Hello
In a nutshell my mum (68) definitely has dementia or something, and according to my dad she has already had a memory test but it did not return positive with dementia/alzheimers. This is not totally clear - my mum might have been told over the phone the true results without us knowing. I'm not sure what the next steps are in terms of figuring out what's wrong so that we can find help for her and my dad.
Here's the full story:
She's has been having memory problems and behavioural changes for a good few years now. It was only about 6 months ago me and my siblings all agreed that there is something definitely up, and it's most likely dementia or alzheimers (some of my sibling have already cared for people with alzheimers.)
She can forget things that have happened minutes ago. She has a lot of trouble with time and stresses a lot about deliveries as 'she has to be at home in time', often meaning she'll cut a walk short if a delivery is within a few hours. She repeats the same stories and questions often, sometimes several times a day.
Her father and brother had alzheimer's so it's definitely in the family.
She is not so far gone as to not realise if we bring in a carer so we're looking at bringing in a carer disguised as a cleaner. My dad desperately needs a break from her - she calls for him every few minutes and is very demanding of him (she won't take her questions/demands to the rest of us for some reason.) This is probably the most urgent thing as my dad is so depleted that he has talked about running away from home (he finds it impossible to put in boundaries and would rather run away.)
We have already got power of attourney and all the legal stuff taken care of.
I kind of feel stuck as to how to manage taking the pressure off my dad and getting a diagnosis. Can anyone relate/does anyone have any suggestions?
In a nutshell my mum (68) definitely has dementia or something, and according to my dad she has already had a memory test but it did not return positive with dementia/alzheimers. This is not totally clear - my mum might have been told over the phone the true results without us knowing. I'm not sure what the next steps are in terms of figuring out what's wrong so that we can find help for her and my dad.
Here's the full story:
She's has been having memory problems and behavioural changes for a good few years now. It was only about 6 months ago me and my siblings all agreed that there is something definitely up, and it's most likely dementia or alzheimers (some of my sibling have already cared for people with alzheimers.)
She can forget things that have happened minutes ago. She has a lot of trouble with time and stresses a lot about deliveries as 'she has to be at home in time', often meaning she'll cut a walk short if a delivery is within a few hours. She repeats the same stories and questions often, sometimes several times a day.
Her father and brother had alzheimer's so it's definitely in the family.
She is not so far gone as to not realise if we bring in a carer so we're looking at bringing in a carer disguised as a cleaner. My dad desperately needs a break from her - she calls for him every few minutes and is very demanding of him (she won't take her questions/demands to the rest of us for some reason.) This is probably the most urgent thing as my dad is so depleted that he has talked about running away from home (he finds it impossible to put in boundaries and would rather run away.)
We have already got power of attourney and all the legal stuff taken care of.
I kind of feel stuck as to how to manage taking the pressure off my dad and getting a diagnosis. Can anyone relate/does anyone have any suggestions?