the start of January (she actually forgot the appointment, I had to call to find out if she was still coming - certainly lightened the mood!). The nurse carried out a further memory test and gave me a form to complete, after which she referred us for an ECG and CT scan. The ECG was today and we're still waiting on the scan appointment.
We've been plodding along ok, one concern was my mum gets confused when using the oven/cooker so I'm having to be around at meal times. Going to arrange for home care when I'm away overnight (got a couple of small trips planned).
It's been a constant worry for me, but things took a turn for the worst last Thursday. I came home from work, mum seemed her normal self (what I've come to accept as "normal" anyway), but later on in the evening she turned angry and nasty towards me, and started talking about people who have been "coming into the house" during the day. She said they don't talk to her, but they are trying to trick her. She told me they had been in the house all week, so I asked why she was just telling me now, which is when she became a bit nasty towards me, accused me of being "one of them" and that she had been testing me all week to see what happened.
At this point I had to walk away as was getting upset. I told her I was going to bed and she should do the same.
The next morning she woke up and I asked if she remembered what she was saying, hoping she would have forgot, but no she was still adamant people had been in the house.
I called the nurse from the clinic who said it sounded like a urine infection, so I got a GP appointment and while there, mum told the doctor about these people she sees in the house.
The urine test came back clear yesterday so no infection, to be honest I had hoped that was the reason behind her imagining these people. I hadn't mentioned them over the weekend but last night told her I was concerned about what she said, as people shouldn't be getting in the house, she is still of the mind that they were coming in. It's made me worry even more, as otherwise she seemed ok apart from a bad memory and the confusion.
Hoping the CT scan will give some answers but I do realise diagnosis can take a long time.
My friends have been great to talk to about this but as I said, this forum and reading of other people going through similar is helping me. I hate that my mum and this situation is becoming the main topic of conversation with my friends, as strange as that might sound.
Thanks for reading (if you've made it this far!)
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