My best friend's husband has been diagnosed since November although we all know his condition has been present for quite awhile. She is overwhelmed. I have tried to give her advice because I was through it for 8 years with my mother. Her only response is, "You don't know because it was not your spouse." Of course there is anger in this. It is difficult to watch because she won't even talk to people who have spouses who are in similar situations. Any advice?
For me personally, dealing with my husband's dementia was extremely different emotionally and psychologically than dealing with my mother's. Both are hard. Both are sad. But if the marriage is of the "two shall become one" variety then it is truly part of you that experiences the dementia. Maybe for some people the degree of devastation is exactly the same with a parent or a spouse. That is hard for me to imagine, though.
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