Hello everybody, I hope you don't mind me joining the group. My partner has yet to be diagnosed with dementia but I am sure he is getting worse.
He is 70years old and has always been very fit and never looked his age.Always been a little eccentric but very witty and popular. About two years ago he was complaining of headaches and underwent various tests for chronic sinusitis. He has increasingly become more of a hypocondriac at first I used to laugh it off but he only had to see a newspaper article about an illness and he would think he had got it! He also started to have problems with short term memory and would often be quite nasty and accuse me of not telling him something even if we had discussed it at length. I did ask him to mention this to his GP .but when he did the reply was "Don't worry about it I have got a test for it somewhere but I have forgotten where it is. ha ha. "I would add they have known each other for a long time. Eventually he saw a ENT specialist who said that there was no problem with his sinuses but would refer him to a neurologist. By this time James couldnt concentrate long enough to do his crossword puzzles or read a newspaper he also is an accomplished artist but can no longer paint. The neurologist was about to send us away saying that the headaches were nothing serious when I had a quiet word about the memory problems. He orgavnised a scan and the result showed there had been a slight stroke that affected the front part of his brain. This would cause the short term memory problems and could get better.. Twelve months later things are much worse he doesnt like me leaving him, if I go out for an hour he thinks I have been out all day. He is constantly losing things and searches drawers etc the place looks like a bomb site when he has finished. He puts things in the wrong places and then denies he has done so he is easily upset and gets nasty. Most of all he denies there is anything wrong.
I have now been to seehis GP and persuaded him to refer James fo a Psychiatrist for older people for an assesment this is happening on 28th March. I hope something can be sorted I love him dearly but he needs help I just want the nice James back...if they say there is nothing wrong I think I shall scream.
Sorry it is such a ramble I just need to let off steam
He is 70years old and has always been very fit and never looked his age.Always been a little eccentric but very witty and popular. About two years ago he was complaining of headaches and underwent various tests for chronic sinusitis. He has increasingly become more of a hypocondriac at first I used to laugh it off but he only had to see a newspaper article about an illness and he would think he had got it! He also started to have problems with short term memory and would often be quite nasty and accuse me of not telling him something even if we had discussed it at length. I did ask him to mention this to his GP .but when he did the reply was "Don't worry about it I have got a test for it somewhere but I have forgotten where it is. ha ha. "I would add they have known each other for a long time. Eventually he saw a ENT specialist who said that there was no problem with his sinuses but would refer him to a neurologist. By this time James couldnt concentrate long enough to do his crossword puzzles or read a newspaper he also is an accomplished artist but can no longer paint. The neurologist was about to send us away saying that the headaches were nothing serious when I had a quiet word about the memory problems. He orgavnised a scan and the result showed there had been a slight stroke that affected the front part of his brain. This would cause the short term memory problems and could get better.. Twelve months later things are much worse he doesnt like me leaving him, if I go out for an hour he thinks I have been out all day. He is constantly losing things and searches drawers etc the place looks like a bomb site when he has finished. He puts things in the wrong places and then denies he has done so he is easily upset and gets nasty. Most of all he denies there is anything wrong.
I have now been to seehis GP and persuaded him to refer James fo a Psychiatrist for older people for an assesment this is happening on 28th March. I hope something can be sorted I love him dearly but he needs help I just want the nice James back...if they say there is nothing wrong I think I shall scream.
Sorry it is such a ramble I just need to let off steam