Hi all,
This is my first thread and I feel a real wimp asking for help when you're all going through so much. But this is what's happening....
About two years ago my Mum started repeating herself, and it gradually got worse. If we went to visit, she'd ask 6 times in the first 10 minutes whether we'd had a good journey and what was the traffic like, that sort of thing. We all tried to answer the question each time as though it was the first, thought it was testing our acting skills by the sixth time of asking!
Over the last 6 months the question/observation repetition has abated, but now she has moved on to quite categorical statements of the "we never/we always/ it's years since" type, which are often wrong. For example "We haven't been in this restaurant for years" when it was actually a couple of months (and a couple of months before that as well).
She's been to the doctor's, she has thyroid and parathyroid problems but they're under control and an MRI scan has shown that the nerve endings in the brain are dead, so the diagnosis is Mild Cognitive Impairment. It doesn't feel very mild, but reading other people's stories I know it is. I needed to get it off my chest - my parents have been staying with us for 10 days and have gone back saying what a lovely holiday they've had (in sunny Lancashire ) but it's made me accept what I hadn't before, that it isn't temporary and my Mum as I've known her all my life won't be coming back. That's how I discovered this site and forum, when I decided to do some research on the web this morning.
I feel I'm being very wet in even posting, but there isn't a site or forum for Mild Cognitive Impairment, and I do have a question. What's the best way to respond to Mum when she makes one of her (wrong) statements? I tended to correct her, but I've realised my motives were pretty selfish. I hoped that if I explained enough she'd suddenly slap her forehead, say 'oh of course, silly me' and everything would be alright again. It ain't gonna happen....But although sometimes you can ignore it, others it's difficult to carry on the conversation if she's made one of her statements. For instance we were discussing soft furnishings (!) but she was adamant that their currrent suite is actually the one about three suites back and a different colour, so to have carried on would have been to humour her and all pretend. Nobody wants to make her feel small, and I know (Dad's told me) that sometimes she cries at night, saying she wouldn't mind what else gave up but please not her brain.
Sorry, I know it's trivial, but I'm crying as I'm typing this - does anyone have any words of wisdom?
BJx
This is my first thread and I feel a real wimp asking for help when you're all going through so much. But this is what's happening....
About two years ago my Mum started repeating herself, and it gradually got worse. If we went to visit, she'd ask 6 times in the first 10 minutes whether we'd had a good journey and what was the traffic like, that sort of thing. We all tried to answer the question each time as though it was the first, thought it was testing our acting skills by the sixth time of asking!
Over the last 6 months the question/observation repetition has abated, but now she has moved on to quite categorical statements of the "we never/we always/ it's years since" type, which are often wrong. For example "We haven't been in this restaurant for years" when it was actually a couple of months (and a couple of months before that as well).
She's been to the doctor's, she has thyroid and parathyroid problems but they're under control and an MRI scan has shown that the nerve endings in the brain are dead, so the diagnosis is Mild Cognitive Impairment. It doesn't feel very mild, but reading other people's stories I know it is. I needed to get it off my chest - my parents have been staying with us for 10 days and have gone back saying what a lovely holiday they've had (in sunny Lancashire ) but it's made me accept what I hadn't before, that it isn't temporary and my Mum as I've known her all my life won't be coming back. That's how I discovered this site and forum, when I decided to do some research on the web this morning.
I feel I'm being very wet in even posting, but there isn't a site or forum for Mild Cognitive Impairment, and I do have a question. What's the best way to respond to Mum when she makes one of her (wrong) statements? I tended to correct her, but I've realised my motives were pretty selfish. I hoped that if I explained enough she'd suddenly slap her forehead, say 'oh of course, silly me' and everything would be alright again. It ain't gonna happen....But although sometimes you can ignore it, others it's difficult to carry on the conversation if she's made one of her statements. For instance we were discussing soft furnishings (!) but she was adamant that their currrent suite is actually the one about three suites back and a different colour, so to have carried on would have been to humour her and all pretend. Nobody wants to make her feel small, and I know (Dad's told me) that sometimes she cries at night, saying she wouldn't mind what else gave up but please not her brain.
Sorry, I know it's trivial, but I'm crying as I'm typing this - does anyone have any words of wisdom?
BJx