Know the difference is a book written as a reference for people dealing with dementia patients looking for more answers. All the research has been done for you.
Is your loved one showing signs of forgetfulness and are you wondering if is it old age or is it Dementia? Then look no further! learn to know the difference!
In the United States, 6.5 million Americans over the age of 65 live with the disease today. How do you know if it is not just old age? Learn the difference between old age forgetfulness and dementia.
- Natural Aging vs Dementia
- Stages of Dementia
- Treatment for Dementia
- Self Care for the caregiver
- What If Something Happened to the caregiver?
- Advance Care Planning
What is included in this pocket-sized reference book:
This book will be one of the most useful reference guidebooks for those looking for more information to help a person with dementia or learn to cope with everything around them. Present this pocket-sized book as a gift to someone you know who is looking for a reference book for dealing with dementia.
My Story
Do you know the difference between old age forgetfulness and Dementia? I didn’t. It had never crossed my mind to sit down and think about my aging parents and what tools and resources I needed to help them as they age. Since my childhood, I have seen both sides of my grandparent’s age and had normal old-age forgetfulness. With my busy life and family, I just didn’t think until it crept up on me. I felt so helpless and frustrated with the lack of knowledge I had.
My dad’s passing away took a great physical and mental toll on my mom. Her health started to go down. Her anxiety and depression doubled and she was seen crying and begging God to take her to my dad. No matter what we did, nothing worked to calm her down.
My Dad passing away
After my dad’s death, my mom sold the house, another shock for her, and moved in with my brother in a different state. She stayed there a few years and then decided to come and live with us. We hit it off instantly and she chose to stay here for the rest of her life. She stayed with us for 11 years. Those were the best bonding times for her and me. I loved and enjoyed every moment of those 11 years. Sure we had our ups and downs but we never let it last longer than a few minutes. We always brushed them off.
My mom was my role model with her strength, courage, patience, and dealing to smile in any situation she walked through. Very organized and a great mom and wife. Don’t let me forget a great cook too. When she started complaining about forgetfulness I thought “Oh she is getting old” it will be ok. It is just small minor things she is forgetting.
Old age forgetfulness
However, her complaints started to become very obvious and frequent. First, I brushed it off thinking she was overdoing it. She is trying to get my attention. However, her behavior was getting very odd. She started to hallucinate and tried many times to escape the house. I had to put chairs and boxes in front of the door every night to stop her. At this time I decided to get help and told her doctor about her condition and her behavior.
Dementia
The results came and it was then I learned dementia has sneaked into her brain and taken control. I felt like my whole world came crumbling down from all directions. How could this happen? My mom is my role model. It was very shocking for me when the realization hit me that my mom, the strong pillar of our family, was becoming like a small child. I decided to keep her at home and become her full-time caregiver. While I was learning about what dementia is and how to cope with it. My mom had a stroke which left her with more memory loss, her right side paralyzed, and slurred speech. As the days went by she lost the mobility to walk with a walker and started to have bladder incontinence.
She forgot who I was and started to believe I was a nurse and she was in the hospital. My mom forgot the years of her life she had spent with my dad. All she remembered was the time of her childhood. She would talk about her mom, dad, and her siblings. Every time I go sit with her, she would tell the same story like a broken record of her childhood over and over again with the same enthusiasm. Laughing at her own jokes. I would just sit there, listening and playing along like this is the first time I am hearing the story.
Forgetting: Growing to be a child
She loved her tea time with biscuits in the evening as she called it. One day I came to get the plates back. I heard her talking so I stood in the doorway and watched her playing tea with her imaginary friend. When she saw me she offered me make-believe tea to me. There was no point telling her nobody was there besides the two of us. It was real for her and just saying those words would have been devastating for her. We had a good time at the tea party.
Later on, her appetite decreased so much that she stopped drinking tea and eating full meals. Just snacks and fruits. She loved bananas. We shared lots of laughs and tears together. She passed away in December 2021. I love you and miss you, mom. You will always be in my heart.
Reason to write this book
I chose to write this book to spread knowledge, awareness, and understanding between old age forgetfulness and dementia. So people can take action early in the process of dementia and get help to delay memory loss. This is a reference book easy to grab in time of need. Instead of searching the internet for hours and hours or days and days. I know that is what I have done.
Response Magic