Is this a case of dementia in your opinion?

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Current Events » Is this a case of dementia in your opinion?
So my dad, who is 74 and is in regular health for his age (and is neither a drinker or a smoker) had something strange occur these past two mornings.

Even though he's been retired since 2012, he dreamed these past two nights that he had to go some work-related function. To him, the dreams seemed so real that yesterday morning he was actually getting ready to go to this non-existent function. As the morning went on he realized that it was just a dream and wasn't real.

This morning he woke up and thought the same thing for a little bit but very quickly realized it wasn't real after he woke up.

Other than these two things, he seems completely fine. I mean, he talks normally. He can hold and follow a conversation normally. He doesn't get any more confused than anyone else who is of that age who is aging normally. He drove somewhere today by himself and didn't get lost or disorientated. I talked to him for quite a while these past two days and he just doesn't sound like a person with dementia. We even went over an online dementia website that has a table of examples of "common aging symptoms" vs. "dementia symptoms". We went through a lot of the examples together and they were all pretty much in the "common aging symptoms" category.

I am still worried though.

Thanks for any insight and advice!
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Crono99 posted...
It could be anything, but my dad had something very similar at 76 and it turns out that it was hydrocephalus

It's the only form of dementia that's actually treatable

Thank you for the response! Is your dad OK btw?
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I don't believe that alone is anything too worrisome. Heck, I'm young and I've had at least two or three occurrences where I wake up from a dream and question for a moment if what I said or did during the dream was something that really happened. I think it's just part of being disoriented when you wake up. It's also been quite a long time since I graduated from school and still have dreams about needing to complete homework assignments and things of that nature. So in my unprofessional opinion, I think this is fairly normal.
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VideoboysaysCube posted...
I don't believe that alone is anything too worrisome. Heck, I'm young and I've had at least two or three occurrences where I wake up from a dream and question for a moment if what I said or did during the dream was something that really happened. I think it's just part of being disoriented when you wake up. It's also been quite a long time since I graduated from school and still have dreams about needing to complete homework assignments and things of that nature. So in my unprofessional opinion, I think this is fairly normal.

Thank you for the response. :)
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I doubt anything is wrong with him, and I doubt this is applicable in your instance, but UTIs can manifest symptoms in strange ways in older adults. Can make they act out really strangely.
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I'm 71 and worry about dementia and I have dreamed about work related things that when I wake up I'm foggy for a few minutes.

It's nice you are concerned and working with your dad. Good luck to you both.
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Sounds like he's bored. Just dreaming of better times.
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I don't know anything about dementia but that just sounds like weird dreams? You've never had a dream where you're back in school and about to miss an important deadline or something? It's a pretty common experience
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Bass posted...
I doubt anything is wrong with him, and I doubt this is applicable in your instance, but UTIs can manifest symptoms in strange ways in older adults. Can make they act out really strangely.

Thank you. What are UTIs btw?

SweetNut_Farm posted...
I'm 71 and worry about dementia and I have dreamed about work related things that when I wake up I'm foggy for a few minutes.

It's nice you are concerned and working with your dad. Good luck to you both.

Thank you Sweet! 71 and still a gamer? Respect. That's what I'm gonna be doing at 71 (if I'm lucky enough to live that long lol).

008Zulu posted...
Sounds like he's bored. Just dreaming of better times.

Hmmm, I will ask him about that (if he's just bored).

MC_BatCommander posted...
I don't know anything about dementia but that just sounds like weird dreams? You've never had a dream where you're back in school and about to miss an important deadline or something? It's a pretty common experience

I actually have dreams about that a lot!
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Crono99 posted...
He's fine, the diamox stabilized his condition. He has trouble walking now because the hydrocephalus got worse before it was caught but at least it's not deteriorating

I'm sorry to hear about him having trouble walking but I'm also glad to hear that he's OK!
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VideoboysaysCube posted...
I don't believe that alone is anything too worrisome. Heck, I'm young and I've had at least two or three occurrences where I wake up from a dream and question for a moment if what I said or did during the dream was something that really happened. I think it's just part of being disoriented when you wake up. It's also been quite a long time since I graduated from school and still have dreams about needing to complete homework assignments and things of that nature. So in my unprofessional opinion, I think this is fairly normal.

This. It's a strange problem if you have really vivid and realistic dreams (that you remember). It harmless though.
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I see. Thanks for the response.

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nah, probably not. I have dreams like that every now and then about high school, and I'll wake up stressing about a paper or homework, but I've been out of school for over a decade lol.

my grandma has dementia right now, the early signs a few years ago were her asking or saying the same things repeatedly. at first, she'd kinda just get "stuck" on one thing, like a question or topic. so she'd be talking/conversing like her usual self, then randomly would ask/bring up the same thing over and over.
as time went on, it got worse by asking/bringing up the same thing more often each time.
that was a while ago, and now it's very bad in comparison, I sincerely hope your dad or anyone you know doesn't have to experience it in any way.
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Update: he drove yesterday and was just fine. Didn't get lost or anything. Two hours ago I recommended he try a memory picture matching game at https://www.memozor.com/memory-games/for-seniors-or-elderly/nature-gifs and for a game he hasn't played in forever, he did OK the first try. The second try though, he crushed it.

BucketCat posted...
my grandma has dementia right now, the early signs a few years ago were her asking or saying the same things repeatedly. at first, she'd kinda just get "stuck" on one thing, like a question or topic. so she'd be talking/conversing like her usual self, then randomly would ask/bring up the same thing over and over.
as time went on, it got worse by asking/bringing up the same thing more often each time.
that was a while ago, and now it's very bad in comparison, I sincerely hope your dad or anyone you know doesn't have to experience it in any way.

I'm very sorry to hear about your grandma. Sincerely!
I think The Simpsons is still awesome and I'm not afraid to say it.
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VideoboysaysCube posted...
I don't believe that alone is anything too worrisome. Heck, I'm young and I've had at least two or three occurrences where I wake up from a dream and question for a moment if what I said or did during the dream was something that really happened.

BucketCat posted...
nah, probably not. I have dreams like that every now and then about high school, and I'll wake up stressing about a paper or homework, but I've been out of school for over a decade lol.

I can vouch for both of these.

Also even when an older person does have a genuine moment of forgetfulness, that isn't necessarily a sign of dementia. It's a sign of an aging brain. They call them "senior moments" for a reason after all. When it becomes routine and starts going beyond that, like they start forgetting where the bowls are kept (the same place they've been for the last 40 years) or their children's names that you should consider getting them looked at.

I watched this happen with my grandmother. You get to know the signs.
I freak out every time my mother has a moment (age 70) because there's a good chance we are genetically disposed toward dementia. Said grandmother was one of eight children and four of them - including her - developed it. There's coincidence, and then there's that.
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Dark_Arbron posted...
I freak out every time my mother has a moment (age 70) because there's a good chance we are genetically disposed toward dementia. Said grandmother was one of eight children and four of them - including her - developed it. There's coincidence, and then there's that.

If it makes you feel any better, I read the other day that dementia isn't hereditary (contrary to popular belief).

I'm very, very sorry your grandmother went through that though my friend.
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while there are actual doctors who post on CE, i do not think any of them specialize in this sort of thing.

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That on its own doesn't seem too worrying, but you should definitely get to a doctor. There's heaps of symptoms that go unnoticed by us layman
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Naysaspace posted...
while there are actual doctors who post on CE, i do not think any of them specialize in this sort of thing.

Ah, I see.

xGhostchantx posted...
That on its own doesn't seem too worrying, but you should definitely get to a doctor. There's heaps of symptoms that go unnoticed by us layman

He has his yearly physical coming up soon.
I think The Simpsons is still awesome and I'm not afraid to say it.
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Update: this morning he woke up normally. He didn't have any urge to go to some event that doesn't exist. He drove again today for errands and he drove fine.
I think The Simpsons is still awesome and I'm not afraid to say it.
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My mom had recurring problems with urinary tractor infections for the last six years of her life and she had delusions very similar to that. I remember one day, she was absolutely determined that there was a boy in her room, and he jumped into the dirty clothes bin right before I came in. She 100% thought it was real.

It wasn't consistent. Very random. Also, UTIs could also cause her to absolutely rage at her doctors, so definitely watch for random mood swings.
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PurpleOutsider posted...
My mom had recurring problems with urinary tractor infections for the last six years of her life and she had delusions very similar to that. I remember one day, she was absolutely determined that there was a boy in her room, and he jumped into the dirty clothes bin right before I came in. She 100% thought it was real.

It wasn't consistent. Very random. Also, UTIs could also cause her to absolutely rage at her doctors, so definitely watch for random mood swings.

May your mom RIP. *hug* So she just had UTI's but never dementia?
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Probably not- Ive had dreams spill over into real life
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That on it's own sounds a lot more like something stress related, but you can't really be sure unless you take him to a doctor.

It doesn't sound like it much on it's own, but you might wanna keep an eye on him and take him to a doctor if it gets any worse.

My dad had dementia and it can get really rough. He died of covid before it got bad, but he did got to the point where he would lock people outside right after talking them, forget some less important stuff, and so on. It wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't pleasant either.

I hope you don't have to go through that with your father TC.
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I'd also go one step further and get him to take a sleep study as well. A couple years ago I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Sleep Apnea can affect your memory and leave you confused if your not getting enough sleep during the night. I would go to bed at 12, and even by 9 I only actually slept 1/2 hr, so I was constantly forgetting things, getting confused. Yes, most of the time it has to do with weight, but there are cases where skinny people just don't sleep properly, and when you don't get enough REM sleep, your mind starts to play tricks on you.
DDP886 posted...
Probably not- Ive had dreams spill over into real life

Would you mind elaborating on what happened during these incidents?

itachi15243 posted...
That on it's own sounds a lot more like something stress related, but you can't really be sure unless you take him to a doctor.

It doesn't sound like it much on it's own, but you might wanna keep an eye on him and take him to a doctor if it gets any worse.

My dad had dementia and it can get really rough. He died of covid before it got bad, but he did got to the point where he would lock people outside right after talking them, forget some less important stuff, and so on. It wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't pleasant either.

I hope you don't have to go through that with your father TC.

I'm sorry your dad went through that. And I'm sorry your dad died of Covid. Heart goes out to you man. May he RIP.

Ivany2008 posted...
I'd also go one step further and get him to take a sleep study as well. A couple years ago I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Sleep Apnea can affect your memory and leave you confused if your not getting enough sleep during the night. I would go to bed at 12, and even by 9 I only actually slept 1/2 hr, so I was constantly forgetting things, getting confused. Yes, most of the time it has to do with weight, but there are cases where skinny people just don't sleep properly, and when you don't get enough REM sleep, your mind starts to play tricks on you.

I didn't even consider sleep apnea. This is very valuable info to me. Thank you.
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The_Sock posted...
May your mom RIP. *hug* So she just had UTI's but never dementia?
No dementia. My dad had it in his 40s, but not her. She did have sleep apnea and insomnia as well.
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PurpleOutsider posted...
No dementia. My dad had it in his 40s, but not her. She did have sleep apnea and insomnia as well.

Your dad had it in his 40's?! Man, I'm sorry my friend. Can't even imagine how hard that must've been on you.
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