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Share your Story with the Alzheimer’s Association
The Alzheimer's Association is dedicated to ensuring that everyone facing Alzheimer's or another dementia is able to access a timely diagnosis, available treatment options and quality care throughout their journey. To better understand the barriers people currently face, we are looking for people to share their experience…
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Moved: ALZConnected Q&A Thread
This discussion has been moved.
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MCI-- treatment with Lecanemab or Donanemab
This is my first post. I am a caregiver for my DW who was recently diagnosed with MCI with an APOE 3/4. We will be having an important discussion soon with a neurologist who is going to present us with the two possible treatment options of either Lecanamab or Donanemab; but we are quite fearful of the possible negative…
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What tests did they use to diagnose your loved on with Alzheimer's Disease?
My mother is currently in the processed of being diagnosed. The doctor is doing a few blood tests to rule out reversable causes for the cognitive difficulties but otherwise says no tests are needed besides a brief cognitive measure (MOCA) to diagnose Alzheimer's. What was your experience like? Did they do more testing or…
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What made you decide to place your LO in a SNF?
Hi, We don’t have money for MC or help at home. In fact, I stopped working early, depleted my savings and retirement, and my oldest son has been living with us and paying the bills for two years. Those might be enough reasons to place my partner in SNF—so I can work and my son can move on with his life. What brought me to…
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Navigating Senior Care/Nursing home/Memory Care
Hey again! I am overwhelmed with all the the things involving how to pay for my moms care when she will need a nursing home or assisted living or memory care. I am trying to find all the differences and which one fits her needs. But not now. She is ok for now. I just know I need to make a plan before she needs it. We have…
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Brand new. Need help.
I can't get my DW to go to a doctor, much less to get a diagnosis. She refuses to talk about the possibility of her getting D. It runs in her family. She is very functional but showing personality and memory changes over the last several years. How do I trick her into going to a doctor then getting the doctor to perform…
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Stopped Memantine
Hey everyone! So I just wanted to share a bit of my journey with my Mom with Dementia. We were giving her Memantine and the whole time she was on it she was having vivid dreams that woke her up and made her really upset in the mornings. We consulted our doctor and we stopped taking it. There have been fewer wake ups and no…
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Anger Issues
My sister was diagnosed with dementia in April of 2024. She has recently become very angry with her daughter and myself. It seems that whatever we do it is not right. She doesn’t give us a chance to explain when she misunderstands what the conversation is about. She continues to talk over you and says we don’t hear or…
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Lost Keys
Where does everyone store their extra keys? I’m trying to figure out a place where my husband can’t access it. My husband lost a key to our back room. In looking for the lost key he went through the box where we keep our spare keys. He didn’t know what the keys were for, even though they were marked, so he threw most of…
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Decline in verbal ability?
My Dad is 89 and in stage 5/6 of mixed Alz/vascular dementia. He lives in a MC facility and has been on hospice for almost three months. He seems relatively stable except for mostly one thing: his verbal abilities are declining quite a bit. He has gone from mostly full sentences with some word finding difficulties where we…
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Journal
I have never journal before. I thought I would start. I am thinking it will give me a way to get my thoughts out. Does anyone else do this?
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Alzheimer's & Alcoholism
My grandmother is a functioning alcoholic & just got diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She refused to have the all day testing done because she would rather sit at home and drink & she hasn't been deemed incompetent to make her own medical decisions so we can't make her do anything she doesn't want to do but they were able to…
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Testing for type of Alzheimmer's
My wife's primary care doctor asked if I wanted my wife to be tested to see what kind of Alzheimer's/Dementia she has. I decided not to have her tested because of the stress she would endure taking the test. The way I see it, and I told the doctor this, is that doesn't really matter 1hat kind it is. There's no cure so what…
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Is "Guilt" the correct word for what we sometimes feel
Here's an interesting article from the World Economic Forum , oddly , on Guilt. Well, no one caused our loved one's dementia and it's not a "moral" standards issue. It seems what we may be feeling is , quoting , "Those who have high levels of empathy or care a lot about social relationships may be more prone to feeling…
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Angery Mother
I’m having major problems with my mom. Within the last four weeks if she doesn’t get her way, she will call me names not the nice ones either. I also moved in with her two years ago when she was first diagnosed with dementia she will also tell me that I need to move out. If she’s not getting her way. We have an appointment…
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US SSA does not recognize POA
This may be well known to most of you, but it was news to me only a few days ago. Social Security agents could not talk to me about my dad’s benefits, since SSA does not accept DPOA. I had to apply directly to the SSA to be a “representative payee.” It would have helped if I had known that term! The process was not that…
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Issues editing comments
@ALZCModerator6 Anyone else having issues editing comments they’ve posted? I select edit on my comment. The box comes up. However when I start to type my edit, the box disappears. My user name on my comment changes to ‘member’ and my verbiage is gone. If I cancel out of the edit, my original comment is still just as it…
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Baby Monitor, LifeAlert type necklace, or other option best for Mom with Alzheimer’s?
Short version of our situation: my sister, brother and I are caregivers for my Mom. She’s 7 years in now (4 years since official diagnosis). We live split across a duplex, and there’s usually at least one of us on call. We had been able to leave her by herself for a couple hours if necessary, but that may be changing. I…
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From The Philadelphia Inquirer: Being Mom's Caregiver is Hard...
Surviving caregiving in a sibling group. HB
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Refusing Treatment
My DW has moderate-to-advanced AD. I am her caregiver and managing without help thus far. DW has arthritis in her thumbs and frequently suffers from strained muscles in her lower back. We have seen specialists for both problems. The doctor's instructions were to use diclofenac sodium gel for the thumbs and lidocaine…
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In case of an emergency to caregivers
what can I get in case something should happen to me , caregiver, when with my wife alone and she needs to get in touch with 911? It needs to be the simplest thing to use , remembering to dial or 911 is not an option. Any thoughts as every second of delay could be life threatening
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Moving mom this week
I am moving my mom to memory care this week and it is causing an extreme amount of anxiety. She lives with my brother who does not give her the care she needs and who is not on board with this decision at all. I cannot take care of her full time so although she is at about a 2 (I would say 3) caregiving level, I have…
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Dementia Report
A bit lengthy, but there is some good information in this report (via Michael Ellenbogen). https://milkeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/2025-08/report-mind-the-gap-investing-in-dementia.pdf
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Stairs
We live in a ranch home on a hill. My husband has FTD and is getting unsteady on his feet. We have to climb a set of stairs no matter which way we enter the home. The most gradual incline is from the driveway to the back porch and in through the kitchen. However the patio is made of large stones, two levels, uneven and…
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Sleeping ALL Day-88-year old Mom
I’m new to this group. This summer I’ve seen my Mom deteriorate. She wandered outside, which was a first, and the last few weeks there have been occasions where she has not recognized me. She also frequently asks to go “home,” even though she lives at home. Now I’m seeing her sleep A LOT and she appears more frail. She’s…
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How do I place my wife in a memory care facility?
Terri is at stage five now and declining. I'm ready for us to go into a facility where I can leave when I need to and know that she's going to taken care of. But I need the facility to stop her from leaving when I'm not there and I'm not sure about the law around that. Do I need to acquire guardianship? Or something else?…
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GUIDE Program - Experiences?
Good day, I am the caregiver for someone with Alzheimer's. My LO's care provider has enrolled her in the Medicare GUIDE program, which is supposed to provide intensive case management to individuals with dementia who reside at home. Does anyone have experience with this program? Can you share what the program has done for…
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Where has my husband gone? Loss…
I find myself asking that question often. He’s here physically, but he is not the man that he was when I married him. I feel so sad today. Yet it doesn’t bother him as much since he doesn’t even realize how much he’s changed. he’s inside the grocery store while I’m waiting in the car because I just don’t have the patience…
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Overwhelmed
My husband recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's (63) and caring for aging parents. I am feeling very overwhelmed and sad and just all the feelings. I am really glad I found this group. I feel like I need somewhere to go to talk about what's happening and this seems like a safe place. I've already read some of…
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Becoming a personal care surrogate
Hi! I am brand new to this group and so appreciate the networking with others who are navigating the care of a parent with Alzheimer’s. I’ve been trying to be proactive about this. My brother and I hired an elder law attorney. We established power of attorney for my brother and Healthcare proxy for both. He and I work…
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Evacuating in an Emergency
Greetings. When the Guadalupe River recently flooded, the police ordered everyone on my street to evacuate. It was a very scary experience. Here are some lessons I learned: It could happen to anyone at anytime Follow the directives of the authorities Be calm and be firm with your PWD Know where to go and how to get there…