Worried about getting dementia......

[Pleeb]

(I always forget the difference between that and Alzheimers......doesn't bother me that I don't remember)

My nurse practioner mentioned "to rule out dementia"......"we'll give you an MRI, refer you to the geriatric section."  I can't remember what started all this.

....but what DOES bother me is having a very bad "senior moment" every day since then......  Funny that I can't remember them, because
some of them were disturbing.

BTW, getting the day wrong doesn't bother me so much, but I was positive yesterday was Saturday.......I discovered it wasn't when I was in the Eaton Centre and asked a restaurant when they close.......they said "9:30 p.m."........on a Sunday?......I was sooo surprised!


My last bad "senior moment" was last week, when I discovered 2 brochures in my bag, and I don't remember my nurse pracitioner giving them to me.
I was very alarmed.....and something like this was happening Every day.

Peter

[Pleeb]

I've always said "I wish I cried more".......might be good for me somehow?  I have been crying (not sobbing) more lately, including in my NP's office.


An oddball daydream I've had lately...and I don't want to lose this daydream...   I want to keep it "close to my chest." Not sure why.  I told my NP about it.


During a visit with my NP, I start crying, and get up to walk over to St. Michael's Emergency (two blocks away, btw).
When I get to Emergency (crying, I guess) I tell the intake nurse:  "I realize this is just a daydream, and this will never happen.....just wanted to get this off my chest:  A complaint:  My NP and family Dr. never recommend me for invasive treatment!"  (By that I mean some type of brain surgery.)

[Pleeb]

Pardon my fonts.....not a big deal...doesn't happen every time.

[Peace]

Peter, it sounds to me like you may have latched on to what the nurse said, and now you're watching for and tuning in to all signs. In short, like many of us with anxiety do, you're making yourself sick thinking you could be sick.

I have severe OCD and went through my own round of health anxiety. Altzheimers runs in my family on both my mom and dads sides. When I would walk into a room, stare at something, forget even the slightest thing I auto thought altzheimers. Asking my siblings about it and googled it looking for signs I had it. I then spoke to my psychiatrist about it and he explained to me that due to the OCD my mind runs non-stop and at times it shuts down completely due to the over-activity. This made a lot of sense to me and I stopped believing I had altzheimers.

The thing with health anxiety is that we keep it going by googling it, talking about it, and looking for signs of whatever condition we believe we may have. In effect by doing all that we are telling our brains something could be wrong and just keeping the fear going. The only way to beat the health anxiety is to stop all the focus on the condition concerning us. Easier said than done, but it can be done.

I like meditation in the form of going for a walk and really paying attention to my surroundings complete with touching things to check out texture. I also use the notice 5 things techniques to get my mind off my worries and calm myself.

Even if you do have signs of altzheimers or dementia, which I doubt, absolutely nothing can be accomplished by focusing on it.

Best wishes to you 

[Dragonfly]

Hi Peter,   Somehow I don't think you are suffering from dementia. I am 67 years old.

Sometimes when you are retired it is easy to forget what day it is. We don't always have a calendar in front of us which I think is great. Why mark time at our age. We are entitled to not be on a schedule. Am I making sense. I mix up my days quite often.

I forget things from one minute to the next. This may sound funny but I think that we have lived a good number of years. We have too much in our brains so we forget things. Is that wishful thinking on my part? I find I remember things from the past better than things happening in the present. For example I remember older actors but not the younger ones. This may be off topic. A lot of times I think actors or other people are older than me. Then I realize we are the same age or they are younger.

My daughter who is 41 years old and an accountant forgets things I tell her all the time. Her brain is so overloaded. She works so hard at work and hardly gets a break. When it comes to her personal life her mind is saturated and she forgets things.

I think everyone forgets things. Young or old. As Peace says we overthink that we may have dementia or alzheimers. My son doesn't pick up on things because his mind is so focused on something that he doesn't compute.

My neighbor who is 85 years old was beating herself up. She left her purse in the grocery buggy and realized she didn't have it until she got home. She thought she was losing her mind. I said I have left my purse behind a number of times. Her daughter-in-law who is of course is younger says she has done it too. When I speak to my neighbor I find that her mind is very sharp. More so than mine sometimes.

Don't beat yourself up Peter. From what you post I think your mind works fine.

Dragonfly

[Pleeb]

Peace and Dragonfly, thank you so much for your sincere and valuable feedback!  I'm less worried about dementia now.  The other day I remembered when "dementia" first came up.  When I fell on my face for no reason (?), my nurse Practitioner sent me for an MRI (haven't had it yet).....and other tests to rule out dementia because I fell "for no reason," and I've always thought I have good balance.  Kinda embarrassed that I fell on my face (no injuries), and I had to get 2 people to help me up.

(I don't like change for no reason, even if positive......if I knew the reason, I could do the changes on a regular basis.)
Last night I did 99% of the things I've been putting off.....why?....maybe the Remeron was kicking in...or because I stopped worrying about dementia?


Giant coincidence:  my younger brother is in the cardiac ward at St. Mikes.  (easy to trip over the millions of machines and wires in the hall there!).....they can't find anything wrong.
He was helping another brother clean his evestrough, and he felt light headed etc etc..........at first he said "no ambulance" - then he changed his mind.

Anyway, he's in the cardiac to unit to rule out heart ailments.......they haven't found anything wrong with him the last I heard.  May even have been dehydration.

Peter  A little more next time.

[Pleeb]

Hi, Peace......Your reply didn't sink in at first.

My father, mother, aunt (mother's sister) all died of Alzheimer.  Father at 67, mother 88....aunt 80's.  I'm 71

But that doesn't mean I'll get it - I've always said that.  My older brother with prostate cancer MAY have it.....he's 77?


I'm so lucky to have long-lived parents and relatives!


Peter

[momfellinglost]

  I think that now it has been mentioned you are more aware of the times when you forget things. We all have them I used to remember names of people when I met them now if I don't write there name down I can't remember them two min later. Go into a room and can't remember why I went there. It can be scary to worry about such things. My father suffered from it but functioned on his own until his death. There are new and emerging meds as well they can to so much for people. But I think you are just focused on the things you get wrong. Being home all day I not only forget what day it is but sometimes the month too. Not going out to work can muddle those things. But doing any tests will help to give you peace of mind and even if they find something you can get ahead of it with meds and other things. Try not to worry too much.

[Pleeb]

mom, thanks for the advice!

Go into a room and can't remember why I went there.

  - I've read many times that there's a scientific explanation for this, and everyone does it.

I always say I got rid of most of my social phobia.  Maybe not remembering peoples' names or calling people by their name is the bit of social phobia I haven't gotten rid of.

Peter

[paulm]

Hello Peter. Sometimes I think that I'm losing my memory too. However my wife forgets things on about the same pace that I do so I figure it's just a symptom of getting older. In regards to going into a room and forgetting why I was there happens to me too (my wife also). I also tend to lose things , like the car in a big parking lot. I find that as I age I have to stop and fix in my mind where there car is otherwise I have no clue which part of the lot I left it in. Take Care. paul m

[Pleeb]

Paul, sure......that's not worryable.  (a word I just invented)

I've always been bad at names, and not calling people by their names.  I got rid of most of my social phobia over the years, but maybe that stuff is "residual" social phobia.

Peter