Support Group for Those of Us Living With Mild Dementia

Hi all. I am 84yrs and am thinking I may be experiencing mild IM to a degree so I have been dealing with it by joking and telling/warning people not to expect me to remember more than 3 things...I am dyslexic so am not sure if this is part of it? I use this fact to hide behind when I make a faut pas etc. I also make lists, write on calendars....and print out important emails to file. It is much worse if I am force to do something quickly or unexpectedly in an angry or tense manner. Being slightly deaf does not help. I try to do things slowly and chk things twice...because of doing certain things sometimes in the wrong order can make me forget something(not always crucial tho')I hesitate to get an actual diagnosis of "Mild Cognitive Anything" as that could result in me not being taken seriously as an artist and writer....As for house work I let it go for the most part and My son takes up the slack...I need my time and energy for working in the studio(which is now in my living room. As for entertainment of family & friends I do that outside on the picnic table or we go to a fav restaurent. As my husband(deceased since 15 yrs--& a psychiatrist) use to say "You don't have to worry until you start putting your underwear in the fridge!!" Hope this helps someone....laughing is good. Sorry for going on and on. . PS Here is a pic from one of my shows & other works

Susan Ellen, your suggestion would be very helpful to my husband as well. Like you, his diagnosis is changing from MCI into Dementia. So many questions…so few answers. It is discouraging. Can I ask if you are still driving? My husband’s doctor has said he will have to quit. My husband’s issues are with remembering future
appointments, recalling names, forgetting where he put things (although he usually remembers after thinking on it awhile…I have that problem myself😊) …but as far as driving and getting around our city he is fine…in fact he is a very good driver. If we drive out of familiar areas, I am his map reader…we work as a great team. If he were not able to drive at this point, I believe he would shut down. This disease is hard enough for him to accept, but he is not at the point to give up his keys. He keeps our place (8 acres) beautiful, he drives a tractor and bush hogs others property…there is still so much he is still fully capable of doing. I live with him, we are both retired, I am with him the most, I believe I am a better judge of his abilities and I would be the one to know when the time has come for him to stop. It seems that now that the word Dementia has entered the diagnosis active life’s over. Your suggestion is a good one because there is no where else to go for answers. I have already learned a lot through Connect and am thankful for that. I would love to hear other’s thoughts on the driving issue.

Have you had this well reasoned discussion with his doctor? Maybe theres some room for discretion.

@colleenyoung
Thank you Colleen, About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with MCI via the 4 hour memory test, and an MRI.

Over the past few months I’ve been having trouble with my usual organizational skills. I used to do my housecleaning, and laundry on schedules. I found it helpful and did it that way for many years.
Now, I have no idea what day I did what the week before. The crazy thing is that I don’t care. That is not at all like me!
My house was always company ready. Always. Now, not so much and my attitude towards it has changed.

The Brain MRI was done 2 years ago. I didn’t look at the results until last week. I have moderate atrophy, and generalized micro vascular ischemic disease.
The fluid filled areas are getting larger.

I have been under a lot of stress lately because I was just diagnosed with severe polyneuropathy. I have an appointment with my neurologist in a few weeks and I will bring this issue up with him.

I met with my neurologist last week and we reviewed everything. As I said previously, my diagnosis is mild neurocognitive disorder. I did learn there’s no difference between that term and mild cognitive impairment.

I had normal MRI for age. So some age-appropriate level of atrophy. Tests for pertinent genes show I have APOE3 and APOE4. That increases the likelihood I develop Alzheimer’s dementia. The Tao blood levels show I have Alzheimer indications already. It’s coming.

Net-net I am not that interesting to my neurologist any more. Risks of New meds outweigh the benefit for you he says (and I agree). See you in a year.

So where does that leave me?

Today, I struggle most with
* word retrieval
* name recall
* blanking
Blanking is my term for when I suddenly blank on what I'm trying to do. I may be about to google something and i have my phone in my hands and either can’t remember what I want to lookup, or I look at my phone and am not sure what to do next. It’s fleeting - but the most concerning of my journey so far.

*’depression
I have had depression most of my life and take an anti-depressant. But the character is different now. Theres an overtone of futility about it that makes inertia difficult. The Neuropsychologist recommended talk therapy. The Neurologist didn't even respond to that. I guess I will ask my Primary if he knows how to identify options.
* sedentary. Since the surgery for lung cancer I'm on a moving sidewalk between CT scans and pulmonary function tests and my normal RA and my GI doc.. and I tend to just sit down and read. It’s a non productive escape. And I’ve gained 20 pounds in a year - which is certainly not helping anything.

So thats my roller coaster. And I share with all of you to confirm you aren't on a strange island called cognitive disorder by yourself.

Every week i declare this will be the week I will grab this by the horns and crawl out of the abyss - and maybe it will be!

MRI + Neuropsychologist testing will tell the story of where you are.

@pb50 my neurologist was not handling anything. He had his PC totally handle my diagnosis, and “treatment”. It was a horrible experience, and so I asked to meet with the doctor alone. I told him how I was treated, and he agreed to see me himself.
Bottom line, I have applied to see a different neurologist, and am waiting for his approval.