Has any of your loved ones been diagnosed or effected by alzheimers disease?

My grandmother has Alzheimers. She was diagnosed a few years ago, I think it was before I finished highschool but her memory was never truly that bad. Her memory is terrible now. It's to the point where she can't really remember too many words. Her favorite word to use is right and yeah and thing. She's terrible with names, hides things, hoards things and is aggressive occasionally. Thankfully she remembers to eat but bathing is another issue entirely. It's hard to get her to bathe. It's quite tough seeing her that way because it's such a scary disease that makes me paranoid about my possible future and my own demise with the disease. I can't imagine being that way and it's such a terrible way to end your life.

No, i don't know but there are times now that I am starting to forget things too

My friends mother is like this. She rings him six times in a row sometimes and repeats questions a lot of the time. She is also forgetful. I thought at first she was bunging it on to get attention because she would say, I rang you before, or I keep forgetting things. She was living in a serviced apartment complex which is near the hospital and she kept saying she didn't like the noise (it was near a main road) and the diesel fumes. She went to stay at the hospital care units for a while but they called the family to come and get her because she was playing up and saying she didn't want to be there. So the family moved her a care facility where she has her own little self contained suite in an extension of the local hospital closer to her family. She doesn't want to be there either. She needs to be looked after and her family all work. She comes to visit for a night or two every couple of weeks with my friend and she knows everyone usually but she has no interests. She used to love mending her son's clothes (by hand sewing) and ironing but now she does nothing. She is frail and mostly deaf but healthy. One daughter in law does all the running round for her, her other two sons have little to do with her and her only daughter lives in another state. One day she says she wants to just die because she has finished living and there is nothing left she wants to do and another time she says she doesn't want to die yet. We have tried to get her interested in things like reading and tv which she used to love but now she seems to have no attention span. In many ways when necessary she still has all her wits about her and knows exactly what is going on around her at other times she acts like a silly little girl. I'm frustrated by her and I'm not even close to the family situation, none of the family know what to do. Maybe some one has written a book on coping with a loved one who has dementia.

let's see..my grandmother and one of her brothers had it. both had what they said was "ambulatory altzheimers" meaning they could still wander around fine,but the memory was shot.needless to say,we had to keep an eye on her at all times,otherwise she'd open the door and wander off. some days she knew who she was,other days she thought she was 10 years old,and "kidnapped". it was very,VERY stressful.we finally had to put her in care,if only so she could be monitored.she would be up all night wandering around and trying to get out.leaving the stove on..in short a danger to herself. she didn't recognize me at all and one day she punched me and her ring cut my cheek open.lemme tell you,nana still had one hell of a right hook!

I'm sorry this has happened to your grandmother. You have my utmost sympathy. My husband's mother had dementia, and it tore him up to see her like that. She went downhill quickly, and it didn't help that she had colon cancer either. His sister tried to take care of her, but there comes a point where you just can't. She was put in a nursing home. She thought she was in a hotel the whole time. His sister caught her drinking vineagar once (When she was still living on her own) and she told her daughter look at this nice soda I've found. I've heard some people with dementia will eat laundry soap, cat food, etc., so they can't live on their own. Sounds like your uncle needs to talk to a nurse or doctor about his mother's condition. It doesn't do any good to yell at them, because they have short term memory. She won't remember five minutes later why he was yelling at her, or what for. You just have to take it day by day.

no i haven't had any family that has alzheimers but i have had friends who have and it is awful what they have to do knowing they will not get better and don't even know them.i would think that would be the worst thing ever.i fell for you and you family.i will be sending a pray for you God bless you

my mom has dementia. and they say it might work into alz. but so far not they started her on some pills back in 2004 for the dementia . So far so good. But she wont talk long on the phone she has lost her short term memory. BUt she still nows every one

my father in law has been diagnosed with altzheimers and i have noticed a change in him over the last couple of years. he cannot be left alone and i think it will only get worse. it is a tough disease to deal with and i feel bad for my mother in law just because she is the primary care giver.

My grand mother was effected by Alzheimer disease.She was somebody who was very methodical in the way she lived her life.After Alzheimer struck her she would forget that she had lunch and would tell visitors that we hadn't fed her.She ultimately did not recognize my her daughter my aunt.I was in my thirties when this happened and being an arts student i didn't know much about Alzheimer and my knowledge is restricted to small informative articles in news papers and magazines.I feel this requires specialized care and professional help as at best we can be patient and understanding but we are unaware as to the way such patients have to be dealt with so their final years are made as comfortable as possible.

Hi dloveli! I know the feeling dear as my grandma is in same condition for almost 10 years now. Though I'm living abroad and I can't see her physically my mother whom she's living with used to tell me about her on the net. She's seems to be violent when she's hungry or she wants money, she would throw everything in front of her at first no one knows what she's up to but later on my mom discovered the best way to pacify her anger is just giving her food and money. She doesn't want taking a bath but my brother who is left to take care of her would actually force her at least every other day. She doens't remember each of us in the family but she can remeber all the happenings in the past. Good thing is that she never suffers from any ailment, she's now on her late eighties but still she is in good shape physically. And yes, you're right if she only knew what is happening with her she would prefer to be out of this world earlier than her age than suffer in this kind of awful disease.