I am appealing to anyone who is coping with a relative with Alzheimers, whether it be on a daily basis or less frequently.
My mother was (finally) diagnosed in February 2007 at age 65 after over three years of unusual behaviour and hospital tests. Us, the ones who know her best were saying since late 2003 there was definately something wrong with her short term memory. Over the years the symptoms have progressed and now she is trialing her second medication which doesnt seem to have any affect.
I'm based in Essex but my mother lives in Wiltshire, where my sister is caring for her as they live a few roads away from each other now. I have enduring power of attourney (have had since 2004) and my sister takes care of the day to day things to help make life easier for our Mum, who spends a lot of her time confused. She still knows who we are but is very out of touch with things we all take for granted. She couldnt tell you what day of the week, time of the day or even year it is. Long term memory is mostly there but the short term isn't functioning very well with her forgetting things she may have done an hour ago, or things she has already told you 10 minutes ago.
Sorry I digress. the reason I am starting this thread is I would like to find some other people who might be interested in meeting up in the local area with my sister to discuss and debunk, to help support each other by just simple listening and being able to talk out all the funny little incidences that happen. As is so often the case, the carers are often overlooked by social services and I think it is very useful to have th ability to talk to people who know what you are going through.
Yesterday Mum lost her handbag. She was alone for about 2 hours before lunch time. It is unlikely she wandered away from her house but it's definately missing and she has no memory of taking it anywhere. The police were called and are changing the locks as I write this as her keys were in the bag.
Thanks for reading, any messages or experiences you might like to share would be really helpful.
Leigh
My mother was (finally) diagnosed in February 2007 at age 65 after over three years of unusual behaviour and hospital tests. Us, the ones who know her best were saying since late 2003 there was definately something wrong with her short term memory. Over the years the symptoms have progressed and now she is trialing her second medication which doesnt seem to have any affect.
I'm based in Essex but my mother lives in Wiltshire, where my sister is caring for her as they live a few roads away from each other now. I have enduring power of attourney (have had since 2004) and my sister takes care of the day to day things to help make life easier for our Mum, who spends a lot of her time confused. She still knows who we are but is very out of touch with things we all take for granted. She couldnt tell you what day of the week, time of the day or even year it is. Long term memory is mostly there but the short term isn't functioning very well with her forgetting things she may have done an hour ago, or things she has already told you 10 minutes ago.
Sorry I digress. the reason I am starting this thread is I would like to find some other people who might be interested in meeting up in the local area with my sister to discuss and debunk, to help support each other by just simple listening and being able to talk out all the funny little incidences that happen. As is so often the case, the carers are often overlooked by social services and I think it is very useful to have th ability to talk to people who know what you are going through.
Yesterday Mum lost her handbag. She was alone for about 2 hours before lunch time. It is unlikely she wandered away from her house but it's definately missing and she has no memory of taking it anywhere. The police were called and are changing the locks as I write this as her keys were in the bag.
Thanks for reading, any messages or experiences you might like to share would be really helpful.
Leigh
