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About five years ago my mum, Sonia, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s type dementia.  Since mums diagnosis we have learned to live with her condition.  We have managed to put certain measures in place in order for her to stay as independent as possible. This is my mum’s main concern that she wants to stay in her own home, which is understandable, however my mum lives by herself.  In order for this to happen we have arranged for a number of things to be put in place.  Mum now has carers that come in twice a day to make sure that she takes her medication.  They also advised that we put in a safe in order to keep my mum’s medication in after she had taken two days worth of medication in one day.  When mum had initially been diagnosed, we tried to get her to accept having the carers in but she refused and cancelled them after a couple of days.  It wasn’t until Liz from the Alzheimer’s Society came round and persuaded her it would be a good idea and mum agreed.

Today mum still lives by herself but doesn’t really go out much unless she is with either myself or her sister, my Aunty Pauline to whom I have a lot to thank as she is just around the corner and is there all the time for mum.  I have had to take control of her finances as she could not account for the funds that were being withdrawn and nothing to show for it.  Mum struggles with short term memory, for example she can come off the phone and not recall the conversation she has just had.  She has a lot of the common symptoms, she asks the same questions without realising she has already asked them and is progressively having a lesser understanding of the environment around her.  I know this is only going to get worse but I can only imagine how scary mum must feel. 

From a carers point of view it is tiring and frustrating having the same conversations over and over again and having to explain situations and what is happening over and over again. At the same time one of the scary thoughts is that as we are not there 24/7 that some people might take advantage of my mum’s condition and there is nothing I can do about it as I don’t know if the story my mum is recalling is correct!

 

This is a progressive disease with the ultimate conclusion is that it is only going to get worse and currently there is no cure just a way of helping to slow the process down and watching a loved one go through this is heartbreaking.  However the support and amount of research the Alzheimer’s Society funds is amazing.  They are providing funding for current research in the fight against dementia which is helping breakthroughs to be made and hopefully by the time dementia comes to others there will be better treatment and diagnosis in place because of the funding supplied.  And you never know they may even be on a way to finding a cure.

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