Dealing with Dementia: A Family’s Journey and Struggles

Dealing with Dementia: A Family’s Journey and Struggles

2024-02-21 02:20:00

Birth, aging, illness and death are inevitable stages in life. Both patients and caregivers need to learn to tolerate and accept. In the past six months, a Hong Kong woman discovered that her father had developed symptoms of suspected dementia since his retirement. The sudden change in personality and living habits gradually affected the family relationship, causing the family to have no peace. Faced with her parents often quarreling over trivial matters in daily life, her daughter felt confused and unable to take care of her father in the future. She said, “I just want to scream when I imagine it will be like this in the future” and asked netizens for help.

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Retirement during the epidemic is a trigger

The Hong Kong woman recently (16th) posted on the online discussion forum “Dcard” as “Old Dou is suspected to have Alzheimer’s disease” Asking netizens for help, they pointed out that the father, who is in his 60s, has always been cheerful and talkative. He has “a lot of friends and I know them all.” He is just an older man in personality, but he has a good family relationship. Until the outbreak of the epidemic, my father unfortunately lost his job at the beginning of the epidemic, so he retired as a matter of course. However, since my father retired, he often stayed at home with nothing to do and did not help with housework. The family relationship has been deteriorating.

“Ever since he retired, he has been sitting around the house doing nothing. Even though he works well at home, he doesn’t help my grandma with housework. Therefore, the family relationship has been very bad in recent years, and I have noisy conversations with my grandma almost every day. .”

Present 6 symptoms and suspected dementia

In the past six months, the female victim noticed that her father began to have physical abnormalities. “In this half year, he began to show symptoms that were suspected of Alzheimer’s disease.” She said her father had become irritable and stubborn, had a poor memory, liked to hoard things, and even stole money. He also had problems taking care of himself. For example, he refused to take a bath for many months until his body emitted a foul odor. Therefore, he suspected that his father was suffering from dementia.

1. Repeat the same sentence more than ten or twenty times

2. It has become so stiff that if something was given to him 15 minutes ago, he can forget it immediately. For example, he will make a TV louder and make it softer. He will turn his head and make it louder once more.

3. Very bad-tempered. For example, when my grandma just asks or threatens her, her first sentence is: If he dies, forget it.

4. I didn’t take a shower for one or two months. I was not sweating at all, so I didn’t take a shower. I didn’t even need to change my underwear…it smelled so bad that I had to hold my breath and leave the restaurant first.

5. I carry things of unknown origin on the street all day long, such as clothes, shirts and trousers. I know it’s because the clothes they wear are written on the first day of the new year.

6. I used my retirement money to buy some garbage insurance, and I bought some unused things all day long, such as bead necklaces and ancient coins. I bought them in boxes. If you don’t have any money, just ask my landlord. He borrowed it, but following borrowing it, he continued to buy these things. He even stole the money from my homeowner’s wallet while he was sleeping.”

The female victim said that the family has not had peace since her father retired. “It’s really boring to listen to my father and mother having sex at home every day.” The situation has worsened recently, so I considered taking my father for medical examination, but “he really has a stiff neck and definitely believes that he is not sick.” The female victim felt helpless and posted an article online asking netizens for help.

Netizens sympathize with the situation and suggest seeking medical treatment as soon as possible

Many netizens left messages under the post to comfort and support the female victim. They said that the female victim’s father’s condition was typical symptoms of dementia and suggested that he seek medical treatment as soon as possible. Some netizens suggested that the female victim might take her father to the elderly center to participate in activities, which would “widen her social circle and prevent her from being bored at home all day long.” The center staff might also help keep an eye on her father’s condition. Step by step to help him accept his illness. The female victim later responded to netizens’ messages, thanking netizens for their help, and said she would try her best to persuade her father to receive treatment, but she said frankly:

“My grandma is not very young, and I and other household members have to go back to work and study and may not be in the house all the time. It is very hard to think regarding my grandma who may have to take care of her in the future.”

Breaking down common symptoms of dementia

The cognitive abilities of the elderly are gradually declining, and many people are susceptible to dementia.According to information from the Smart Friends website of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, cognitive impairment, also known as “dementia”, “Alzheimer’s disease”, and “degeneration”, is a disease of the brain’s nerve cells that causes abnormal decline in brain function. A general term for Alzheimer’s disease; it is also a disease that occurs due to loss of brain function. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, behavior and personality. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the cognitive disorders.

Patients will gradually lose their memory and other cognitive functions (such as learning, understanding, language use, sense of direction and judgment, etc.); some patients may also have symptoms of depression, hallucinations or personality changes. It is estimated that one in every six women and one in every 10 men in the 70-year-old population will suffer from the disease.

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