Alzheimer's Disease Support Group
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia and characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. An early symptom is memory loss (amnesia), usually manifesting as minor forgetfulness that becomes pronounced with illness progression, with relative...
i signed up and read a lot of the other "posts" that other people have written about their husbands, mil, moms, grandparents, themselves and feel so helpless and sad--for our family and them; i wish there was something, anything we could do to stop this disease. it helps to realize that other people are going thru the same thing and have similiar feelings/issues. i will stop by the chat room again to read and hopefully give and get hope.
I spent some time trying to figure out the best place to write this and just gave up so here it is by default.
I've noticed a subtle change in my husband recently (over the last week or two). He will get up like he is going to do something or go somewhere, often he will tell me why he is getting up and what he wants to do. Then he will just stop and stand there looking confused and not sure of what to do next. When I ask him what he is doing sometimes he can say what it was and sometimes he doesn't remember but in either case it's like he just freezes up and can't do it even if he remembers what it is.
Once I tell him what to do, or he has told me what it was he wanted to do and I tell him to do it he will move but if I don't tell him to do it he will continue to stand there.
He is also sleeping more lately. Neal has never been one to take naps but in the last month or so he has taken several naps, including one today. On a "normal" day he will sleep at least 12 hours then if he takes a nap he will sleep anywhere from another hour to three or four hours more.
Unless I have activities planned or specificaly ask him to do something he spends every day sitting in his chair. He does get up to go to the bathroom and to fill his water jug when it's empty but rarely will he take on any other activity unless asked.
Thanksgiving day I had to tell him it was not alright for him to eat upstairs in his chair that he had to join us at the table for dinner. He was good about it but didn't see why he needed to be there.
I'm also watching him when he eats. Several times (maybe three or four) he has choked when eating, like he's swallowed and it went down the wrong pipe. I've never known him to do that before so it is worrisome since I know eating/swallowing can become a real problem for some AD patients.