psychiatrist today

[twink]

Steve and I have been to see the psychiatrist this morning. The usual one was is on holiday so we saw an 83 (and a half he said!!) year old senior consultant psychiatrist and he was SO nice. He is still a locum and works privately.

Anyway, he asked what have they told you about what is wrong and I said nothing really, Steve aged 55 has alzheimer's and that's it, all we know. He then spent an hour telling us in simple terms all about it all and did the test they do and Steve scored 20 out of 30. He said some of Steve's problems are anxiety, he immediately says oh my brain's gone, I don't know, I can't do it and this doctor told him he CAN do it and he must take time and not rush things like he used to. He said the brain scan showed that he had had a small bleed on the left front side of his brain. I am sure many of you will know what that means but it doesn't really mean much to me at the moment.

He seemed to me to tell us that in his opinion, Steve has vascular alzheimer's but if he says that they might stop the tablets but that might be utter rubbish, maybe it was just me getting the wrong end of the stick as usual.

Just thought I'd give an update. Such a shame we won't see this doctor again though.

Twink/Sue

 

[twink]

Hi Nada,

Thanks for all the reading!!! I have to thank you before I read it or I will forget!!!!!???? We're going to the surgery to see the GP about Steve's rheumatoid and osteo arthritis in an hour. He's having big problems with that, having another flare up. It never rains........

Love Twink/Sue

 

[Amy]

Hi Twink

Vascular dementia was explained to us as a series of mini strokes, that affect different parts of the brain. This means that the condition can be stable for periods of time, then there will be another bleed,and a change in the condition.

Amy

 

[twink]

vascular

Hi Amy,

Thanks for that. It's as clear as mud to me, the doctor seemed to be saying he thought it might be vascular but then he said looking at the brain scan there was no sign of strokes or tumour so I don't know. He just said there had been a bleed. I have asked the doctor and also my support worker who are both lovely but still can't seem to get a clear answer. Why do they suddenly have a bleed? I know you can't answer that, I wish one of them would give me an answer though.

Cheers,

Twink/Sue

 

[Amy]

I have simply understood mum to have had a weakness within her brain, making her vulnerable to bleeds. Her blood pressue was also found to be high, and she has been on medication for that. We were told that smoking did not help, though she was not a heavy smoker. (In fact when dad emptied the water butt in the garden, the bottom of it was full of cigarettes!)

I first noticed that mum's short term memory was poor about 15 years ago.
We managed to cover up for her and support her for about 6 years, then it was getting much worse and I forced my parents to go and get a diagnosis.

We have found little interest really from the NHS, yes we have got CPN's etc involved, but no-one seemed to explain to us what was happening.

Amy