Is concept of monetary value affected by dementia?

[jaymor]

I guess it's because of regressing to the past, which happens such a lot. Both my mother and my FIL lost all sight of current monetary value.

And a few weeks ago I was in my mother's care home when some of the ladies were having their nails done. I stopped and said to one of them what a pretty colour varnish it was, and picked up the bottle to have a look. 'Yes,' she said, 'and do you know, it was only one and six!' .
(Twelve and a half P for those who didn't grow up with old money!)

I think 1/6p translates to 7 and a half pence in todays money. An even better bargain for a bottle of nail varnish. My last bottle cost me just over £10. Next time you see her ask where she gets her varnish from and do they do a nice coral colour

 

[Canadian Joanne]

My mother also became funny about money. About a year before diagnosis she refused to give my stepfather the money he was due from her insurance company for dental work. As far as she was concerned, the cheque had HER name on it so the money was hers too. She also closed her joint bank account with him and opened a new account for her only. Unfortunately, she didn't advise any of the pensions being directly deposited into the old closed account so I had fun clearing that one up 6 months later.

She also had received a huge amount in pay equity - nearly $40,000. This she had in a savings account and spent a lot of time showing her account book to all and sundry. Another fun thing to deal with.

 

[Jessbow]

Mum is convinced she has no money left in the bank, which of course she has.
She wants a new coat ( no idea why she wants a new coat but....) I am to look in the charity shops for one - Nothing whatsoever wrong in that but problem will be that if we don't use some of her money , the tax man will have a field day when she goes.

She's in a nursing home , full unquestioned, fast tracked CHC funding because of an inoperable heart problem and dementia

 

[Witzend]

I think 1/6p translates to 7 and a half pence in todays money. An even better bargain for a bottle of nail varnish. My last bottle cost me just over £10. Next time you see her ask where she gets her varnish from and do they do a nice coral colour

Oops, yes, you are right - seven and a half p - even in the 60s I think that must have been pretty cheap stuff from Woolies! Even a Mars bar cost two and a half p - half a crown was riches to a kid then...

 

[jaymor]

Oops, yes, you are right - seven and a half p - even in the 60s I think that must have been pretty cheap stuff from Woolies! Even a Mars bar cost two and a half p - half a crown was riches to a kid then...

Half a crown (12 and a half p today) in the 60's got you two nice thick pork chops. That was our mid week treat when we were first married and was looked upon as a bit if an extravagance. 6 shilling (30p) paid for my petrol for a week backwards and forwards to work. Those were the days.

My MIL had arthritis and I would do a bit of shopping for her. Over the years the odd bits became a weekly shop. In the beginning £5 was ample and change left over. At the end I was still being given £5 and expected to give change. She did develop dementia but at the time of me doing the weekly shop for less than a fiver she knew what she was doing, it was me with the mental problem for letting her get away with it. I was too much of a to say anything after all she was my husband's beloved Mother.

Jay

 

[JayGun]

I'm not sure if it's regression to an earlier time with my MIL so much as just lack of understanding and not being able to connect the dots any more.

When we take her shopping she takes £15 with her no matter how much or little she plans to buy, because £15 is how much she takes. No matter how much prices may increase, or the amount of shopping she does herself may decrease we're pretty she'll always take £15 with her, because she doesn't connect the amount of money to the shopping in her mind any more.

 

[JayGun]

Also, she is disgusted that my son pays £1000 a month in rent.

She keeps telling people that he thinks he's too good for a council house and lives in a mansion.

He doesn't. £1000 a month is the going rate for a small house with a tiny bit of garden round here.

She's the only member of our family who is lucky enough to have social housing at a reduced rent. She waited six years for a council place in the 1960s while living in one attic room with her husband and two children and no indoor plumbing -so I don't know why she thinks an unmarried lad with no kids can click his fingers and get subsidised housing nowadays.

 

[Allycat]

Hi there. Yes, my Mum has been through a lot of these things. More recently, things took an alarming turn when she started giving quite large amounts of money to random people she met in the street. It is a sad reflection on human nature that there were at least 4 people that were prepared to take advantage. That really took a bit of sorting out, with help from Police and local safeguarding experts.

It is a hard moment when you have to deprive an intelligent, bright woman of her financial independence just to protect her from her Alzheimer's-inflicted inability to cope with money.

I hope you manage to get through the transition without too much chaos. A robust sense of humour is required!

Alleycat x

 

[KazzyF]

So glad I found this post. When we started to clear my mums house we found 500 in a kitchen drawer which she insists was for big bills. We unfortunately never found out where the £2500 missing from her savings went!! I have to tell her all sorts of lies about her money as she is convinced I am after it... And she has so very little!


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[Trisha4]

My Mum whom I lost over 10 years ago decided one day to give her carer £1000 as a little treat. Around the same time she asked her carer to wrap my birthday present of a shower cream and sponge which she said was plenty for me. When I cleared out her house I found £3000 hidden in different drawers in packets of £100. Mum did not have money, she was in council accommodation on benefits.

 

[Raggedrobin]

my Mum thinks we are millionaires and also that all her care in the home is free. Little does she know that I am having to sell the house to keep her there as it costs over a grand a week!
She offered to pay my sister's train fare, about £70, and gave her 50p. Sorted. In Mum's case, it isn't to do with costs from the past, it is just somehow the maths/logic bit of numerical stuff has gone.

 

[Tatiana]

We had fun at the opticians with FiL - he did need a new prescription but instead of picking a new, complete pair of specs for just under £100, he insisted loudly on reglazing his existing, very old frames at a cost of £95. He thought £100 was outrageous......

 

[Spamar]

My OH never had much interest in money, handed that over to me. About three years ago took ages to count the change in his purse to prove that he could do it (about £3 worth) and last week decided we didn't have any money. If only he knew how much it costs to keep him happy with daycare and my respite, let alone cleaner and gardener every week!
By the way, when I worked in beach shop in mid 60's, Mars, bounty and another bar I can't remember were 7d, the rest were 6d, small milky bar 4d. The cornets we sold were 6d and 4d, 99s were 3d extra. Happy days!

 

[KazzyF]

It helps to laugh about it!