Dementia: Just diagnosed and scared

Posted by cathy514 @cathy514, Apr 19, 2019

just diagnosed and scared

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@cathy514

over a year to get diagnosed u of m geriatric clinic was referred by neck surgery neurologist

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Thanks for info

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@adah

My dr told me when people have dementia one of the things they stop doing is eating like they used to, my son can not speak for himself, he is mentally challenged, I speak for him!!! No one will help him, I called crisis hotline for him all they did was direct me to hospital. It’s not mental when your losing weight that fast and stay confused. Have to be directed to your own bathroom where he’s lived for 19 years. Have to show him where his bed is. Please someone tell me how I can get him help!!!

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my daughter stopped eating one time, and required an IV at the doctors office as she was dehydrated. So, if he's not dehydrated, that's a good sign to me, you didn't mention that.

our family was going through an emotional time, she was a teen, and quit eating. her way of showing control over her own environment was to control her food intake. OCD runs in our family, eating disorders are an offshoot of OCD I believe. OCD is also in the autism spectrum, dementia is different from autism, but similar to psychosis. I wanted to share my experience and knowledge with eating issues.

Good luck to you, I hope your brother finds the help he needs.

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Was this diagnosed with an Mri?

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@adah

My dr told me when people have dementia one of the things they stop doing is eating like they used to, my son can not speak for himself, he is mentally challenged, I speak for him!!! No one will help him, I called crisis hotline for him all they did was direct me to hospital. It’s not mental when your losing weight that fast and stay confused. Have to be directed to your own bathroom where he’s lived for 19 years. Have to show him where his bed is. Please someone tell me how I can get him help!!!

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@adah - how are things going with your son? Have you found help for him?

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@adah

Getting mri now

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Please do let us know how that MRI goes, @adah.

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Hello, @cathy514 - I know you were feeling sad and scared after your diagnosis of dementia last month. Wondering how you are feeling and how things are going lately?

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Several of you have shared about recently or some time ago getting a dementia diagnosis for yourself or a loved one, or wondering about a possible diagnosis. I wanted to check in with some of you. I believe your responses will be beneficial to all in this discussion.

@adah - I know you were feeling frustrated with getting to the real issue of what’s wrong with your son, with his weight loss and confusion. Have you gotten any further answers? What did the MRI you mentioned he was getting reveal?

@barbbie - how is your husband doing? Sounded like from what you shared here before he has an Alzheimer's diagnosis?

@1977lizzy - Sounds as though your husband underwent a lot of testing to arrive at his diagnosis of Alzheimer's. Wondering how your husband is lately?

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@lisalucier

Several of you have shared about recently or some time ago getting a dementia diagnosis for yourself or a loved one, or wondering about a possible diagnosis. I wanted to check in with some of you. I believe your responses will be beneficial to all in this discussion.

@adah - I know you were feeling frustrated with getting to the real issue of what’s wrong with your son, with his weight loss and confusion. Have you gotten any further answers? What did the MRI you mentioned he was getting reveal?

@barbbie - how is your husband doing? Sounded like from what you shared here before he has an Alzheimer's diagnosis?

@1977lizzy - Sounds as though your husband underwent a lot of testing to arrive at his diagnosis of Alzheimer's. Wondering how your husband is lately?

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HE thinks he's just fine. Unfortunately, he has made serious financial errors, constant confusion and, for now, I've stood back because he doesn't want anyone to know he has ALZ. His next neurologist appt. is in June & I hope after hearing the doc urge him to allow me to handle business matters, he'll do so. If not, I'll have no choice but to become more aggressive which will make him very angry. I'm in an ALZ support group facilitated by professionals & have learned a lot. My mother lived with me for several years; she had ALZ but the dynamics were very different.

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@1977lizzy

HE thinks he's just fine. Unfortunately, he has made serious financial errors, constant confusion and, for now, I've stood back because he doesn't want anyone to know he has ALZ. His next neurologist appt. is in June & I hope after hearing the doc urge him to allow me to handle business matters, he'll do so. If not, I'll have no choice but to become more aggressive which will make him very angry. I'm in an ALZ support group facilitated by professionals & have learned a lot. My mother lived with me for several years; she had ALZ but the dynamics were very different.

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@1977lizzy Do you have a Power of Attorney document? If so, his doctors would make recommendations that would invoke Power of Attorney so you can handle everything without question. You don't have to convince him. I know it's hard. You'll have to hide your doings to keep him from interfering. My father in law had ALZ and had angry outbursts. The best thing to do was just change the direction of the conversation and distract him with something else. He had been against updating the kitchen for many years (even just new wallpaper), and we got him to go along with it by complimenting him for picking out the new wall paper and it made him feel good to think he was in charge and getting attention for it. We did that over and over and he really was happy about it and the 30 year old wall paper was gone.

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