At a neurology appointment in June, having been referred to the neurologist by his PCP, my husband was found to be "borderline" for cognitive impairment. MRI was normal. Follow up appointment with the neuro is in early December.
For those of you with husbands that were diagnosed in their 60's with dementia or Alzheimer's, what signs did you see in your husband during the early stages? Did you raise the concerns, or was it another family member, or your family doctor?
* loss of social skills
* loss of long term memory BEFORE loss of short term memory
* loss of empathy
* thought rules didn't apply to him
* became suspicious & distrustful
* blamed others for his mistakes
* loss of ability to keep appts or deadlines or manage his time
* total mismanagement of money
* mean & belittling behavior: calling me stupid, saying I had no sense of style, telling me I was a bad wife & mother
* excess alcohol use: an entire bottle of wine or two & 2 glasses of bourbon every night
-unable to understand “take your pills every 4 hours” he could not add 4 hours to his last dose
-couldn't tell time
-couldn’t see others point of view
-driving; spatial issues
His first test was borderline, but I knew what was up.
Thankfully his restless leg syndrome stopped him driving even before his neuropsychological testing.
How long was it between the "borderline" diagnosis and a sure diagnosis of dementia/Alzeheimer's?
The signs were:
Being naive about money matters. He gave out his credit card to an unknown caller.
Racist or inappropriate remarks, he’d never been racist before. And really wasn’t after, he had no filters.
No follow through , he said he’d do something but never did.
Got angry more.
Had trouble with his computer at work, always blamed it. Had issues at work I didn’t know about till after.
First, many people inaccurately use the word "dementia." Remember that the word, "dementia," is the word which describes a laundry list of symptoms caused by any, or a combination of, over 70 different diseases. Those diseases include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. People often improperly use "dementia" as if it is the disease itself.
Once that was clear in my head, I understood we were searching for what disease, virus, or medications was causing the dementia behaviors or symptoms.
With my MIL, she had dementia behavior during a UTI that simply needed to be addressed. I had dementia symptoms while taking statin medications. Once those meds were removed my cognitive issues went back to normal. So it's about working with the PCP or neuro-specialist to find the source causing the dementia.
Alzheimer's is just one of many many diseases that could be causing cognitive issues. With my FIL it was determined after scans and many hours of evaluation, that he appears to have FTD.
Having a good neuro-specialist who is well versed in the latest science has made all the difference dealing with my FIL. Had we not been properly educated we would have jumped to just calling it early Alzheimer's. Not understanding that FTD is different would have led to a lot of confusion.
Hope this helps. Prayers for you and your family!
Today with so many people taking medications for anything from a hang nail to pneumonia. People are suffering the nasty side effects, which in turn lead to more drugs and more side effects which result in memory loss and false diagnoses.
Doctors are not gods and actually only know how to treat you with pharmaceuticals. And gawd forbid you try to heal yourself with proper nutrition, the absolute horror!
Seriously, ask a doctor about nutrition and I can guarantee a blank stare.
Whats even more unfortunate is that they could lose their license for even suggesting healing yourself with foods.
People need to start taking care and responsibly for their health and well being and stop relying on chemicals that the body does not recognize, need or utilize.
Eating clean organic foods,*(this means real food no gmos, no processed foods etc) drinking purified water and plant based minerals and supplements go a long way in restoring ones health.
Its easy, simple and cheap compared to today’s allopathic sick care.
He can't plan projects. If a faucet leaks he has a hard time planning to fix it. He trims plants the wrong way at the wrong time of year.
I am so grateful that he has let me take over projects. A lot of men don't. This is from my cell phone so please forgive the sentence structure, spelling etc.
to answer your question about time between his borderline test & full diagnosis... We switched neuros. I’d guess it was about 6 months between the two MoCA tests. After the 2nd test the new neurologist ordered the 6 hour neuropsychological test, but there was a 4 month wait to get in. So 10 months total. His results were moderate dementia at that time.
Hope that helps.
my husband was VERY frustrated with the test, too.
He kept saying, “if you would have let me study, I would have done better!” It was heartbreaking to watch. Such a sinking feeling for me.
His neuro didn’t think my husband could take the half day test, but I wanted to know. He was struggling with RLS at the time, but still made it through. They take into consideration education completed.
Your husband sounds like mine. Mechanical brains that can fix anything. It’s so hard to watch him struggle now.
Hope you find some answers in December.
I have a hard time reconciling that he can do anything mechanical but struggles with many things that are "cerebral" (for lack of a better word). So I make excuses for him, such as "he is just not hardwired for cerebral tasks and his age is starting to show." But I realize now that my thinking is wrong here. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with me. It helps a lot.
yes, I was in the room for both MoCA tests, but they don’t allow you in the room for the 6 hour test.
Like your husband, mine was spelling words backwards on the drive home. He argued with the doctor about the results and couldn’t understand how taking a test on paper would tell her that he can’t drive a car.
The longer test will tell you, if they can, what type of dementia he has. My husband didn’t fit in any category. So they call it atypical dementia.
* significantly slower gait and poor balance.
* anxiety about even basic decisions/planning ahead.
* abandonment of activities he once enjoyed, e.g., guitar-playing, reading, crossword puzzles. He was evasive about why.
* inability to recall/write down appointments made over the phone.
* binge drinking.
* what he called "dreams that seem real."
* confabulation: honestly "remembering" stuff that never happened but seems logical because it fills his memory gaps.
Over the years (at least twice a year) he would fall and need hospitalization/rehab. MRIs showed some brain shrinkage but no signs of stroke. With every fall he has the following *sudden-onset* symptoms: confusion/hallucinations; spatial-perception problems (fork "misses" his mouth), swallowing/speech problems, and inability to stand up.
Previously, after 3 weeks or so, he would *suddenly* be himself again, cooperate with physical therapists, and return home until the next mishap. Don't know if he's gonna come out of it this time.
How fortunate (odd word in this context) that your husband's impairment is being identified so early. Wishing you (and him) peace and more good fortune.