Recently, my mum has been getting more and more erratic, causing arguments with neighbours over parking and being really horrible to my dad. She is forgetful and spiteful towards family members. An example of this was bringing up the name of the person responsible for the death of my brother-in-law from over 20 years ago, which devastated my sister. Some days, my mum will be fine, but these days are becoming rarer, and my sister and niece have also noticed that my mum always feels like everybody is ganging up on her. They have been asking her to get a hearing test and see a doctor about the issues she is facing day to day.
A couple of days ago, she reached out to my sister saying she feels she may have the onset of dementia and that she would be open to getting a doctor's appointment to receive a diagnosis. However, since that text, she has now forgotten about it and refuses to believe that she sent it. She feels that there is nothing wrong with her state of mind, and she believes it's all my dad's fault. She has always been very stubborn, and this is making it difficult to convince her to see a doctor.
I have read a few threads here to see what steps other people are taking, and it seems that the approach to take is to write significant occurances down and email them to her doctor. Hopefully, the doctor will then create an appointment for her under the pretext of a "Well Woman" check-up and have a conversation with her. My fear is that this will happen on a day when she is mentally clear, and the doctor will find nothing wrong.
Things have been bad for our family for a while. My dad drinks heavily every day since retiring 15 years ago and has had a few episodes that caused embarrassment for my mum and the family. This hasn't helped with my mum's deflection and blaming of others, and feeling that she isn't being supported, like we are all taking my dad's side of things. My sister and niece live closer and bear the brunt of these issues, and they are suffering. So, I came to this forum to confirm that the process we need to follow is as I thought and also to seek support in some way, as I know others are going through the same and likely far worse. This is mentally draining, and myself, niece and sister have all been through therapy for different issues in the past.
A couple of days ago, she reached out to my sister saying she feels she may have the onset of dementia and that she would be open to getting a doctor's appointment to receive a diagnosis. However, since that text, she has now forgotten about it and refuses to believe that she sent it. She feels that there is nothing wrong with her state of mind, and she believes it's all my dad's fault. She has always been very stubborn, and this is making it difficult to convince her to see a doctor.
I have read a few threads here to see what steps other people are taking, and it seems that the approach to take is to write significant occurances down and email them to her doctor. Hopefully, the doctor will then create an appointment for her under the pretext of a "Well Woman" check-up and have a conversation with her. My fear is that this will happen on a day when she is mentally clear, and the doctor will find nothing wrong.
Things have been bad for our family for a while. My dad drinks heavily every day since retiring 15 years ago and has had a few episodes that caused embarrassment for my mum and the family. This hasn't helped with my mum's deflection and blaming of others, and feeling that she isn't being supported, like we are all taking my dad's side of things. My sister and niece live closer and bear the brunt of these issues, and they are suffering. So, I came to this forum to confirm that the process we need to follow is as I thought and also to seek support in some way, as I know others are going through the same and likely far worse. This is mentally draining, and myself, niece and sister have all been through therapy for different issues in the past.
