Hi, i am just wondering if anyone can help with a bit of advice as to whether i should get a formal diagnosis for my mum.
The background is that my mum cared for my dad who had dementia and alzheimers, he passed away 4 years ago from Prostrate Cancer but the real nightmare for us (particularly my mum) was the dementia.
Since he passed away my mum has now gone rapidly downhill herself.
I moved her closer to me a year ago as I noticed she was showing signs of old age, however during the process of moving her closer I realised that it was more than old age (she is 83) and I recognised the signs of dementia. Over the last year she has slowly settled into her new home and is happy to be living much closer to me and my partner but she has also started to deteriorate more and more. I have someone coming in twice a week to cook for her and I take her shopping once a week and cook for her and stay and have a meal with her. She also goes to a Church Chat group once a week for a bit of socialising. However she is now getting more and more confused and can't remember what day it is, struggles with the time of day, sleeps a lot and gets confused with food and drink. She has also started writing notes everywhere (which is something my dad did), I find lots of scraps of paper with dates on and my name and number.
As far as I am aware she doesn't think she has dementia, she knows she has a problem with her memory and can't cook, work out money, and knows she is getting confused but she will still tell people that her husband had dementia and that it is a terrible thing.
So far I have taken her to the doctors for a check up as she was losing lots of weight and complaining of tummy ache, constipation and backache. The doctor did blood tests and they all came back ok. We got her a new bed and her back is now better too. I haven't though taken her to get a dementia diagnosis as I am so worried as to how it will affect her psychologically if she knew! But I don't know if I am doing the right thing for her and everyone else involved. Do I carry on, just keeping her safe and making sure she is reasonably happy or should I take her to the doctors to get a diagnosis and see if there is more help for her? I have been advised to talk to her doctor myself but just wondered if anyone else has found themselves in this situation and if so what have they done?
The background is that my mum cared for my dad who had dementia and alzheimers, he passed away 4 years ago from Prostrate Cancer but the real nightmare for us (particularly my mum) was the dementia.
Since he passed away my mum has now gone rapidly downhill herself.
I moved her closer to me a year ago as I noticed she was showing signs of old age, however during the process of moving her closer I realised that it was more than old age (she is 83) and I recognised the signs of dementia. Over the last year she has slowly settled into her new home and is happy to be living much closer to me and my partner but she has also started to deteriorate more and more. I have someone coming in twice a week to cook for her and I take her shopping once a week and cook for her and stay and have a meal with her. She also goes to a Church Chat group once a week for a bit of socialising. However she is now getting more and more confused and can't remember what day it is, struggles with the time of day, sleeps a lot and gets confused with food and drink. She has also started writing notes everywhere (which is something my dad did), I find lots of scraps of paper with dates on and my name and number.
As far as I am aware she doesn't think she has dementia, she knows she has a problem with her memory and can't cook, work out money, and knows she is getting confused but she will still tell people that her husband had dementia and that it is a terrible thing.
So far I have taken her to the doctors for a check up as she was losing lots of weight and complaining of tummy ache, constipation and backache. The doctor did blood tests and they all came back ok. We got her a new bed and her back is now better too. I haven't though taken her to get a dementia diagnosis as I am so worried as to how it will affect her psychologically if she knew! But I don't know if I am doing the right thing for her and everyone else involved. Do I carry on, just keeping her safe and making sure she is reasonably happy or should I take her to the doctors to get a diagnosis and see if there is more help for her? I have been advised to talk to her doctor myself but just wondered if anyone else has found themselves in this situation and if so what have they done?