Hi,
My husband has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers at the age of 55. He is devastated and I feel at the moment that he is pushing away all the support that potentially is available to him. We went to see the Alzheimers society but during the meeting he kept saying that he felt fine and didn't need any support. But then I find him in floods of tears at home saying that he has lost everything and it's impossible to offer him any sort of consolation. The consultant wants to start him on Aricept as soon as possible but my husband was resistant to this, saying that he doesn't believe in taking pills. How can I help him come to terms with the diagnosis when he won't accept any help and refuses to talk about the future. Should I just wait for the initial grief, anger and denial to pass?
Also how can I help him continue to live an independent life for as long as he can? He loves cycling and wants to go out alone when I am at work, but is struggling a bit with map reading and finding directions. Are there tools which would help him with this?
My husband has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers at the age of 55. He is devastated and I feel at the moment that he is pushing away all the support that potentially is available to him. We went to see the Alzheimers society but during the meeting he kept saying that he felt fine and didn't need any support. But then I find him in floods of tears at home saying that he has lost everything and it's impossible to offer him any sort of consolation. The consultant wants to start him on Aricept as soon as possible but my husband was resistant to this, saying that he doesn't believe in taking pills. How can I help him come to terms with the diagnosis when he won't accept any help and refuses to talk about the future. Should I just wait for the initial grief, anger and denial to pass?
Also how can I help him continue to live an independent life for as long as he can? He loves cycling and wants to go out alone when I am at work, but is struggling a bit with map reading and finding directions. Are there tools which would help him with this?