My father lives with my husband and I. He is in his seventies, has type two diabetes and was previously a very heavy drinker. He has cut down a lot simply because there is not the same access in our house. But, every now and again he will still drink. Not terrifying amounts like a bottle of spirits, but say...a bottle of wine.
His mother and sister both had Alzheimer's, his sisters at least is early onset Alzheimer's.
My father has always been very forgetful. He has never remembered people's names for example. But he has also been a very high functioning individual.
My husband and I have not been worried about things we think are him (forgetting names, not knowing when my birthday is, multiple buying of the same foods even though we have asked him not to buy any food at all) but there are some things we have suggested to him are more worrying.
He seems capable of things like driving, managing his money (well.....not the best but then...I think that might always have been the case, he has always been disorganised and a procrastinator but I think that was pressure of work) . If he focuses he seems ok.
For example, three times this week he has left the oven on. He has left the back door and the back gate open (so enabling our dogs to get onto the road).
He leaves the taps on. He cannot remember fairly basic things which are normal in our house (frustrations and expense rather than life threatening).
A few weeks ago a friend was visiting from Cheltenham and he asked why I hadn't met someone coming from Essex somewhere more mutually convenient (confusing Cheltenham with Chelmsford, both places we know reasonably well, but it took some minutes to iron out the confusion). This sort of thing is happening more and more.
He seems to find conversations sometimes harder to follow. After conversations to do with comes things (for example with an accountant or architect or builder) he will seem to feel something other than what has been resolved is resolved. I'm not always sure he's got it.
There are plethora of other things which are frustrating but not dangerous and I think could be absent mindedness rather than concerning.
My husband and my father's ex wife have both expressed concerns but his friends don't seem to have noticed, not that i am aware of in any case. his social circle is not something i am very involved with. At my urging and with no small disagreement he saw the GP.
Obviously I don't know the content of the conversation but my father came home jubilant that I was wrong and that I was making mountains out of molehills.
All I can say is that the GP isn't have to stay awake to check doors because my father is getting up in the middle of the night and letting the dogs out, or leaving taps on.
Having had a look at some of the tests used to establish dementia I am positive my father would be able to do most of the tasks asked. I really think IF this is dementia its very early stages, and it could be something else, like his diabetes medicine not right, but if the GP won't look in to it what does one do?
Should my husband and I speak to the GP of our concerns? I think it likely my father didn't say things like he was leaving the cooker on.
What does one do? I don't know what to do, who to speak to, or whether we just......watch and wait.
His mother and sister both had Alzheimer's, his sisters at least is early onset Alzheimer's.
My father has always been very forgetful. He has never remembered people's names for example. But he has also been a very high functioning individual.
My husband and I have not been worried about things we think are him (forgetting names, not knowing when my birthday is, multiple buying of the same foods even though we have asked him not to buy any food at all) but there are some things we have suggested to him are more worrying.
He seems capable of things like driving, managing his money (well.....not the best but then...I think that might always have been the case, he has always been disorganised and a procrastinator but I think that was pressure of work) . If he focuses he seems ok.
For example, three times this week he has left the oven on. He has left the back door and the back gate open (so enabling our dogs to get onto the road).
He leaves the taps on. He cannot remember fairly basic things which are normal in our house (frustrations and expense rather than life threatening).
A few weeks ago a friend was visiting from Cheltenham and he asked why I hadn't met someone coming from Essex somewhere more mutually convenient (confusing Cheltenham with Chelmsford, both places we know reasonably well, but it took some minutes to iron out the confusion). This sort of thing is happening more and more.
He seems to find conversations sometimes harder to follow. After conversations to do with comes things (for example with an accountant or architect or builder) he will seem to feel something other than what has been resolved is resolved. I'm not always sure he's got it.
There are plethora of other things which are frustrating but not dangerous and I think could be absent mindedness rather than concerning.
My husband and my father's ex wife have both expressed concerns but his friends don't seem to have noticed, not that i am aware of in any case. his social circle is not something i am very involved with. At my urging and with no small disagreement he saw the GP.
Obviously I don't know the content of the conversation but my father came home jubilant that I was wrong and that I was making mountains out of molehills.
All I can say is that the GP isn't have to stay awake to check doors because my father is getting up in the middle of the night and letting the dogs out, or leaving taps on.
Having had a look at some of the tests used to establish dementia I am positive my father would be able to do most of the tasks asked. I really think IF this is dementia its very early stages, and it could be something else, like his diabetes medicine not right, but if the GP won't look in to it what does one do?
Should my husband and I speak to the GP of our concerns? I think it likely my father didn't say things like he was leaving the cooker on.
What does one do? I don't know what to do, who to speak to, or whether we just......watch and wait.
