Thread: just found out mum has dementia-anyone else have relatives with this?

The newer drugs don't stop it in it's tracks but they do seem to have a positive effect for a while at least, they certainly slow the degredation considerably, possibly giving several more years of good quality life, in the odds are that the disease will get the better of the drugs, when this occurs you may get a sudden drop in ability rather than the more gradual drop that seems to occur normally with dementia, however there are definately some good lines of research going on at teh moment and the current drugs may just keep someone going until newer better ones come along, there is some indication that stem cell reserch may give a cure or at least a permanent treatment that stops the degradation. I really hope so, best wishes to everyone who is either a sufferer or helping a sufferer of dementia it's a horrible condition which I pray that I won't ever get

I have a relative with a mental illness. It stemmed from a horrific experience they had & as the years passed they experienced more problems. I tried to care for them but they just wanted friendship, not to be fussed. It's really difficult but listen to what they want - even if you think they cannot cope on their own, let them do it if that is what they ask for.

I must admit that I became very stressed out & often thought "Why me? What have I done to deserve this?" Sometimes I wanted to move to another country to be away from it all but I couldn't bring myself to add to the pain.

I find it hard myself talking about the issue & for a whole year I wouldn't speak about it as I felt speaking would mean that I had to face the fact things were getting worse. My family relationships were strenuous before this happened but now I am boiling over with anger all the time. I feel like I am dealing with a child, a child I never wanted.

Sometimes I think you just have to take a step back & accept what is happening. Also, the person you loved may not be the same person anymore so you must learn to them what who they now are. My greatest regret was that in the early days I was not honest so I didn't have chance to ask important questions about what to do in the future.

I hope things get easier for you.:love:

Thankyou so much everyone. I've been doing some research on the illness to feel better prepared, and have bought mum loads of supplements to help keep her brain healthy which she really appreciated! I'm going down south to see her next week, so we can spend some much needed quality time together.

Lotsa love xxxx

there is a tv program on at the moment with following terry pratchett on his journey with alzheimers on channel 539 on sky. xxx