Dementia self referal

But true

Not funny pompa

Poor mrs pompa.......!

Anya, I will when she sobers up !

.Merlot re driving with dementia. Dementia starts slowly and can progress in slowly. Often you will have had it for quite a while before others begin to notice and that first person to notice is likely to be your OH. Skills like operating a car will not be noticeably affected at first - more likely forgetting where you are driving to, or how to get there.
Pompa ask Mrs Pompa her opinion. See if she has noticed anything other than general forgetfulness. For example have you made arrangements to do something or go somewhere that you can't remember even when told about it?

Oops! I do that too, only usually, it's 'Get out of my way, you old fool.' Then I look in the mirror.

kitty Guilty here too!
Well, at least I don't swear!

DH makes me when he is behind a ditherer and he mutters 'Oh, come on, granddad!'

No, pompa, it's not the 'daft old gits' that I find scary on the roads. It's the youngsters with heavy right feet, with no consideration for the 'old dears' trying to cross the road. I know I am absent-minded, but - as my mother would have told you were she still with us - I always have been, even as a child!

pompa

Hope that you can get some reassurance from GP pompa - you can tell him your sense of humour is still intact!

"What concerns me the most is that I'm finding it increasingly difficult to cross the road."
That's because there are too many daft old gits like me driving.

What concerns me the most is that I'm finding it increasingly difficult to cross the road.

When I look at the oncoming traffic it takes me so long to judge the speed that there's no longer any time left to cross. When there are two directions to look it compounds the problem even more. When there are three or four I find it impossible, and usually step out into the road without checking. The harder I try to concentrate the more I forget. Another thing that's worrying is that if something appears just at the instant I decide to go, my reflex reaction is to dash for it rather than stop.

My DH voluntarily gave up driving at my insistence Merlot. I felt like you but the Psychiatrist we saw said he could drive so long as I was happy.Well I wasn't so I made the decision. He wasn't happy but has accepted it now.

pompa, please don't worry but let us know what you decide to do and the outcome if you go to the GP.

Am I the only one who's getting a bit worried by this thread? I didn't know people with dementia are still allowed to drive.

I hope you are fine, pompa but didn't we just have a thread about people thinking about whether or not they should be giving up their licenses?

I don't mean to sound uncaring.

You sound fine to me, pompa. I never know what date it is without checking the calendar, I often 'come to' when driving and haven't a clue where I am, usually because I was thinking about something else entirely. I have been forgetting words for things for years and years, in my case it's hormonal. You may well have a deficiency or it's down to medication.

Don't worry about the driving part, people with dementia are still allowed to drive. The ability to drive doesn't get forgotten, just where you are driving to. When I was going through a divorce I found myself driving back to old houses, old schools, all sorts of weird places when I should have been driving to work! Stress makes your brain do odd things.

But maybe you should get yourself checked out just to put your mind at rest, and maybe change your medication.

I think we all have memory lapses to varying degrees and things that you do regularly sometime leave you scratching your head and trying to remember. Burglar alarm code, PIN number, passwords, DS's alarm code so I can get into their house with the GC. I think that our brains get like the computer hard drive and are full of temporary files that need removing so that we can recall the important stuff.

I see your concern pompa - I have had very similar things happen to me....someone says that so-and-so lives in a particular village and I have to wrack my brains to think where it is, even though I have lived here 40 odd years!

I thinbk that a visit to the GP might provide you with reassurance that your problems are par for the course for someone in their late middle age. And do not go mugging up on the number of children the queen has or who the prime minister is before you go!!

Can you remember where you went on holiday last year and the year before? In a strange house or hotel do you know where the bathroom is in the middle of the night? These were two things first alerting me to my DH's problem.Also forgetting he had new clothes in the wardrobe and wanting to wear old familiars until they are wearing out. So many more and so many seem minor until living with it for 18 hours a day. An aquaintance took a lawn mower for repair and hasn't a clue where he took it.This is several months ago and his wife has visited or rung all likely locations with no joy.

Maybe I'm worrying unduly, I can always find the fridge. I can also remember my pin codes (more than one) and my many passwords, I also have to remember my DW's passwords.

An example of what concerns me is :-
DW was talking about a house in xxxx road, no way could I think where xxxx road was (we live in a village, so not too many roads). It turned out that xxxx road was only a few hundred yards from our lane and one that I often drive along and have know the name of for years.

My husband was also told something similar crafting, not putting the wrong thing in the fridge, but not knowing what the fridge is for!

I was told that dementia was not forgetting your PIN number but forgetting what a cash machine is for. I would strongly suggest you see a GP. We have had experience of dementia in the family recently and if medication would help, the sooner you get it the better and if there is nothing wrong you can stop worrying.

That's my point Ann60 so thanks for confirming my post, you do have to notify DVLA and your insurance provider if it's confirmed.

You are right nina My DH has Alzheimer's and had the brain scan showed vascular dementia he would not have prescribed medication.pompa the GP will put a raft of tests in place before referring you. My H had blood tests, an ECG and blood pressure tests to eliminate any possibilities before he was referred to the Memory clinic. And there is not an automatic driving ban although you do have to notify DVLA and your insurance providers. Good luck and go and reassure yourself.