My Husband

[dladisheff]

I'm afraid my 75 year old husband is showing early signs of dementia of some kind. I am scared and don't know what to do.

[jaykay777]

It's OK to be scared, most of us were. You've come to the right place for support from people who've been there. I married my husband when he was 73 and I was 79. Later that year, he showed symptoms of dementia, which was later diagnosed as Alzheimer's. I read all I could find on the internet, joined two support groups online and phoned the Alzheimer's Association to get written materials and online advice. Some of us here have benefitted from reading Alzheimer's Reading Room online. Most people advise making an appointment with the patient's primary care provider for preliminary screening. Tell us a little about your situation.

[ChristianElliott Partner]

Welcome to the community. You will find support and helpful ideas from group members here. Also, you can use this free memory loss checklist, which will contain a score along with other information: mybraintest.org/alzheimers-...

All the best.

[Whirlygirl63]

It sounds like you may have experience a couple (or more) instances that didn't fit with how your husband would normally think or act. I know that this doesn't seem like it would be a positive but knowing and having documented instances of what is happening will help you and medical professional in the next steps make sense of what is happening to him and help you start planning for what you may need to think about next as far as care. Start a journal to document some of the things you've seen or are experiencing. This is a good first step. Once you've been able to document some experiences the next step is to schedule time with his PCP and attend with him. Some people who are experiencing memory loss also lose insight to their own behavior so letting the person know what you are seeing and that you suspect memory loss is an individual decision. By documenting in a journal you are also able to see changes over time which can be helpful in determining progression of symptoms. Good luck

Susan