dementia and trouble regulating body temp?

Stori

It’s 78 degrees F outside at midnight and upper 90s in the day and my dad keeps turning the heat on. Is this part of dementia?

I’m trying to figure out if he’s struggling with using the thermostat or if he’s cold so I can help. He won’t talk to me about it. 

harshedbuzz

Stori-

While it is common for frail elders to feel colder than others under the same conditions, this kind of extreme could be a symptom of dementia.

Feeling cold is not uncommon in dementia. Being obsessed with and confused by a thermostat (especially a newer computer model) is pretty common, too. 

That said, there are some forms of dementia in which this symptom is striking even early on in the disease process. My dad had a form of alcohol-related dementia called Wernicke-Korsakoff's in which temperature regulation is striking because of the damage to the hypothalamus. He was also one to crank up the heater in July in coastal MD while the rest of us suffered. 

Circling back to your previous post in which you vent about stigma, you didn't mention your dad's diagnosis aside from "dementia". If your dad did have this specific dementia, it could explain why she is loath to disclose that to others. FWIW, I found taking dad to his memory center appointments very difficult because there was an edge of judgement from some of the medical professionals we encountered. They were best available in this medically well-served community for diagnosis but short on compassion when it came to care management. This probably doesn't apply, but if your mom was subject to such treatment, she may have come away feeling her husband's condition is shameful.


HB

SusanB-dil

Hi Stori - 

Cranking the thermostat is an issue with my mother-in-law (Alz and VascDem).  She would keep it stifling if she could.  One morning it was very hot in the house as she had cranked it to over 80.  Another morning, we couldn't hardly breathe and she had turned it to 'emergency heat', to where she even said it was 'warm'.  We had to put a cover over the thermostat - the plastic type you see in an office or school.  We (DH and I) told her it was for insurance purposes.  We do keep it just a bit warmer than we prefer, but at least we can breathe and not be stifling hot. Other than that, she usually wears long-sleeves, and we keep a nice, soft throw at her chair.  

HB and other posters, very wise, and one has suggested that you can check his hands to be sure he is comfortable.

harshedbuzz

Cobbling onto to SusanB-dil advice, you can also take dad's temperature to see if he's significantly lower than his previous normal. In the last months of dad's life his body temperature was 94-ish when taken orally.