Worried about my Dad having early onset alzheimers

[Silvercharm]

My dad is 52, he has always had a bad memory but it seems to be getting worse. His dad, my grandad had alzheimers and died at the age of 72 I think, I'm not sure if it was early onset.

As I say my dad has always had a bad memory in terms of losing things but since he has turned 50 he seems to act irrational like when he loses the tv remote he practically tips the house upside down looking for it and will accuse my brother of hiding it! He will also be out and have a moment of blind panic because he thinks he has left his mobile somewhere, then realises its in his pocket or in the car.
Also more recently he has been forgetting how to get to certain places in the car, places he has driven many times before then blames it on the fact that we were talking in the car.
Don't know if this is anything but recently he says he has been having vivid dreams about the past i.e. about my brother & I as children or an event that happened 30 years ago, he always jokes he's on his way out, saying his life flashes before his eyes in the dreams?

I have bought the subject of Alzheimer's up and he says he would rather not know plus he says you need to be brainy to get it and he says he's not, has trouble with writing, wasn't very good at school, always does manual work etc unlike my grandad who went to grammer school, had a job where he had to use his head etc.

I just don't know what to do, is there any tests I can do at home, just really worried

 

[Vonny]

Hi Silvercharm and welcome to Talking Point.

What you describe of your dad's memory could be me some days, especially when I'm under a lot of stress and/or have too much to think about.

Poor memory on its own isn't necessarily an indication of dementia; stress, depression and tiredness can all have an effect on memory. However, you know your dad best and if it's a cause for concern then I think you should get him to the doctor to get checked out.

The thing which does sound like it could be dementia related is the fact your dad blames someone else when he can't find things, which seems to happen quite a lot with dementia sufferers.

There are various online tests available if you google dementia tests, but you'd have to get your dad to do those anyway and I'm not convinced how accurate they are. I think a visit to the GP would be more useful. Tell your dad you are worried and could he get checked out for your peace of mind.

Good luck

Von xx

 

[zee]

Hi Silvercharm,
It sounds like you are very anxious about your dad. It is so hard for you when you are worried and the person you are concerned about does not want to do anything about it. Of course we are all like that sometimes and it could be that your dad is concerned but not ready yet to face whatever the difficulty is. You dont mention whether you have a mum around to talk to? If not maybe a grandma or an auntie who you could share your concerns with. Its very hard to take all this worry on your own. The other thing you could do is to contact your Dad's doctor or practise nurse and make an appointment to go in and have a chat to them about whats happening with your dads memory. If you write down before hand the things that worry you most then it will be easier to share them with the Dr. I am sure that they will want to help you and your dad.
Keep posting on here as people are very kind and knowledgable and will try to help and listen. there are also other young people in a similar situation who post on TP so I hope that maybe they will be able to support you too.
love Ann

 

[zahida]

I think you should speak to your family doctor first on your own explain the symptons..as thats what happened to my father..in the first year my father use to get up early to get newspaper and always bang into other people's car good job it was ppl we knew..then he would start losing money within a yr he he would fink he putting money into his trouser pocket but it would fall out and he would not realise..he lost around £5000 and he would smoke around 60 cigs a day which was very abnormal...then me and my mum went to our family dr..who refered him first to a phyciatric which didnt help as dr thought it was depression..until his behaviour just changed dy by day and would stop talking to any of us..then gradually 1 day he couldnt swallow food he started choking on his food..it was for about a week until that day where he just cudnt swallow..as soon as we took him to GP and GP refered staright to hospital..thats when we found out he gpt dementia..ask your GP to refer your father to a specialist and what they will do some tests in hospital..

Hope this helps.

 

[Helen33]

Hello Silvercharm

Welcome to Talking Point I am sorry that you have cause to worry about your dad. One of the things that might be different from when your grandad had Alzheimers disease is that there is medication these days to delay some of the effects of the disease.

It might be worth keeping a journal of all the things you notice about your dad that seem unusual as it could come in useful for the medics as and when you and your dad choose to have these problems investigated.

Love and best wishes

 

[janlyn]

good advice

hi silvercharm
you must be very concerned about your dad, i think the advice to see your dads gp is the right way to go.
i went through the same thing with my husband we went to our gp just for a check up well thats what my husband thought, it was my way of getting him there and thats when i brought the gps attention to my husbands memory problems of course my husband did not beleve a word i was telling the gp because as far as he was concerned he was fine,our gp refered him to our local hospital where he had some memory test.
the few test they did were not all passed (for the want of a better word) so he was refered to a memory clinic where he had more indepth test done, we are still waiting for the results we go next week to see the memory dr as my husband calls him .
our gp has told us last week that my husband has got dementia but could not tell us which type as the consultant will do that at our appointment.
there are lots of pepole on tp that will support you im certinaly glad i found them
regards jan