Hi im new here,my mum lives with me,she is 75 and the problems she is having are short term memory loss,she has forgotten how to make herself food so unless i leave it for her she doesent eat during the day while i am at work, she gets lost when she goes down to our village,she gets in cars of people she dosent know she constantly locks herself out of the house or goes out and leaves the door open,she looses things all the time including her money,and sometimes i find it very difficult, she goes out maybe once a week under duress she would rather sit at home all day talking to the dogs,i have taken her to the doctor and he just said its a fact of getting old which i find is a really sad attitude.
My mum
- Thread starter rhonda liney
- Start date
Yes your Mother is getting old but thats absolutely no excuse for the doctor not to diagnose what I would suspect is Alzheimers
If she has High Blood Pressure then it could be Vascular Dementia
However she should also be tested for Hypothyroid because that can mimic AD /VD and its treatable
If she has High Blood Pressure then it could be Vascular Dementia
However she should also be tested for Hypothyroid because that can mimic AD /VD and its treatable
Hi rhonda. Welcome to Talking Point.
I`m sorry you are so worried about your mum. I am not a doctor and have no medical knowledge, but I have known lots of 75 year old people and I wouldn`t say the behaviour you describe is normal for that age.
You seem to have quite an unsympathetic doctor and I would ask for a second opinion, if I were in your position. Your mother`s condition might not be caused only by ageing and I feel you are right to be worried.
Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
Take care
I`m sorry you are so worried about your mum. I am not a doctor and have no medical knowledge, but I have known lots of 75 year old people and I wouldn`t say the behaviour you describe is normal for that age.
You seem to have quite an unsympathetic doctor and I would ask for a second opinion, if I were in your position. Your mother`s condition might not be caused only by ageing and I feel you are right to be worried.
Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
Take care
Hi Rhonda
I would agre with the others that your mum's symtoms are much more than normal ageing. I would write down a list of all the issues and ask for another appointment with the GP, giving them the list, or reading it out. If s/he is still unhelpful, then ask to see another doctor. Your mum is going to need help and the route to this is through the medical services. It may not be Alzheimer's or another form of dementia causing these problems, but she needs a medical diagnosis to determine the most appropriate help.
Blue sea
I would agre with the others that your mum's symtoms are much more than normal ageing. I would write down a list of all the issues and ask for another appointment with the GP, giving them the list, or reading it out. If s/he is still unhelpful, then ask to see another doctor. Your mum is going to need help and the route to this is through the medical services. It may not be Alzheimer's or another form of dementia causing these problems, but she needs a medical diagnosis to determine the most appropriate help.
Blue sea
Yes sounds like my mother doctor that she had before my mother was diagnosed.
Just wondering just to help you for now, while you are working .would your mother goes to daycentre for the elderly few days a week , age concern have daycentre , I contacted social service and they sorted it out for me ,
I organised that for my mother while I was working and my mother was not diagnosed with AZ.
I know how hard it is working and getting time of work and trying to get the doctor to listen to you, go back to the doctor and ask him to do you a referral to the elderly mental heath section at your local hospital they have elderly Physiologies consultant
Memory nurses for the elderly
that , they can do an assessment on your mother .
In my area I found out that they have an assessment day centre unit that they go for 6 weeks . 9am - 4pm , While they are assessing them , to do a diagnose
I have found with my doctor I tell what I want and he does it , some doctor are not qualified to diagnosed dementia /AZ , that why they should listen to your concerns and do a referral, you and your mother have a right to those Services
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Unsympathetic or incompetant: there really is no excuse for this. You might put things like "now where did I put my keys" down to normal aging (but I have my doubts about this: my mother got an OU degree at 80) but "where did I put my house" is an entirely different level of "forgetfulness". 75 isn't a great age at all. I think you're going to have to be pushy about this. I wish I had been when I was told this: maybe we could have set up a system to ensure that my mother took her meds and perhaps avoided the second and third strokes (it turned out she'd had one, hence the poor memory).
Jennifer
Jennifer
