My father had been diagnosed with having Alhzeimers/Dementia approx. 10 years ago. I would say he is at the moderate stage and am amazed how long he has been diagnosed and hasn't gotten much worse. He does take several medicines for the disease. One thing that my family and myself find annoying, yet amusing, is he thinks he has a lot of money and constantly reminds us of it. He always tells us never to borrow money, that he has it and to ask him. He has his speech memorized word for word. He thinks he owns banks in all these different states. Unfortunately, my father is not wealthy man like he thinks he is. Infact, my parents have just enough money to get along. We just can't understand why having a lot of money is so important to him. I was wondering if it could stem back to a childhood memory of being poor. We are getting so tired of the same dialog but humor him to make him feel good. I guess my question is - do you have any idea why he would be so obsessed about thinking he is a millionaire? It is driving us crazy.
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Expert Answer by Joyce Simard
Joyce Simard, MSW, is a social worker and geriatric consultant based in Land O' Lakes, Florida who specializes in dementia care. She serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Western Sydney.You may not believe this but you are fortunate that he thinks he is a millionaire, a very happy place for him to be. Many times the delusions are very unhappy places.. We can' t say why he believes this to be true and at this point it's not important. You and the family are responding in a very appropriate way by listening and agreeing with him. He continues to need to be the head of the family and take care of everyone. Eventually this will fade away so for now enjoy having an "Alzheimer's millionaire" in the family!
And what if he was a Millionaire....and wanted to give away his fortune to the "poor children of China" ???? then what ????
