Hi everyone,
We’re hoping you can give us some advice. Our mum is 74 and has been showing signs of dementia for the last 8 years. It started off as repeatedly asking the same question and has progressed to forgetting the details of her day aswell as forgetting key life events. For example she can’t remember what she’s eaten a few hours ago or who she was out with the night before and has bought the same newspaper 3 times in one day. She’s previously forgotten that she has a newborn grandson or that her grandson had recently spent a week in hospital. She’s an avid rugby fan but she watched the crucial Wales v South Africa World Cup match on TV on repeat and thought it was live as she’d completely forgotten that she’d watched it the day before and already knew the result.
Mum has been attending a memory clinic since 2017 and has done a memory test every year since then (4 in total). After the first one she was diagnosed as having mild cognitive impairment, but since then her results have actually improved which makes no sense as her memory has deteriorated significantly in that period - we feel like the test isn’t detecting her type of memory loss. Our father takes her to the clinic and we’re not sure he’s explaining the extent of her memory problems. She’s had a CT scan, a MRI scan and a NM Brain Perfusion Imaging Scan none of which have shown signs of dementia. The doctor in the local memory clinic has now put it down to old age which it clearly isn’t.
As her daughters we feel like we’re banging our heads against a brick wall as we can see her deteriorating but we’re unable to get her the help she needs.
Has anyone come across this situation before where the person’s memory is deteriorating but it’s not being detected on any tests? Is there a dementia specialist that we can pay to see privately? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
We’re hoping you can give us some advice. Our mum is 74 and has been showing signs of dementia for the last 8 years. It started off as repeatedly asking the same question and has progressed to forgetting the details of her day aswell as forgetting key life events. For example she can’t remember what she’s eaten a few hours ago or who she was out with the night before and has bought the same newspaper 3 times in one day. She’s previously forgotten that she has a newborn grandson or that her grandson had recently spent a week in hospital. She’s an avid rugby fan but she watched the crucial Wales v South Africa World Cup match on TV on repeat and thought it was live as she’d completely forgotten that she’d watched it the day before and already knew the result.
Mum has been attending a memory clinic since 2017 and has done a memory test every year since then (4 in total). After the first one she was diagnosed as having mild cognitive impairment, but since then her results have actually improved which makes no sense as her memory has deteriorated significantly in that period - we feel like the test isn’t detecting her type of memory loss. Our father takes her to the clinic and we’re not sure he’s explaining the extent of her memory problems. She’s had a CT scan, a MRI scan and a NM Brain Perfusion Imaging Scan none of which have shown signs of dementia. The doctor in the local memory clinic has now put it down to old age which it clearly isn’t.
As her daughters we feel like we’re banging our heads against a brick wall as we can see her deteriorating but we’re unable to get her the help she needs.
Has anyone come across this situation before where the person’s memory is deteriorating but it’s not being detected on any tests? Is there a dementia specialist that we can pay to see privately? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
