Thread: Dementia and similar

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

Early signs of dementia can be subtle and may not be immediately obvious.
Common symptoms include:

• memory loss

My 102 year old Grandfather had us fooled. It wasn't until he was moved out of home and into a home that we realized how bad his memory was.

Living at home until he was 101.5 his "memory" was excellent. He was constantly prompted by his surroundings. When we moved him into a home, within 3 days he'd forgotten about my grandmother "What ever happened to...?". Within a week he'd forgotten about the house he built and lived in for 70 years and had regressed to his parents house in Fremantle back in the 2nd world war.

With the benefit of hindsight, the signs were there from not long after he turned 99. We're lucky in that he's happy and loves the place he's in. We're not so lucky on the occasions he remembers how to use a telephone. "When are you coming to visit?" "Grandad we're driving out of your driveway, we were there 10 minutes ago".

The thinking used to be, lots of brain "excercise' to prevent dementia. I think these days, they are leaning, not only towards physcial fitness, but of all weird things, it appear weight lifting helps nearly everything ??? No I don't mean big bodybuilder type weight lifting ... simply lifting small weights.

dementia is harder than people you care about dying

Mum didn't get dementia so much, but she regressed. I used to say it was like watching a young child grow, only backwards. She became much simpler, and her attention span shortened. I watched this, as I was the only one who cared for her, apart from some agency type people who took care of the physical needs of a totally bedridden woman. She was still quite fun up until the last year. Mum was intelligent with a great sense of humour, but only the old things worked in the last year or so. I looked after her for five years, even as I was looking after my wife through her thankfully brief but terminal bout with cancer.

One of my all time favourite author/humourists was Sir Terry Pratchett. He got early onset alzheimers at 59. They said it was posterior cortical atrophy , so more of a vision thing, but it was so easy in hindsight to recognise the change in his writing. It wasn't as if he was confused so much as he lost his sense of farce, his irreverence. killed him, of course.

A friend of mine watched his dad die awfully from dementia, so much so that said friend chose to go through a lot of clandestine stuff to get the suicide pill from Mexico. I don't see the point, as how would you know when to take it?

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

dementia is harder than people you care about dying

I'm not so sure about that one. Jan died nearly six years ago and I'm only just climbing out of the hole I dug for myself when she did. with dementia, there's a chance the person is still in there. with death, there's not.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

dementia is harder than people you care about dying

Mums mums side of the family (My maternal grandmother) seems to have a predisposition to dementia. My take on it is there is often a period where the sufferer is aware of the erosion of their capacity and can either see it as tragic or something to be amused by. Once they've passed that point and are no longer aware of the issue then it becomes more of an issue to those that care for them.

When mum used to go and visit her aunty, she'd often come back distraught. I pointed out that her aunty wasn't upset about it at all, and in fact would have forgotten she was there 5 minutes after she left. Once we managed to convince her of that then the visits stopped being traumatic and she was much more pragmatic about the whole thing.

My grandfather has a great quality of life and loves every minute, even if he forgets some of them. Mums best friend (one of her bridesmaids) has descended into terrible dementia (think violent and likes smearing fecal matter on walls). She's in a home, but she has no quality of life and gives the nurses/carers hell.

Found a very interesting resource. Dads is now scared to death and suicidal. Its hard to deal with for family and the careers. I am happily almost immune to waffle - Might be Navy? Correcting Medication today might stabilize it I hope.

Its amazing to see so many errors occuring at so many levels - They are fixed. I am lucky plus to have some expert help.

Specialist Dementia Care Program (SDCP) | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

Found a very interesting resource. Dads is now scared to death and suicidal. Its hard to deal with for family and the careers. I am happily almost immune to waffle - Might be Navy? Correcting Medication today might stabilize it I hope.

Its amazing to see so many errors occuring at so many levels - They are fixed. I am lucky plus to have some expert help.

Specialist Dementia Care Program (SDCP) | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

I don't think there was much help around years ago when my grandfather suffered from this. I'm pretty sure almost everyone intends on committing suicide "when they get bad enough". This doesn't seem to happen, as when they get bad, they no longer have the awareness to do this.

I still think its harder on the people left behind. I can remember being at my grandparents house and my grandfather was running up and down the street like a crazy person. The doctor had given him enough tranquilizer to knock out a horse to little effect. The police were called, and they turned up and you could tell they were ****ting themselves too.... and pulled out there service weapons ..... We frantically said "no, you want need them". but they were making them safe. You see all these old guys then had been through world wars. If they got there hands of any sort of firearm this would be extremely dangerous.

There is no easy answer to this that I can see (like nearly everything in life, if there was an simple answer, we would already be doing it).

G`day , this is an old email .

Understanding Dementia - Let others know - The Wicking Dementia Centre

i did this a few years back they run courses often they are free .

The course explains some about types , brain parts affected , alot to take it but answers some .

I spend time with people affected for which i am well rewarded .

To me no two are the same and each can change from minute to minute depending on what is happening .

They are not children and there should be no comparison .

Talk to them as you would any other person and with the same respect .

I can walk into a room 20 times in 2 hours and each time it is the first time i have been in that room or spoken with that person .

The biggest thrill i get is when my name is remembered by any and it can be a gauge .

Some that you may think able cannot some learn to hide it and can appear to understand and relate as expected , yes is the most likely answer but often it is to please .

It is a very complicated thing with many more questions than answer .

We are taught from a very young age how to care for babies and children and we don`t even realise it is happening , we are not taught how to care for the elderly .

I`m no expert and the above are my opinion only I know a little bit that`s all .

More now than when i may have been of use to my own parents or inlaws or others of their age group , where i work is 70 km from where i live and grew up .

We have a place 2 km from where i live but i don`t wish to work with the people/families i know if i can help it as i feel it would be detrimental to my mental health .

Cheers