Dementia Support Group

Hi all, I am Daisy. I found this forum while searching for personal experiences and more info on memory loss. I am forty and last summer started having memory problems that were just bothersome every now and then. Then it has continued since then to deteriorate more and more every day. I am scared I will go to bed and wake up and not know who I am. Besides this the only other medical problem I have is my back(degenerative discs and spinal stenosis) and also I have had mysterious illness since last march that makes me nausous and weak all the time. Doctors havent been able to find any medical reasons for the memory issues and dont seem to bothered by it. I on the other hand cant even have a simple conversation with someone with out losing my thoughts. Its getting worse so fast. Does anyone here know of dementia in someone else so young as forty? I look forward to participating in this forum.

I have heard of dementia in someone as young as you, but more often I hear of symptoms like memory loss that turn out to be related to something else (fibro and Lyme are often culprits, but we have had even extreme "dementia" that turned out to be extremely bad migraines). It is a bit of a mystery to doctors if nothing shows up on their tests what could be causing it, and often they think if nothing shows up in a brain scan (MRI or CT) than it must not be too severe. If you are the patient having it though it certainly feels bad.

Im not alone?!!! I will be 44 thursday, june 23rd and I am getting worse and worse by the minute! I dont even want to go into the thousands of things that are happening to my mind. I can soooo relate to being in the middle of a conversation and going completely blank. It used to happen here and there, now it is almost EVERY freakin conversation I have! Thank God I have good friends who understand and they pay attention so when that blank spot happens they can give me a word or phrase, something to remind me what I was talking about. But like I said now it is negatively affecting almost EVERY area of my life!! Forgeting how to do normal simple every day tasks!

Ok, like I said I just dont feel like talking about it, but yes, I am terified and worse I keep hurting peoples feelings. Heck I will probably get a reply to THIS later tonight or tomorrow and I will read this that I am typing now and most possibly wont even remember writing this! I have been sober for a very long time, but this keeps reminding me of my blackouts. I was a blackout drinker and every day would see things I wrote, did, people telling me what I said or did. It is the same!!! OMG!~!!

Anyway, I just was so happy but not in a good way but i guess relieved to see someone else as young as me entering dementia.

I have lots of possible reasons, but most likely because last July my brother beat me in the head with his huge fists for over an hour with NO stop!! Constant and repeated blows to my head. Also I have COPD and my coughs are sooo deep that several times a day every day when I have a coughing fit, it literally tries to pass me out but I fight it and during that time I am not getting oxygen to the brain. So who knows. I am just starting with a Nuero psyc doc she seems really great. I have to be patient (NOT a quality I own!!) and go from test to test till we really figure this thing out.

But for some reason Lyme keeps coming up???? I never thought about it but I did have a tick in my stomache like 10 years ago that I burned out but the head broke off and is still in there. But I never had any rash or any problem in that area so I didnt worry about it and I am really sure thats not it. I also read and read about fibro and lyme and all that stuff, none of it fits me. I just dont identify with any of the symptoms. Me I have specific illnesses, nothing mysterious.

ok, i as always went on and on. hubby calls me Mrs. Blabber Britchess LOL

Peace and Love,

Allison

Allison, Happy Birthday!

Thanks for responding. I had forgotten I wrote this message. I know exactly what you mean when you talked about....cant remember....Ive had to look back at your message so many times...I wanted to respond back but I cant keep looking back...this is getting hopeless...I try again...nope...take care.

I am so glad I posted! I know EXACTLY what you just went through. I keep notebooks, all for different things. I have one for internet and what I do is when replying to someone's post or whatever, emails anything, I will as I read write on my notepad things I want to coment on and usually the exact coment I want to make to the exact coment that was written. OMG! did that make any freakin sense at all? Just jog down notes so you will be able to just look at your notes and not keep scrolling up and down.

Hope it works for you.

I am tiired and cant go on. so night!

hope to hear from you in the morning!

Allison

yes that made sense...and that is a great idea...ill try to remember that...hehehehe...just joking...i got me a notepad right here...thanks for the idea...good night.

I am so glad that you two found each other! If the Lyme symptoms don't fit then I don't think it is neccesarily something to worry about (especially in your case since you have so many more obvious causes...like being hit in the head for an hour). It is just one of those weird things that can happen for people who can't come up with any possible cause and their tests are not helping them find it.

Hi there! I have a moment of feeling "ok" so thought I would grab this fleating moment to write more here. I am terrified because my memory is worse an worse every day every minute! But I am just gonna try to live in each moment and not worry about it. The few people in my life that matter most totally understand and do not take ANYTHING personal! they also are terrific because they pay close attention to me even when I am manicly rambling on and on at fast speads like I have always done my whole life. But these special friends pay attention so when that huge blank spot happens, they are often able to throw to me a word or phrase something to remind me where I was, and it works most of the time!!

Now for the notebooks! I have always, even before this, have always kept one notebook that I called "my brain" I wrote absolutely everything in it and apts. I would write both in the "brain" and on my little calandar and on the wall hanging calandar.

Somehow I now have 2 active "brains!!" well three, but will get to that in a minute.

I cant keep up with my writings and my hand writing is almost impossible to read, always been, but much worse now. Ok, so here is my list of notebooks, of course I have my "brain (s)" book (s), then I have my TV Log book. I have basic cable now but I can not stand not knowing what is on all day long. When I had digital every morning I would go through the guide and click on every single show from time I wake till midnight and all day the tv would automatically change to my next show. Well now every morning with my coffee and cig I sit down here, I have a tv log thingy web page. I will open a new page in the tv log book and write down everything that is on from the time I am starting till midnight. I write the times channels and whats on.

and like I said I have my internet log, that keeps my screen names and passwords to new sites ect., web sites I wanna check out, see something on tv write down the web address, blah blah, you get the picture.

Well I now realize I need to get a new notebook for all medical info.

ok, i am tired.

Peace and Love!!!

Allison

Thanks Allison for the notebook idea...my desk and computer can only hold so many post it notes...lol Good thing they dont have limits on how many time you can change your email pass word Take care and rest...Adele

Wow, you are young. I "thought" I was young at 59. I was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment on June 2nd. I am a complete wreck. Lose things, forget things, get lost, can't think of a word, it just gets worse and quickly.

Now I am starting to be a danger to my pets. The other day my (2) Aussies followed me into the shed. I didn't even pay attention to them. I shut the door and proceeded to go into my pool for three hours. the temp went over 110 degrees. I feel so, awful. They could have died. I will never forgive myself.

I am taking Arecept and Namenda. My Dad, who passed last year had Stage 7 Alzheimer's. So I am told it is a genetic thing. Just remember we are all in this together. If you need to vent or just talk, I am here for you.

Weezie3318, Sarasota, Florida