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Dementia & Alzheimer's

is this dementia?

4 replies

PineappleDanish · 17/02/2020 15:00

Worried about my Dad. He's 75 this year, and for the last two years has been getting a bit confused. No memory issues, he's more than able to follow a conversation, a game of football/rugby and performs well in the memory tests set by the nurse. However he is showing confusion in other ways - asking mum where she's going to meet her friend, even though she's met the same friend in the same place for 20 years. Mentioning going to visit relatives who are long dead.

Mum is worried. And sharp as a tack. Dad doesn't think there's a problem and bats concerns away by saying nobody tells him anything and how's he supposed to know what's going on. He has had a MRI last year which came back clear. Does OK in the memory tests. But the episodes of confusion are getting more frequent. Mum has been told to take him for a blood test, she's not clear what they're testing for.

I'm getting all of this info at a distance though as we live 3 hours away and don't see them often.

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Springsnake · 18/02/2020 15:37

My mum has dementia,they did a blood test and said she was low in b12 and something else ,can’t remember what ,so while in hospital they started her on a drip ,and said it could be that causing the memory loss ,turned out it wasn’t the lack of vitamins causing memory loss ,but some vitamins can cause that if not at correct level

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Springsnake · 18/02/2020 15:39

I’m 4/5 hours away ,with mum in hospital,the staff seem surprised I can’t drop everything including 4 children to visit every day on a 8 hour round trip ..

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GooseberryJam · 18/02/2020 15:44

Was the MRI specifically to look for signs of dementia? Who have you spoken to so far? I assume your GP has done the memory tests?

As part of my dad's diagnosis blood tests were done to exclude other problems. Your mum should ask the surgery what they were for. Do your parents have wills? If you haven't already got lasting power of attorney for them both, that would be very sensible to do. You can specify that it only takes effect when someone has lost capacity if you want.

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Furrydog7 · 21/02/2020 15:22

My granddad has vascula dementia. It started off gradually in 2017 with minor things such as him forgetting my address although i had lived in the same place for several years. He also forgot how to take his insulin. He is also diabetic. At first the doctor was unsure as at the time he had a bad chest infection. In 2018 he seemed okay however at the start of 2019 he had a uti and his dementia got has got drastically worse since even since the uti cleared up. He has a nasty habbit of wetting and poohing himself. He would mess with the washing machine whereby a 30 minute wash would take forever. He burned some baked beans in the microwave. He did have carers but he refused to let them help in any way. He even refused to get a wash and he stank. The smell even affected my breathing and i am not asthmatic. It has now got to the point where have had to put him in a care home as he needs 24 hour care and it was impossible for the family to give him the care he needs. I'm sorry my post is long op.

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