over 1 year ago
Caring Community
said...
Were there early warning signs your loved one had Alzheimer's disease?
In cooperation with a major pharmaceutical company, Caring.com is helping to conduct research regarding the experiences of those caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease.
When thinking about the path to your loved one's diagnosis, were there early warning signs? Could a case have been built for an earlier diagnosis?
If you're interested in participating, please post your answer right on this thread. Thank you!
I have to be very blunt. A major pharmeceutical could either browse the posts that are already here or pay me for my participation.
I have to be very blunt. A major pharmeceutical could either browse the posts that are already here or pay me for my participation.
Getting lost when driving, making people mad at him, not wanting to be around crowds, forgettingb when he takes his medicine--just an general differece to his actions, and behaviors.
Getting lost when driving, making people mad at him, not wanting to be around crowds, forgettingb when he takes his medicine--just an general differece to his actions, and behaviors.
My dad's normal bad temper was completely out of control. He also started spending large sums of money on things like Readers Digest sweepstakes and filling the house with magazines and music he never used. He would get in the car and drive for hours, by himself. He left my mom at the grocery store, went home and left her there. Store had to call him to come get her.
With my mom it was not being able to operate her sewing machine, not able to finish her quilting projects and not being able to knit without mistakes and getting upset and stop. She couldn't balance the checkbook. Grocery shopping she was buying unnecessary odd food items for no reason. She kept breaking the vacuum cleaner because she couldn't remember how to work it.
For both, the diagnosis came only when there was some crisis causing a specific issue in front of the doctor. Both my parents were perfect in front of the doctor who initially had no clue until my mother complained about my dad to the doctor and I complained to the doctor about my mom. Even then the doctor didn't really recognize the issues for some time before medication was started.
My dad's normal bad temper was completely out of control. He also started spending large sums of money on things like Readers Digest sweepstakes and filling the house with magazines and music he never used. He would get in the car and drive for hours, by himself. He left my mom at the grocery store, went home and left her there. Store had to call him to come get her.
With my mom it was not being able to operate her sewing machine, not able to finish her quilting projects and not being able to knit without mistakes and getting upset and stop. She couldn't balance the checkbook. Grocery shopping she was buying unnecessary odd food items for no reason. She kept breaking the vacuum cleaner because she couldn't remember how to work it.
For both, the diagnosis came only when there was some crisis causing a specific issue in front of the doctor. Both my parents were perfect in front of the doctor who initially had no clue until my mother complained about my dad to the doctor and I complained to the doctor about my mom. Even then the doctor didn't really recognize the issues for some time before medication was started.
Early detection (dementia) doing thinks backwards. Cutting a piece of tile to fit the floor, backwards. I say White he says Black. I would tell him Left he would go Right. Sleep patterns changed, snoring, talking, etc. (Sleep study was done right away) although it detected his waking up and being disruptive (26 or 28 times) total during the night, they said it wasn't anything to be concerned with.
Early detection (dementia) doing thinks backwards. Cutting a piece of tile to fit the floor, backwards. I say White he says Black. I would tell him Left he would go Right. Sleep patterns changed, snoring, talking, etc. (Sleep study was done right away) although it detected his waking up and being disruptive (26 or 28 times) total during the night, they said it wasn't anything to be concerned with.
I did not know it showed the beginning of the decline of his ability to think. I came home from a visit to USA , family visit, I live in Germany but am an American. He had painted our whole fence white. We had a beautiful German Hunter fence..cross cross pieces of pointed brown wood...typical German. He knew that I loved the white fences like we have around the huge horse ranches and such...so he painted all of the fencing white. HOWEVER, he ignored all the advice my friend gave him about putting an undercoat on first and then to use outdoor paint. He simply painted with white paint.. Of course, it began to look ugly in just a few weeks. But I knew it was done out of love and did not really understand how he had ignored the advice so deliberately.
The next things were putting unopened canned foods , like peas and carrots, in the refrigerator and or buttermilk in the cupboards.
I did not know it showed the beginning of the decline of his ability to think. I came home from a visit to USA , family visit, I live in Germany but am an American. He had painted our whole fence white. We had a beautiful German Hunter fence..cross cross pieces of pointed brown wood...typical German. He knew that I loved the white fences like we have around the huge horse ranches and such...so he painted all of the fencing white. HOWEVER, he ignored all the advice my friend gave him about putting an undercoat on first and then to use outdoor paint. He simply painted with white paint.. Of course, it began to look ugly in just a few weeks. But I knew it was done out of love and did not really understand how he had ignored the advice so deliberately.
The next things were putting unopened canned foods , like peas and carrots, in the refrigerator and or buttermilk in the cupboards.
My husband was diagnosed about a year ago, but I think something has been going on for many years. His diagnosis is Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
He had a cardiac arrest in 1992 and wasn't really the same after that. He has always had sometimes angry personality, although never violent, and could never spell well, probably dyslexic. I've always done our household accounts, as did his first wife.
But he took up painting at a very young age, became a first-rate artist and taught art at prestigious schools for decades. He was very kind and insightful with his students (I was one).
But over the past 10 years or so, he has lost most of his friends, becoming kind of suspicious and a little paranoid. He began to have trouble operating the radio, the TV remote and then, for maybe the past four years, trouble dialing a long-distance call. Over the past 15 years he's had three auto accidents (no one was hurt).
His art work changed at least ten years ago, too - it became more surreal and lively and weird; he used to do more conventional work, although he was always innovative. Over that time he became a kind of hoarder of his work - we've had many quarrels over the heaps of drawings and prints all over the house including the kitchen, alas.
Now he's not allowed to drive and his short-term memory is really bad. According to the caring.com web site, he's at the late moderate level of Alzheimer's. His art work is his whole life now. He doesn't seem terribly interested in his family and doesn't always recognize them (they all live pretty far away).
I suppose I thought that he was depressed - maybe if I had talked with a doctor, I would have found out earlier. On the other hand, my husband "covered" well, according to the nurse practitioner who figured out that he had dementia, and as I said, always had a somewhat erratic personality.
Maybe the quarreling about his hoarding should have been a sign - ? It was a big surprise to me that he was so unreasonable about it, because our relationship had been very warm and loving up till then. The other sign would be the way he related to other people and lost his friends.
It all kind of sneaked up on us!
Hope this helps.
My husband was diagnosed about a year ago, but I think something has been going on for many years. His diagnosis is Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
He had a cardiac arrest in 1992 and wasn't really the same after that. He has always had sometimes angry personality, although never violent, and could never spell well, probably dyslexic. I've always done our household accounts, as did his first wife.
But he took up painting at a very young age, became a first-rate artist and taught art at prestigious schools for decades. He was very kind and insightful with his students (I was one).
But over the past 10 years or so, he has lost most of his friends, becoming kind of suspicious and a little paranoid. He began to have trouble operating the radio, the TV remote and then, for maybe the past four years, trouble dialing a long-distance call. Over the past 15 years he's had three auto accidents (no one was hurt).
His art work changed at least ten years ago, too - it became more surreal and lively and weird; he used to do more conventional work, although he was always innovative. Over that time he became a kind of hoarder of his work - we've had many quarrels over the heaps of drawings and prints all over the house including the kitchen, alas.
Now he's not allowed to drive and his short-term memory is really bad. According to the caring.com web site, he's at the late moderate level of Alzheimer's. His art work is his whole life now. He doesn't seem terribly interested in his family and doesn't always recognize them (they all live pretty far away).
I suppose I thought that he was depressed - maybe if I had talked with a doctor, I would have found out earlier. On the other hand, my husband "covered" well, according to the nurse practitioner who figured out that he had dementia, and as I said, always had a somewhat erratic personality.
Maybe the quarreling about his hoarding should have been a sign - ? It was a big surprise to me that he was so unreasonable about it, because our relationship had been very warm and loving up till then. The other sign would be the way he related to other people and lost his friends.
It all kind of sneaked up on us!
Hope this helps.
Ten years ago, there were signs but we missed it. We had no experience with Alzheimer's or dementia - at least not formally. We had family that had died of diabetes, renal disease, but not dementia.
Mom was a great cook, had a great personality, friends, good relationships with family and she was a wonderful gardener! She grew huge roses, the size of small plates.
In 2001, I moved to live with her because I had a gut feeling. No more than that.
We knew something was not right soon after - she had weird outbursts for no good reason. She started donating money to charities that were later investigated for fraud (she still had control of her bank accounts and finances). She accused my brother and I on alternate occasions of not returning money to her that she had lent us (she hadn't). Most ominous, she fell multiple times, and on two of those occasions she broke a bone. We now know from published data that falls appear to be associated with this disease early on and may be a sign of dementia.
During this period, mom was still going to medical appointments on her own. She saw a dentist, who ended up being less than ethical, and removed her teeth and gave her ill-fitting partials. I've always thought that this was an unnecessary and radical treatment that she probably did not need. Since the dentist left the area soon after, we were unable to talk to him/her about it.
At this point, she has been diagnosed about six years.
Ten years ago, there were signs but we missed it. We had no experience with Alzheimer's or dementia - at least not formally. We had family that had died of diabetes, renal disease, but not dementia.
Mom was a great cook, had a great personality, friends, good relationships with family and she was a wonderful gardener! She grew huge roses, the size of small plates.
In 2001, I moved to live with her because I had a gut feeling. No more than that.
We knew something was not right soon after - she had weird outbursts for no good reason. She started donating money to charities that were later investigated for fraud (she still had control of her bank accounts and finances). She accused my brother and I on alternate occasions of not returning money to her that she had lent us (she hadn't). Most ominous, she fell multiple times, and on two of those occasions she broke a bone. We now know from published data that falls appear to be associated with this disease early on and may be a sign of dementia.
During this period, mom was still going to medical appointments on her own. She saw a dentist, who ended up being less than ethical, and removed her teeth and gave her ill-fitting partials. I've always thought that this was an unnecessary and radical treatment that she probably did not need. Since the dentist left the area soon after, we were unable to talk to him/her about it.
At this point, she has been diagnosed about six years.