What you write is too vague to make any sort of educated guess. You are the one who knows this person. If there is dementia then you have more clues than this. There will be forgetfulness, word searching, confusion, and etc.
I encourage you to go to the doctor and discuss exactly what you are seeing. Before you go there are some simple tests you can do at home. Make them a game. 1. Ask the person to draw a clock and to set the clock at 3:20, or some other time you choose. 2. Tell the person you are going to ask them to remember three easy words. For instance Tree, plate, dog. Then talk with the person about something for a few minutes and ask if they can remember any of the three words you told them to remember. You can give hints if they need them. 3. Ask the person to spell any word familiar to them backwords. The word should have five letters. If they cannot do this try for a four letter word. 4. Make a page of animals that are simple to identify. Say a rhino, a tiger, an elephant, a horse. Ask the person to identify the animals. 5. Ask the person to write down for you five things they did that day in full sentences. For instance: 1. Today I ate my breakfast. 2. I took a shower today. 3. We took Rover for a walk today.
If there is some struggling here, let the doctor know during your visit. Ask the doctor to examine the patient for dementia (this is now required yearly for anyone on Medicare). Ask for a neuro-psyc eval if the doctor finds anything worrisome.
What is an easy concept to you may not be to another person. People also have a difficult time grasping things if they are suffering anxiety or depression, especially the former which can mimic dementia.
They are now telling us that we often suffer from difficulty with executive functioning (look that one up online) for almost a decade on average before diagnosis with dementia. Has there been problems with check writing, making a calendar and checking it? Spelling?
I wish you the best of luck and remember, for expert advice you need experts; go see the doctor for medical concerns. Hope you will update us on what they find.
Your profile says you've been caregiving for your husband for a long time because he needs help with everything. So most likely you having to constantly explain the same simple thing, it's dementia. Your best bet would be to get him to his doctor for a physical and some testing. This way you'll know what you're dealing with.
There could be non-dementia reasons too. I was a caregiver for many people with very mild to no dementia who had acquired learned helplessness. It's not that they didn't understand some simple thing being explained to them. It was that they refused to understand. When they wanted to understand or it was something they liked, they were sharp as tacks.
It's game with some people. They enjoy the constant yet completely unecessary attention being paid to them whether that attention is positive or negative. They enjoy inconveniencing another person and getting them aggravated. Some people enjoy this. It's a kind of entertainment to them. My mother certainly does and always has since she was young.
Don't constant explain something or over-explain something. If your husband doesn't get it, assume he is unable to. Then let that be the end of it. Don't get caught up in a dementia loop explaining continually. Don't get play the learned helplessness game either. If he isn't grasping simple things after being explained to him several times, stop explaining several times.
Dementia is a medical diagnosis, made by a doctor, usually a neurologist after a complete evaluation and testing. Needing to explain an easy concept repeatedly can have a myriad of reasons for happening, dementia is only one of them. If this is a concern, please seek medical attention
You are the one who knows this person. If there is dementia then you have more clues than this. There will be forgetfulness, word searching, confusion, and etc.
I encourage you to go to the doctor and discuss exactly what you are seeing. Before you go there are some simple tests you can do at home. Make them a game.
1. Ask the person to draw a clock and to set the clock at 3:20, or some other time you choose.
2. Tell the person you are going to ask them to remember three easy words. For instance Tree, plate, dog. Then talk with the person about something for a few minutes and ask if they can remember any of the three words you told them to remember. You can give hints if they need them.
3. Ask the person to spell any word familiar to them backwords. The word should have five letters. If they cannot do this try for a four letter word.
4. Make a page of animals that are simple to identify. Say a rhino, a tiger, an elephant, a horse.
Ask the person to identify the animals.
5. Ask the person to write down for you five things they did that day in full sentences. For instance: 1. Today I ate my breakfast. 2. I took a shower today. 3. We took Rover for a walk today.
If there is some struggling here, let the doctor know during your visit. Ask the doctor to examine the patient for dementia (this is now required yearly for anyone on Medicare). Ask for a neuro-psyc eval if the doctor finds anything worrisome.
What is an easy concept to you may not be to another person.
People also have a difficult time grasping things if they are suffering anxiety or depression, especially the former which can mimic dementia.
They are now telling us that we often suffer from difficulty with executive functioning (look that one up online) for almost a decade on average before diagnosis with dementia. Has there been problems with check writing, making a calendar and checking it? Spelling?
I wish you the best of luck and remember, for expert advice you need experts; go see the doctor for medical concerns.
Hope you will update us on what they find.
There could be non-dementia reasons too. I was a caregiver for many people with very mild to no dementia who had acquired learned helplessness. It's not that they didn't understand some simple thing being explained to them. It was that they refused to understand. When they wanted to understand or it was something they liked, they were sharp as tacks.
It's game with some people. They enjoy the constant yet completely unecessary attention being paid to them whether that attention is positive or negative. They enjoy inconveniencing another person and getting them aggravated. Some people enjoy this. It's a kind of entertainment to them. My mother certainly does and always has since she was young.
Don't constant explain something or over-explain something. If your husband doesn't get it, assume he is unable to. Then let that be the end of it. Don't get caught up in a dementia loop explaining continually. Don't get play the learned helplessness game either.
If he isn't grasping simple things after being explained to him several times, stop explaining several times.