I believe my Mum has dementia. She's 92, doesn't live with me. She has a number of conditions including DVT, Macular.
There were various symptoms of dementia, but I hadn't realised until last year. I eventually got her to the doctor for a MMSE last year - but regrettably I wasn't there (as I was ill myself). The GP supposedly didn't think she had dementia, 'because she can do translations'.
The carer would have family letters, then start to translate them from one language to another. Method: get the letters on the computer, sit together, carer reads, and they translate verbally. Mum is very good at this, I've witnessed it ... but as far as I'm concerned this doesn't mean she hasn't got dementia. I believe this skill is a familiar task which she can do, whether she has dementia or not, having lived abroad as a child and teenager in that original language country - and spoken the language often later.
My concern with all this, is the risk that Mum is enduring, and the lack of diagnosis, so she can't be properly supported.
What do you think about the 'translations' and dementia?
There were various symptoms of dementia, but I hadn't realised until last year. I eventually got her to the doctor for a MMSE last year - but regrettably I wasn't there (as I was ill myself). The GP supposedly didn't think she had dementia, 'because she can do translations'.
The carer would have family letters, then start to translate them from one language to another. Method: get the letters on the computer, sit together, carer reads, and they translate verbally. Mum is very good at this, I've witnessed it ... but as far as I'm concerned this doesn't mean she hasn't got dementia. I believe this skill is a familiar task which she can do, whether she has dementia or not, having lived abroad as a child and teenager in that original language country - and spoken the language often later.
My concern with all this, is the risk that Mum is enduring, and the lack of diagnosis, so she can't be properly supported.
What do you think about the 'translations' and dementia?