His symptoms are of cognitive nature(alzheimers)mainly. This is a progressive neurological disease which also has no cure. Doctors say it is a cross between Alzheimers and parkinson's disease. He was always a handy man, busy, involved with all kinds of tinkering. Now, he cannot drive or work due to bad decision making, loss of concentration, memory loss, executive functioning loss and apathy. it breaks my heart to see him unmotivated for anything, but watch tv and sleep. he gets treated and tested through the UCONN HD program at no cost to anyone. praise God for that. I try to motivate him to help with simple tasks at home or encourage him to go out with me. sometimes he complies, other times, not. at this time he is assessed as having a mild to moderate condition, yet is progressing - slowly. again, I am so grateful for that and believe the Lord is intervening. I take it a day at a time, yet I find myself stuffing my feelings a lot, then losing it. I know that is not healthy but people do not want to hear the sad story over and over so I keep it in. also, I deny it as I try to stay positive. it is like I ignore it. I doubt myself at times and think I am doing it right and beat myself up if I get frustrated, though my HD support group says, 'it is normal to get mad, sad, denial, bargaining and/acceptance (the grief cycle)' and we encourage each other.
I would like to hear some tips on motivating your loved one that I may not have heard or tried. thank you for listening. my name is patti and husband's name is dan.