Brother has early onset dementia???

[crispy99]

Hi, my husband and I suspect that his brother has early onset dementia. We're after some guidance as he lives an hour's drive away from us and it's not sustainable for us to keep driving to him. We brought him to our house for a few days at Christmas which gave us a chance to get to know him better as he's always kept himself to himself. There's no diagnosis as yet but we did get him to agree to signing a letter to his gp informing him we were next of kin and he agrees we can be involved in any discussions. Sadly, we're not new to dementia/Alzheimer's as both our mums had it, hubby's sister is in a care home with it. We're both in our late 60s and really enjoy walking which we find is really helping us at the moment.

 

[Gosling]

Hello @crispy99 and welcome to this friendly and supportive forum. There is a wealth of shared experience of dementia to be found here, so I am glad you have found us.

I am sorry to read about your husband's brother . As it sounds as though he has capacity still to make decisions, it may be best to try to get him for a GP appointment to start the ball rolling with memory clinics etc. If one of you are able to go with him, with some sort of written record as to what sort of behaviours/ memory issues he is displaying, so much the better. It doesn't sound as though he requires extra care support at the moment, but it may be something to have to consider at some stage.

It sounds as though, sadly, you may have experience of this with other family members, but one thing I would suggest is to organise Lasting Power of Attorney while he still has capacity, as this will make things easier further down the line.

Lastly, keep up with the walking and the things that you both enjoy doing. It's so important to have your own 'me time' as well.