Discussing dementia with a PWD

dancsfo

A relative of the PWD is a caregiver for her husband who has dementia. PWD asks how they are doing, and I stated what's going on, and the PWD was sad, saying the caregiver must be under so much stress, not knowing how it will progress, etc. — all true things that we know of.

But given anosognosia, there's no realization that the same thing is occurring to oneself. What I found fascinating was there was so much understanding of what the disease can do, and also lack of self-awareness due to anosognosia. There is, at times, acknowledgement of cognitive problems such as not knowing where things are stored, but it's not full awareness of the disease. It's usually described as forgetfulness as part of aging. There may have been some curiosity about the disease earlier on, and PWD remembered about it.

Given the PWD asks about the relative often, I'm tempted to provide some therapeutic fibs ("there's doing fine") to avoid the sadness. We had a video call with the relative, and we discussed the challenges, but it's pretty much all forgotten.

SusanB-dil

All I can think of is... 'Wow!'

You just never know the line of thought.

ARIL

A few years ago my stepmother (then about stage 5) asked about a family friend. I said his wife had Alzheimer’s disease and he was caring for her at home. Stepmom burst into tears and went on at some length about how awful that disease is and how hard it must be for the husband. At the same time she was fully in the throes of the disease herself, and I was trying hard and unsuccessfully to get her family to realize it. Then within a few minutes she asked about the family friend again. I said, “He’s OK.” It was a very strange conversation.