After losing my husband 8 years ago I have been lucky enough to have a new man in my life but................I have been concerned from the beginning that he may have early signs of dementia. On the one hand he is extremely good at remembering numbers - eg he can glance at a for sale board as we are driving along and remember exactly the telephone number stated on it. However, he can't remember a lot of the things we have done together. He can remember things that are really pertinent to him but not always the things that might be pertinent to the two of us. Today I was quite frightened. At lunchtime I cooked and we sat down to a large roast lunch and then sweet before he went back to his own home. That was about 2.30pm. He rang me from his home at 5.30pm to tell me things he had done since he got home but also to tell me he had put his dinner on. It was going to be a full blown dinner but he said he didn't feel very hungry. I said he'd had dinner with me and there was silence - I really don't think he remembered that he had had his dinner at my home just 3 hours beforehand. He laughed it off saying he'd always planned to cook his dinner but I was left feeling very odd myself! Help please.
Is this a possible symptom of dimentia?
- Thread starter sammyb
- Start date
I guess it could be an early sign but only by noticing what else he forgets will tell you the answer to that. Time will tell. Eventually an appointment with the memory clinic and follow-up scans may tell you exactly what is going on. The very first thing I noticed with my uncle was tiny little pieces of paper with notes on all with spelling mistakes or whole words missed out. He went on to tearing up tissue paper in to very tiny pieces. It used to look like it had been snowing. His buttons were always done up incorrectly then eventually he was unable to engage in meaningful conversation, wet the bed and resist wearing a pad by pulling it out. A chest infection eventually got him in the end.
Maybe it's just an innocuous routine he has, maybe there's more to it. But whatever, enjoy your "new man"!
That is exactly what my OH has. He can remember knowledge (who is the Prime Minister, the times tables, explain the process of oxidation etc) and things that he has memorised, but he cannot remember the experience of events that have happened to him. He goes through life memorising the bullet points and creating little routines and rituals so that he can get through the days, but he cant memorise everything and things like you describe happen all the time.
OH has recently been diagnosed with FTD, but it has taken a long time to get there as his pattern of memory loss is completely different from Alzheimers and he passes all the memory tests easily.
OH has recently been diagnosed with FTD, but it has taken a long time to get there as his pattern of memory loss is completely different from Alzheimers and he passes all the memory tests easily.
Sorry, sammy - Im feeling a little more "with it" this morning. I was taken by surprise yesterday as that pattern of memory loss is so unusual.
One swallow doesnt make a summer - in the same way one symptom doesnt make dementia. Heres a fact sheet about frontotemporal dementia (FTD) https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=167
If there is only the memory loss, then it might be due to something else, but either way it would probably be a good idea to try and persuade him to go and see his GP.
One swallow doesnt make a summer - in the same way one symptom doesnt make dementia. Heres a fact sheet about frontotemporal dementia (FTD) https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=167
If there is only the memory loss, then it might be due to something else, but either way it would probably be a good idea to try and persuade him to go and see his GP.
