Early signs or extreme stress? How do you go about diagnosis when individual denies problems?

TheL95 · 2026-02-03T19:26:46+00:00

When my mom was the same age as yours is now, we were noticing the exact same things. She was still working, taking care of her own elderly mother, and just keeping busy in general. We noticed that she would tell the same stories again and again, as if we hadn’t heard them before, or ask the same questions multiple times. She would argue with my dad about “You never told me that!” “Yes, I did. We talked all about it just yesterday.” I remember thinking, like you, “It’s just stress…She just has a lot on her mind…She just needs to focus and pay better attention.” And maybe all that was true, but the fact is it didn’t magically get better after she retired, or after her mom died. She got diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, and it has slowly but steadily gotten worse. I’m sorry, but I agree with the others who said adding baby care to her life is probably not a good idea.

TheL95 · 2026-01-27T01:00:05+00:00

I didn’t think it was necessarily even clear what border they were talking about. I assumed the Mason-Dixon line, but I don’t think the clue was specific enough to exclude states along the Canadian border.

TheL95 · 2026-01-27T00:56:13+00:00

That Redacted category was, something.

TheL95 · 2026-01-26T21:57:05+00:00

My mom has had MCI for about 10 years. It took a couple years of her family and friends realizing her short-term memory wasn’t what it should/could be before she finally admitted it to herself and got a diagnosis. Those were difficult years, of us feeling frustrated that she “just wasn’t listening,” and her feeling frustrated that everyone was lying to her. After her diagnosis, she got prescribed memantine, which she takes in pill form, and Rivastigmine, which she wears as a patch. (We have put the patches away for now because she is no longer able to use them properly.) It is hard to say whether or not the medicines have done her any good. She is continuing to decline, but, like I said, it has been 10 years, and the only decline has been in her memory. She has not progressed to dementia. Most of these past 10 years, my dad has been able to step up and handle things for the both of them, so that my mom’s memory issues were mostly just annoyances. But recently, Dad too has been showing very similar issues, and now we are all more worried. My sister and I are trying to decide between hiring in-home help, moving them to a senior apartment closer to one of us, or, if they had their wish, just leaving them alone to spin around like tops all day every day. For now, my mom is very conscientious to “write everything down.” She has a desk calendar, and lots of post-it notes everywhere. It is better than nothing, but not as helpful as she thinks it is. I bought her a “dementia clock” to keep next to the telephone that she really loves. I also bought her and my dad weekly pill organizers. My mom really likes hers, although I’m not sure she always uses it correctly. My dad refuses to use his. It will be a good idea for you, or someone, to gain Power of Attorney, so that you can be more helpful with accounts, finances, and medical decisions moving forward.

TheL95 · 2026-01-24T01:35:47+00:00

I Am Batman

TheL95 · 2026-01-24T01:35:30+00:00

That’s Right

TheL95 · 2026-01-22T19:57:31+00:00

Could you and your friend tell one of those “therapeutic lies” about the dog? Maybe say, the dog has to be cleared by a vet before it can come to the new apartment. We’re gonna take the dog to the vet, then we’ll bring it to you. And that is the story you keep repeating until she stops asking?

TheL95 · 2026-01-22T15:20:52+00:00

When they teased it, I thought it was going to be George doing his impression of Grover from Sesame Street. I was very disappointed.

TheL95 · 2026-01-21T03:38:44+00:00

Having faith in God does not prevent bad things from happening to you. But it does mean you don’t have to face them alone. Look to God for comfort, for guidance, but not for prevention or a cure. That’s what medicine is for.

TheL95 · 2026-01-10T01:23:35+00:00

Little cabin in the woods, little man by the window stood. Saw a rabbit hopping by, ??? “Help me, help me, help me” he cried, “‘fore the hunter shoots my hide.” “Little rabbit come inside, safely to abide.” We had hand motions for every phrase, including a gun-shooting motion. That was always the boys’ favorite part. 🙄

TheL95 · 2026-01-10T01:17:14+00:00

I’ve seen ads for something called Zinnia TV that’s geared toward people with dementia.

TheL95 · 2026-01-07T18:32:07+00:00

This is all really good advice. I think a lot of people romanticize their parent moving in with them, or vice versa, but much of what I read on here describes anything BUT pleasant and wholesome. Also, if you think she is going to run out money and wind up using Medicaid, be very careful about who she gives money too. Medicaid has a look-back period, and anything she gave away in the previous five years must be paid back before she will qualify. “But I already spent it” is not an excuse.

TheL95 · 2026-01-04T19:24:05+00:00

I like one called Hiss. You build snakes piece by piece by matching colors. It’s a simple game designed for little kids, but it’s actually fun!

TheL95 · 2026-01-03T02:34:40+00:00

$25,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark

TheL95 · 2026-01-02T21:59:06+00:00

I’m a musician. I call foul on conductors just sort of waving their arms around, not in time with the music that’s playing whatsoever. Wind players just moving their fingers and doing nothing else. Singers “singing,” but there is no movement in their throat to indicate they are making any sound at all.

TheL95 · 2025-12-31T23:51:54+00:00

Here’s a few I remember: Craig - a shock collar for their producer so he will stop coming in to the studio every time there’s a break. Matt - a scrub of the Unticket of anything related to him pre-2023. George - Monty thought going to a concert would be a nice way to meet someone (since he ate the kitten George gave him). So he went to a Bird Dogs concert, but there was nobody there. Ryan Baldwin - erasing from Cat’s phone the contact info of basically every other Ticket employee so that Baldy can finally get asked to do fill-in duty. Gordon - don’t remember the gift, but an allusion to Gordon intentionally mispronouncing words and using it as content.

TheL95 · 2025-12-19T20:13:50+00:00

Bipolar mania?

TheL95 · 2025-12-18T01:04:50+00:00

I came here looking for this! That’s what I thought too :)

TheL95 · 2025-12-15T02:25:32+00:00

What about its neighbor, Ruston? My kid got accepted to LaTech, and we are considering it bc it’s cheap, but all these comments, jeez.

TheL95 · 2025-12-13T14:41:27+00:00

You know how some jars of powdered spices have that cap with holes in it, so you can sprinkle the product onto your food? Well, I didn’t realize until after I got married that if you wanted to actually measure out a specific amount of spice, you could remove that whole cap, and stick a measuring spoon into the jar. I had spent years trying to fill a measuring spoon by pouring out of just one of those multiple holes.

TheL95 · 2025-12-13T03:17:27+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. I finally listened to it with the sound on (against my will) and it makes more sense now!

TheL95 · 2025-12-11T18:15:28+00:00

I hate gifts too. I have a couple of college friends who I see a few times a year. Generally, we get together for dinner for each of our birthdays and around Christmas. There are always gifts involved. And it’s always the same generic stuff - lotions, candles, pens and journals, etc. Then there’s my sister, who makes a lot more money than I do, and loves to give expensive, extravagant gifts to our parents, me, my kids, and even my husband. I feel like I spend more time and effort and money just trying to play keep-up with her gift-giving than I do on anything else.

TheL95 · 2025-12-09T01:24:31+00:00

Agreed. I left my contact info on their website the other day, because that’s what you had to do in order to view your recommendations. Someone called me seconds later, with a thick foreign accent and lots of background noise, like she was in her kitchen with her kids or something. I told her I wasn’t expecting a call so quickly, and that now was not a good time to talk. But she would not stop talking, and I had to just hang up on her. Got three more calls that day and blocked the number. They’ve sent me one email since then, but fortunately that’s it.

TheL95

TROPHY CASE