So it’s been roughly a year that I’ve started noticing changes in my mum’s behaviour. (I think) She’s retired so she stays at home most days. She began to do a lot less around the house like cleaning and house work; I thought it was because she had finally eased down on trying to make the house look spotless at all times. Then I started to notice her change in behaviour but because it was so gradual I would think it was normal. Once I began comparing her behaviour from in the past to now, I realise she has changed a lot.
She would take a long time to complete simple tasks such as unlocking the front door or getting in the car and turning on the ignition. I noticed that my dad does a lot more around the house even though I would have thought my mum would be capable of doing it. He cooks dinner when he gets home from work and washes up afterwards. My mum would only eat the dinner and leave the kitchen to go up to her room.
When she does cook she either microwaves leftovers or makes a sandwich which was different last year when she would cook our dinner herself.
Sometimes she doesn’t even eat the whole dinner (which of course would irritate my dad from having to cook it at 8 o’clock in the evening just to throw it down the sink).
She has lost a lot of weight too which I only noticed from comparing pictures from one or two years ago with her cheeks being more sunken in and sullen. She doesn’t smile in photos either anymore.
Her temper changed from getting reasonably irritated at situations to becoming upset, sad and confused. This evening my dad tried to show her how to work a camera and she kept making the same mistake of not pushing the button all the way down to take the picture. My dad started shouting repeating the same instructions and my mum turned around and looked like she was about to burst out crying but like a child getting upset about being told off. I don’t believe she has always reacted like this.
She tends to repeat things like questions about what time my train is or where I’m going because she forgot. She won’t drive to an unfamiliar town a few miles away and my dad has to drive me instead. (I rarely ask for a lift unless it is somewhere I have to go like for school.)
She is more easily irritated at unreasonable things and will then try and slam things down like a packet of tomatoes to show she is annoyed but she won’t say anything.
It’s taken a big toll on my dad especially when he tries to have a conversation with her. If he poses a question about the news or something that requires a personal response, my mum replies with simple, generated answers like ‘I agree’ or ‘yes, what you said’ and fails to go beyond that. It’s like she has no opinion of anything anymore and I can’t have a conversation with her because she either doesn’t listen or gets confused.
Her tone of voice has changed too becoming more frail and ‘childlike’.
On one or two occasions I’ve been up late I will come down to the kitchen to see her sitting at the table scrolling through John Lewis even though I saw her go to bed 3 or 4 hours ago.
One big factor that led me to this conclusion is that her father had Alzheimer’s and I believe she is starting to develop symptoms.
I don’t want to ask her to go to the doctors to run a diagnosis but I do not know what else to do - I don’t even know if it is Alzheimer’s but all of her behaviour point towards this.
I am currently in college and I can not deal with the emotional stress this has brought and the tension in the household caused by this alongside the thought of not being able to do anything about it.
Is there someone to speak to that can diagnose her from my observations? If she does have Alzheimer’s, how do I make her go to the doctors to check? What will happen after a diagnosis? Is it better to leave it and try to accommodate for her as best as possible and how? Sorry for the long thread I just don’t know what to do and who to speak to about this and I can’t deal with it by myself anymore.
She would take a long time to complete simple tasks such as unlocking the front door or getting in the car and turning on the ignition. I noticed that my dad does a lot more around the house even though I would have thought my mum would be capable of doing it. He cooks dinner when he gets home from work and washes up afterwards. My mum would only eat the dinner and leave the kitchen to go up to her room.
When she does cook she either microwaves leftovers or makes a sandwich which was different last year when she would cook our dinner herself.
Sometimes she doesn’t even eat the whole dinner (which of course would irritate my dad from having to cook it at 8 o’clock in the evening just to throw it down the sink).
She has lost a lot of weight too which I only noticed from comparing pictures from one or two years ago with her cheeks being more sunken in and sullen. She doesn’t smile in photos either anymore.
Her temper changed from getting reasonably irritated at situations to becoming upset, sad and confused. This evening my dad tried to show her how to work a camera and she kept making the same mistake of not pushing the button all the way down to take the picture. My dad started shouting repeating the same instructions and my mum turned around and looked like she was about to burst out crying but like a child getting upset about being told off. I don’t believe she has always reacted like this.
She tends to repeat things like questions about what time my train is or where I’m going because she forgot. She won’t drive to an unfamiliar town a few miles away and my dad has to drive me instead. (I rarely ask for a lift unless it is somewhere I have to go like for school.)
She is more easily irritated at unreasonable things and will then try and slam things down like a packet of tomatoes to show she is annoyed but she won’t say anything.
It’s taken a big toll on my dad especially when he tries to have a conversation with her. If he poses a question about the news or something that requires a personal response, my mum replies with simple, generated answers like ‘I agree’ or ‘yes, what you said’ and fails to go beyond that. It’s like she has no opinion of anything anymore and I can’t have a conversation with her because she either doesn’t listen or gets confused.
Her tone of voice has changed too becoming more frail and ‘childlike’.
On one or two occasions I’ve been up late I will come down to the kitchen to see her sitting at the table scrolling through John Lewis even though I saw her go to bed 3 or 4 hours ago.
One big factor that led me to this conclusion is that her father had Alzheimer’s and I believe she is starting to develop symptoms.
I don’t want to ask her to go to the doctors to run a diagnosis but I do not know what else to do - I don’t even know if it is Alzheimer’s but all of her behaviour point towards this.
I am currently in college and I can not deal with the emotional stress this has brought and the tension in the household caused by this alongside the thought of not being able to do anything about it.
Is there someone to speak to that can diagnose her from my observations? If she does have Alzheimer’s, how do I make her go to the doctors to check? What will happen after a diagnosis? Is it better to leave it and try to accommodate for her as best as possible and how? Sorry for the long thread I just don’t know what to do and who to speak to about this and I can’t deal with it by myself anymore.