alzheimer's disease

[Inglis]

I believe my Father is getting alzheimer's in the early stages. A few family members have said that also, but you have to go a Medical Practitioner to get the diagnosis. My Father's Dr is nearly as old as my Father.

He worked in the Building Industry nearly 50 years, but now with the most mundane tasks with latches, hinges and doors he's lost. Also, tipping football - he'll forget it in 2 hours times. I may remember 2, but not the remaining games.

Anyway, that's my burden and my family's burden. It's nearly 11pm and I probably need to go to bed.

[Pippo]

Hi Inglis

sad to know that.

Well accidentally, yesterday I watched a short video about memory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8YgFCWPrg

I don't know if this might work in this stage or if it is a method for prevention
or if this thing work at all, but this lady has many videos that seem legit and she's got a lot of subscribers and good feedback

take a lot at and do your research


I hope things go will for your family :)

[TONGO]

I believe my Father is getting alzheimer's in the early stages. A few family members have said that also, but you have to go a Medical Practitioner to get the diagnosis. My Father's Dr is nearly as old as my Father.

He worked in the Building Industry nearly 50 years, but now with the most mundane tasks with latches, hinges and doors he's lost. Also, tipping football - he'll forget it in 2 hours times. I may remember 2, but not the remaining games.

Anyway, that's my burden and my family's burden. It's nearly 11pm and I probably need to go to bed.

I know what you are going thru. You need to make sure and get him diagnosed. Youd be surprised how many different things can cause alzheimer-like symptoms, and some of those things can be medically corrected. He could have severe blood blockage going to his brain, and a stint can be put in to correct that or at the least keep it from worsening. Thats just one possibility. This will suck, but please make him get checked so you all know for sure man. :)

[Topsy]

thats awful to read. im sure things are difficult for you at the moment,i hope he gets help.

[Inglis]

Thankyou for your well wishes with my Father.

The problem is - my Mother have to inform my Father, to get a diagnose if it's alzheimer's with a good Doctor. He's 81 and my Mother is 66 and my Father's sister she also has alzheimer's in a nursing home. He is quite mobile, more than he should do, but you can take the dog out of the fight.

[Captain Steel]

Inglis, I feel for you and this thread hits home for me as it is ironically current.

A long story, and it's ongoing - my dad's been having increasing dementia over the last few years.
He had a heart attack in 2014 which seemed to take a good piece of his cognizance, but he could still communicate well.

Two weeks ago he fell; broke a rib & punctured a lung. After a couple days in the hospital he was sent home. A few days later he couldn't breath and was rushed to the hospital again - this time to be put on a respirator & life support. (This was the day after Memorial Day.)

I've been pretty much living at the hospital since then. After 2 days the respirator was removed. He's been diagnosed with pneumonia & tumors in his lungs (on top of diabetes type 2, a weak heart with a defibrillator implant, COPD & various other issues). This seems to be a further blow to his mental function as he now seems to be in full blown dementia complete with hallucinations.

The saddest thing with his dementia is he's seemed to maintain all his negative aspects like being distrustful, biased, angry all the time, always anticipating the worst case scenario, etc. A lot of this negative thinking snowballed into a persecution complex, paranoia, non-stop anxiety and almost childlike obstinance.
This negativity that he's carried around for a long time seemed to cause him to virtually give up on life a couple decades ago, and since his heart attack, he's pretty much only sat in a chair, inside the house, watching TV, avoiding most activities or socializing. He only wants to eat cake & ice cream (getting extremely angry if offered fruit, vegetables or water.)

And it's a vicious circle because a lot of his irrational obstinance & stubbornness was what kept him from following through with healthy prescribed activities - such as regular exercise, a healthy diet, drinking lots of water, going outdoors, socializing with others, trying to keep his mind sharp, practicing deep breathing & relaxation techniques - had he done these things, they may have prevented a lot of his health problems.)

I feel terrible saying this, but I was hoping he would pass on from this current injury / illness because full recovery seems unlikely, and he's so mentally unstable that all he knows is frustration, misery, and suffering. My mom is too old (with health problems of her own) to take care of someone in his current state and since he's so unable to accept, be content or simply relax in any situation, we fear putting him in a home would be like torturing an animal that doesn't understand why any of this is being done to it.

My dad is 87, btw, and my mom is 84.

So, I kind of know what your going through, but I'm somewhere near the other end of the tunnel.

I hope you can find your dad some things that may help now, and in the meantime, encourage him to stay physically & mentally active, and engaged with family & friends.
I'll keep you in my thoughts & prayers.

[Inglis]

Cheers Steel, and I hope the best for your Father and especially your Mother. My Father he's active (Golf/walking/some book work) my Mother gets sick and tired of my Father going off with Faxes and Phones calls. She has to repeat herself with Dad about Telephone companies - Dad have changed 4 different Telephone companies the last 2 years because he reckons he'll get a better deal. Even though he is still paying off with another Telephone Company. He knew how to numbers with the Building industry, though Dad at the end of his career there was a secretary to do that.

[honeykid]

I know what you are going thru. You need to make sure and get him diagnosed. Youd be surprised how many different things can cause alzheimer-like symptoms, and some of those things can be medically corrected. He could have severe blood blockage going to his brain, and a stint can be put in to correct that or at the least keep it from worsening. Thats just one possibility. This will suck, but please make him get checked so you all know for sure man. :)

Basically this. I've been through this with my grandma and it's heartbreaking, but you need to know that it is what you're dealing with. As T said, there's plenty of other things which can appear similar and can be treated.

I wish the best for you and your family. :)

[Inglis]

2 hours ago with my Mother she said "you have go to a Fax, laptops, cartridges (Office supplies) to fix your Old Man's fax". That's simple really, but no proof of purchase of his epson fax it's quite difficult to get a refund. Many problems with the black cartridges ---error--error and when you ring epson, they have no idea?

Long story short - my Mother will go to office supplies business, as she has to deal the problems with the fax settings and so on. My Mother was a secretary years ago - shorthand/typewriters and eventually computers, then she owned a take away store for a few years - many years ago.

I happy my Mother took the bull by the horns, better then me trying to explain all the difficulties with the fax. I have never used it, so thank God :cool: