So this is my first time reaching out for this. We have been dealing with my grandmother’s Lewy body dementia for a few years now, and I used to work for a state ran facility with adults with dual diagnoses. I’m not unaware of dealing with someone with a true diagnosis but I don’t really know about the warning signs.
From what I can remember, dementia is not genetic correct? But my mother has been acting EXTREMELY off for the past year. I know she’s stressed dealing with my grandmother some times, but she is not acting like herself at all.
She has become extremely obsessed with politics. She stopped working jobs, she stopped cleaning her house and her yard, and she rarely gets out of the house.
Today it made me realize that it might be something else because she told she has been having secret conversations with politicians. She is an avid user of twitter, and it seems like that’s the only way she talks to people outside our family. And she watches all political shows non stop. I live four hours away, I have two children and just turned 30, and got divorced about a year ago. So I haven’t been around as much as I used to.
She tells me she is depressed, I’ve given her some natural supplements, she has gone to the doctor and got antidepressants and sleep aides but I don’t think they know this side of her.
When should I start to worry?
Anne's mother has been "dealing with" Anne's grandmother, who has Lewy Body dementia, for "some years now."
Anne knows that her mother is "stressed."
I have to say that my first thought would not be some inherited form of dementia, or any other organic disease come to that, but that after years of coping with grandma Anne's mother's depression is now consuming her. The obsession with politics is a form of hiding. She needs to escape, she can't escape, so she withdraws into this virtual interior world.
So: what are grandma's care needs, what is the plan to meet them, how do we get mother out of there before she's actually fit to be tied?
Good luck finding an answer. Come back and let us know how she’s doing.
noticed she wasn't quite right. Watching political news all morning and saying she had no time to do her art, following me around (shadowing) in morning when I'm trying to get ready for work, falling alot, repeating things constantly, talking nonstop without a pause, etc. Fast forward 1 to 2 years, we finally found out that she had a slow growing cancer that was also causing dementia. Didn't get her checked sooner my dad refused to believe anything was wrong. She eventually passed away from that but after a good year of dementia hell. Document, get your mom to a doctor, really explain or give them your recording of the things that are not normal and she never did before. Best of luck.
Fox doesn’t bother me. But I don’t watch it all day long, just during prime time, and after Bret Baier, they are all opinion shows, not straight news, and they make no bones about it.
All TV news programming is biased one way or the other, except maybe for CSPAN, and that puts me to sleep - it’s like watching golf, except the golfers actually accomplish things.
It's kinda important. I need to get mine checked. If the brain isn't getting enough oxygen... we can get kind of wacky.
UTI's do the same thing.
Best of luck!
She needs to have a thorough work up with her doctor to see what is contributing to her changed behaviours.
I’m guessing that it’s her escape from a real life that doesn’t have too much positive stimulation, or too many people, in it. But the “private conversations” bit is worrying, unless she’s talking about the text messages that political committees send in a politician’s name. I would probably tell her doctor in confidence.
I’m sorry to hear about this. Twitter can make vulnerable people quite disturbed; people say things there that they would never say in real life.
Is she seeing a psychiatrist or a general practitioner for her meds? In my experience it makes a difference. I know you are very worried, but she is lucky to have you to confide in about this. A year is too long, though. Talk to her doctor if you know who that doctor is. And let her know that, because you love her, you are concerned about her.
Hugs.
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