Overnight dementia?

[penguin]

Hi, I'm new and I'm glad to have found this forum. My dad has suffered with ' short term memory problems' ( repeating himself- thinking events from 5 years ago were yesterday, forgetting the day's events etc- but no-one has ever diagnosed him with anything... his mum had AD) for quite a few years and 2.5 years ago came to live with us as he wasn't really able to cope alone anymore. He's been quite happy, sleeps a lot, quite easy going and polite.
Wednesday morning we found him fallen and bleeding from the forehead- with his coat on at 7am. I asked him why he had his coat on and he said he was going home ( in his car... due to diabetes he hasn't driven for 15 years).[ Coat suggests he had had this idea before falling- but we can't be sure] On return from dr's, he didn't get out of the car, after persuasion said ' Oh am I staying with you?'
Later that night he asked how long he would be staying in ' this hospital'. Just the night before he'd said how well it was working out together, and although he thought is was only 6 months he'd lived with us he was quite clear that he lived here...

What I'm most worried about is 1- he'll try to ' go home' and he'll get lost
2- he will become more and more fustrated/ upset that he isn't ' at home'.

But back to heading... can someone really change that much overnight? He did have indications before ( asking me where I was etc) but this seems a really big change

 

[Geraldine]

Mum had similar episodes over about 4 years before her Lewy Body dementia really 'kicked in'. They tended to last from 2-3 days maybe 3 -4 times a year but gradually increased in frequency to a time when she seemed permanently lost and flashes of her old self would appear for maybe a day or an hour. The eventual deterioration happened rapidly over a few months prior to what I would say was a gentle decline previously,

Geraldine

 

[Sandy]

Hi penguin,

Welcome to Talking Point

It seems like the most important thing is to get a medical assessment of your father's memory problems. There are a number of different causes of memory loss and a proper investigation is really necessary. Your father's GP should be able to set this in motion.

One possible thing to consider, given the fact that he is a diabetic, and that you have noticed a dramtic change, is vascular dementia. There is a fact sheet on that here:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Facts_about_dementia/What_is_dementia/info_vascular.htm

Really, the best thing to do is to get the investigation process started with the GP as soon as possible.

Take care,

Sandy