Some simptoms of forgetting things and high anxiety

[worriedaboutmum]

My husband and I live in London. My parents live in India and are visiting us here.
My mother do a lot of things as a normal person can but their are a few things which really worry us. (She has worked all her life and is retired now . Age - 64-65)

1. She loves to talk about people from her office and some neighbours and relatives. She loves to talk about - where they live, who their relatives and then she just goes on and on about them. At times she starts the conversation by asking a random name like ..Who is XYZ person? If we say we don't know or we tell the details.. she will give all the details again. This happens all the time on dinner table, if we go for a walk orif we all are sitting and trying to have a conversation.

2. She gets quite excited with the idea of going for a walk but wants to return as soon as we reach the destination. this includes ever her places of interest.

3. She doesn't forget things as such but discusses them only at her convenience, otherwise just ignore us if we try to strike a conversation eg . we took her to the Beach/ Greenwich/ Central London , but when we asked her the next day she did not say anything about it. After few days she saw beach on the TV them did mentioned that this is the same place we went the other day.

4.She has no interest in reading newspaper/ books/ watching TV or news or movies.
We have tried to put on thing of her interest on TV as well but within a minute she starts talking about people and where they live.

Can Someone please advise how can we help to be a bit relaxed when not at home.

Regards,

 

[Grannie G]

Hello worriedaboutmum

Have you been able to talk to your father about your concerns for your mum? If not it might be as well to do so.

A lot will depend on how long your mum is visiting . If the visit is only a short one your father may need to seek medical advice when he returns to India.

I`m not sure if your mother can get medical advice here on the NHS. I think it`s only available for visitors in cases of emergency.

You could phone the National Dementia Helpline and see what they can suggest.

You can contact our helpline by calling 0300 222 1122 or by email at helpline@alzheimers.org.uk.

Helpline opening hours:
Monday to Wednesday 9am – 8pm
Thursday and Friday 9am – 5pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am – 4pm


Whatever you do, try to keep a diary of all behaviours causing concern.

 

[worriedaboutmum]

Thanks for your reply I will defiantly call the help line.

Yes we have got her checked in India and they have not diagnosed her with anything.
But her behaviours is not normal. May be its some kind of anxiety or behaviour disorder.

We are planning to seek private medical help here.

The whole idea of bringing her here was to see if change of place and her normal routine makes her feel any better as she has lived in her home town all her life ,meets same people and visits same places all the time.

 

[nitram]

You don't say how long your Mum has lived in India, this could make a large difference to my argument.

Two common aspects of dementia come to mind.

■ Any change of location can be very upsetting and cause problems, I know this from my personal experience which ended up with a CT scan in Kalamata.

■ There is a desire to go home. This is not a place but a concept of how life was in their youth.

By bringing your Mum to the UK you might inadvertently have brought her to a different home town to the one that she remembers.