Let’s share experiences on early symptoms of dementia
September 5, 2013 4 Comments
It’s been a while since I posted, mainly because I had several ideas and was not able to decide which one to pursue, but I’ve finally picked one idea to give a try, related to a major concern area I have: simple, effective ways to share experiences.
When I talk to caregivers, they often say they’d like to share their experiences, but don’t know how to. I’ve seen some Facebook forums that are excellent mutual support communities, but their contents are not visible to the public. Dedicated bulletin boards, too, are often private. What we also need are ways where caregivers can share publicly, even if they don’t want to reveal their identity.
So I’m trying my idea here to gather your experiences on one topic. If it works, I may repeat this for other topics.
I am inviting you, family members and friends of persons with dementia, to write a comment about some changed behavior shown by a person before he/ she was diagnosed with dementia. Perhaps this was something that made you contact a doctor. Or perhaps the behavior just felt odd, and it was only much later that you wondered whether that had been an early sign of dementia.
Add your comment to this blog post. It won’t take much time. Just describe an incident in a way such that someone reading your comment can picture it. So, instead of saying, “my mother’s behavior changed”, tell us something we can imagine, like: “My mother used to love socializing and also planning the menu for visitors. Then she stopped planning menus. She even began avoiding people. Maybe she had started facing dementia type of problems.”
I know many of you have hesitated sharing in some forums because of privacy concerns. Or you didn’t know an easy way to share. If so, posting a comment below may work for you, because you don’t have to give your real and full name; use a pseudonym or give part of your name or your initials. And your email id will not be visible when your comment goes live. Your privacy is ensured when your comment is visible.
So it’s over to you…
Please remember that every shared experience matters. The few minutes you take may help some other caregiver. It may help someone realize that the behavior they are seeing may need investigation.
Here’s all you need to do: Just scroll down a bit and you’ll find the place where you can leave a reply. Share any personal experience of changed behavior of a loved one before he/ she was diagnosed with dementia–the sort of behavior that, looking back, you think might have been an early warning sign of dementia. (And don’t worry about how well you write and all that, just write whatever comes from your heart 🙂 )
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