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...
Is it just me! Or do other people with this terrible illness also keep persistently asking and checking what the time of day is?
This might sound amusing to some people but its an actual account described to me by my dear wife Sumi of what I was like when we were waiting at the doctors surgery for my check up a short time ago
We arrived at the doctors surgery in good time, in fact a bit early and then told by the receptionist that the doctor was running a bit late due to a meeting so we settled down as best we could on the hard bench watching the TV
Within five minutes or less I was starting to get rather fed up and extremely fidgety so checked the time on my watch
A few moments later I turned to my dear wife and asked whats the time as I looked at my own watch again has my watch stopped? So Sumi calmly tells me not to worry
A few moments later Im fidgeting on the seat complaining its too hard, huffing, and puffing, and gazing at my watch again where is the doctor (Again Im told not to worry dont panic)
A few moments later I stand up wringing my hands together, twisting, and turning my body in circles and scrutinizing my watch why is she so late (Told not to panic and to sit down)
A few moments later I stand up again look at my watch, then sit down then stand up again, look at my watch, then sit down again, stand up again and pace up and down, (My dear wife gazes at me saying, will you please relax and sit still)
A few moments later Im gazing at my watch again where is the doctor, where is the doctor? I need the loo, have we got time as I cant wait look at my watch again (Told its OK, theres plenty of time for you to go to the loo)
A few moments later once I return from the loo has the doctor arrived yet, look at my watch again, sit down, start fidgeting constantly looking at watch again scratching my head and gazing intensely at my watch
Then at last my dear wife said the doctor has arrived I check the time on my watch (Oh, shes only Ten minutes late!) But to my mind it had seemed like a whole day had passed by
Im not sure who was more relived Me, or my dear wife but such can be the affects of (Time) on the confused mind as we lose all rationality of time
Barry
This might sound amusing to some people but its an actual account described to me by my dear wife Sumi of what I was like when we were waiting at the doctors surgery for my check up a short time ago
We arrived at the doctors surgery in good time, in fact a bit early and then told by the receptionist that the doctor was running a bit late due to a meeting so we settled down as best we could on the hard bench watching the TV
Within five minutes or less I was starting to get rather fed up and extremely fidgety so checked the time on my watch
A few moments later I turned to my dear wife and asked whats the time as I looked at my own watch again has my watch stopped? So Sumi calmly tells me not to worry
A few moments later Im fidgeting on the seat complaining its too hard, huffing, and puffing, and gazing at my watch again where is the doctor (Again Im told not to worry dont panic)
A few moments later I stand up wringing my hands together, twisting, and turning my body in circles and scrutinizing my watch why is she so late (Told not to panic and to sit down)
A few moments later I stand up again look at my watch, then sit down then stand up again, look at my watch, then sit down again, stand up again and pace up and down, (My dear wife gazes at me saying, will you please relax and sit still)
A few moments later Im gazing at my watch again where is the doctor, where is the doctor? I need the loo, have we got time as I cant wait look at my watch again (Told its OK, theres plenty of time for you to go to the loo)
A few moments later once I return from the loo has the doctor arrived yet, look at my watch again, sit down, start fidgeting constantly looking at watch again scratching my head and gazing intensely at my watch
Then at last my dear wife said the doctor has arrived I check the time on my watch (Oh, shes only Ten minutes late!) But to my mind it had seemed like a whole day had passed by
Im not sure who was more relived Me, or my dear wife but such can be the affects of (Time) on the confused mind as we lose all rationality of time
Barry
She also gets agitated and will start complaining. Some times she will actually get angry and make comments like "I guess I'm not important enough" or "they forget me all the time" when in fact they never did.
Yesterday mom decided to look up the medications she is taking. Then she decided that the doctor shouldn't have her taking them so she called his office. She also called her case manager. Of course it took a little for them to get back to her. But two hours later she called me to say how they were ignoring her. She even told me the case manager had yelled at her last week.
My mom also has a lot of trouble with keeping day and night straight. And even when I tell her she doubts me. Last week she told me that the TV was wrong. I'm guessing that this confusion is tied to an alter perception of time.
Another possible reason is that people at a certain stage of dementia lose that inner clock that helps us to judge how much time has gone by. This is the person who, after being told "five more minutes," truly can't perceive that only one or two minutes have gone by before asking again.
Too, sometimes one of those abilities that is lost is that ability to see things from someone else's perspective. They can no longer reason out that a caregiver may have other things that need to be done, sometimes with greater priority. They can no longer rank things in order of importance; everything needs to be done with the same level of urgency.
I've also seen people who lose the ability to tell time, or to read a clock.
I don't know if any of these explanations work for the two examples listed above, but they're some things that I've seen in my years of working with persons with dementia.
I was almost thinking of trying a 24 hour clock. I wonder if that would be confusing or if it would give a better sense of the whole day.