Early Signs of Dementia/Alzheimer's?

[Jakob]

The lounge is filled with personal posts lately, so here is another.. Sad story and very personal, but I could use some advice on how to handle this.

 

My father has always been a drinker/smoker, but he never took it to any extremes, a 6 pack and half a pack of cigs here and there every other day. About 6 months ago, he started drinking and smoking extremely heavy. He didn't talk much about it and I thought he was just having a rough time or a mid life crisis. Starting a month ago he was having really bad lapses in his memory. I figured it was his heavy drinking, but when he stopped it only kept getting worse. He has had at least 6 concussions in his early years and has been told that dementia is a very big possibility for him later in his life. The problem is he is only 49. So fast forward a few weeks, he is now starting to have violent verbal outbursts that he completely forgets moments after they happen. It's becoming serious. The problem is, because he doesn't remember doing any of this he doesn't think anything is wrong and refuses to see a doctor. He can't remember names, dates, addresses, he will repeat himself 100's of times.

 

 

Anyone else deal with this problem? My family needs to come up with a plan to get him to a doctor.

[NanuqoftheNorth]

I'm not a medical professional, but have witnessed older relatives with Alzheimer's. 
 
Getting them to be cooperative can be challenging.
 
The group below has probably dealt with similar situations.
 
Maybe they can provide some assistance.
 

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with dementia, you are not alone.
The Alzheimer's Association is one of the most trusted resources for information, education, referral and support.
Call our 24/7 Helpline: 800.272.3900
http://www.alz.org/we_can_help_24_7_helpline.asp
Visit our online Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregiver Center
http://www.alz.org/care/
Locate a support group in your community
Visit our Virtual Library
http://www.alz.org/library/index.asp

 

 

[PhillyB]

probably all the police visits

[SOJA]

I work with people who have dementia, most commonly Alzheimer's. While no one can make an accurate diagnosis over the internet I would say he definitely has warranted seeing a medical professional. 

 

Acceptance is very, very hard for some people to accept and some never do. Anxiety and anger are common responses. 

 

I'm really sorry to hear this, but I can say after spending countless hours around all levels of alzheimer's and other forms of dementia there are ways to ease the stress and to help cope with it for both the individual and the family. Being open minded and very patient is an absolute must. You have to always be in control of your emotions, never take anything personally and most importantly be patient. I can't tell you how many family members I've seen treat their afflicted parent with disdain because of this disease. It's sickening and completely unhelpful to the individual.  

 

You and your family will get through this, thoughts and prayers sent your way. 

 

 

In terms of getting him to see a doctor, have him write down a passage and sign and date it- then have him read it later. When/If he doesn't remember writing the passage, it might show him that he does in fact have a problem and needs help. IF he admits to that have him again write that down and sign and date it. 

 

Writing things down is great, it is both therapeutic and helps with the memory loss.

 

This is just one method I've heard of working, I'm sure there are more. 

[Johnny Rockets]

Interesting this is being brought up as I just had a long discussion about it yesterday. My GF and I drove to the beach this weekend to pick up a family member for the week. His step son moved in with him as he is getting up in age but was taking a trip to Costa Rica so we offered to let the older family member stay with us while his step son went on his trip.

 

One thing that we all discussed as Jakob has mentioned is that he used to be very talkative. He defintely would tell them same stories over and over again but now he is very quiet. His step son seemed to think thing that he realizes and is started to accept that either demetia and Alzheimer's is setting in. Not sure if that is the case or not but it's interesting to see the same thing happening to someone else. He is a very proud man and I think he fights hard not to have outbursts but you can sense the change happening.

 

My Grandmother went into the deep stage of demetia and went from a lovable, church going grandma to cussing everyone out that she would encounter. It ticked me off that so many of our family took eveything personal and eventually stop seeing her not because they wanted to remember her as she was, but because they were insulted by the things she said.

 

Anyway, good luck with that Jacob and hope things improve and thanks SOJA for shedding some light on the subject.