I have such a poor memory.

balletshoes

aliasojo wrote: »

I sometimes call my daughter by the dog's name. Not deliberately you understand.

I never used to be as bad. I think I need to take vitamins or cod liver oil or something.

bless you Aliasojo - my mum, for years, has shouted for her grandchildren by calling out the list of them all until she gets to the right one (it doesn't matter whether its a girl or boy sometimes either - both grandsons and granddaughters names get called out :rotfl::rotfl:).

I'm sure it will come to us all.

Amber_Sunshine

aliasojo wrote: »

I'm sorry if it offends you or anyone else.

We have strong Alzheimer's running in our family, several members have it/have had it. I'm well aware of what it means to be diagnosed with it. I'm in my late 40's, I show signs that could just be forgetfulness or could well be the start of something more. My Father was ill most of my life.

Thankfully, my sense of humour is intact.

As I said, I apologise if anyone is offended, but might I suggest offence can be felt by being overly sensitive also?

The stories are funny, but they're about memory loss, NOT Alzheimers, which is so far from being funny.

I've had a hellish year watching my mother's personality disintegrate, and I'm well aware there could be many more ahead, so I don't think I'm being overly sensitive in finding the jokes about Alzheimers inappropriate.

aliasojo

Amber_Sunshine wrote: »

I've had a hellish year watching my mother's personality disintegrate, and I'm well aware there could be many more ahead, so I don't think I'm being overly sensitive in finding the jokes about Alzheimers inappropriate.

I'm truly sorry about your troubles. It's indeed unpleasant to see such a drastic change happen to a loved one.

As you can see, other people affected by Alzheimer's can also have a different view to this thread so clearly it's a 'personal interpretation' situation and not a 'right or wrong' one.

Edit: With hindsight I can see that people may have clicked on the thread expecting a serious discussion and were not expecting to see light hearted banter about it all. I have therefore changed the thread title to warn people who may feel upset upon opening the thread to find jokey remarks about the subject. Hopefully it will help them take steps to avoid feeling offended.

Emmzi

aliasojo wrote: »

Edit: With hindsight I can see that people may have clicked on the thread expecting a serious discussion and were not expecting to see light hearted banter about it all. I have therefore changed the thread title to warn people who may feel upset upon opening the thread to find jokey remarks about the subject. Hopefully it will help them take steps to avoid feeling offended.

Jojo, with all respect, your thread now reads is if there is soething wrong with you if you are offended so stay away! The appropriate action to help people stop feeling offended is, erm, not to be offensive? I know it was not your intention AT ALL as reading your other posts you don't have a bad bone in your body!

You as much as any of us here have down days when things trigger you into feeling bad. Imagine you are on a stressy day. You're not going to just laugh it off!

A title like "now, where did I put my memory again.." would be humorous...

Illness jokes to me are like racist jokes, gender jokes, etc. I await the "it's PC gone mad" brigade jumping up and down, but there is nothing wrong with kindness to all.

aliasojo

Oh Emmzi I didn't mean that either. Looks like I'm going to end up offending someone no matter what.

Will go change the title again........

Lirin

I've watched many people I love disappear gradually with Alzheimers. I still think though, that a little black humour can help. You need the ability to laugh at bad/desperate situations at times- it is the only way of handling it. I loved Terry Pratchett's books for years, and was saddened when he was diagnosed- yet he is very often in the media laughing and joking about it. It makes it less of a taboo subject, and more approachable.

If everything's taken on a serious level all the time- the pressure to live would be immense. But I can appreciate as well a bad joke/title whatever could be a potential trigger for some poeple, depending on their experiences and situation.

That said- baby brain or not, my memory is terrible! I have forgotten I'm married, and have sat in the doc's surgery while the midwife is calling out 'Mrs >>>>>>'. I have searched for my car keys, to realise I'm holding them. I've went to the shop specifically for one thing, and forgotten what it was the minute I step through the door.....

lostinrates

Lirin wrote: »

I've watched many people I love disappear gradually with Alzheimers. I still think though, that a little black humour can help. You need the ability to laugh at bad/desperate situations at times- it is the only way of handling it....

oh I agree with this so much. My grandmother even posessed the ability to laugh at herself much of the time. Tragically her daughter now has early onset Alsheimers. Laughter is missing in their house, instead its a;ll being taken very, very seriously, and IMO, its making it so much harder than it was with our grandmother.


fwiw, I have memory problems, (not any form of dementia or Alzheimers) and I really find the only way to cope is to laugh long and hard.


And then there was the time I sent my German Jewish cousin to see The Producers in the West End.....she looked shell chocked for a few days, and then on the fifth day started to laugh.

We all cope differently though I guess, fwiw I wasn't offended, but I think aliasojo was considerate to change the title.

patchwork_cat

I have been married for 23 years, more than half my life, but my Dr has this new automated reception where you are asked to put in the first letter of surname I put an M which is my maiden name instead of an S! I also gave out my old phone number when we haven't lived there for 9 years. I frequently forget the names of words and sometimes I am seriously concerned, but as it has been the same level of forgetting words for about 10 years I don't think it is a sign of anything other than distraction. I do still worry though.

Having said that my stepfather would go through everybody's names including the cat before getting the right one and my mum had been known to leave her reading glasses in the fridge.

dibuzz

I feel so much better after reading this although I'm not sure why people are being offended, I can't see anything offensive anywhere.
I have got to the stage where I have to put a reminder on my phone for everything and even have different alarms set so I don't forget to get any of the kids up on time.
My eldest never missed a single day of college or uni until his last year when I just completely forgot about him and it was only when I took washing into his room and noticed he was still in bed that I remembered I should have got him up 2 hours earlier.
I have also taken my youngest 2 to the hospital a week early then had to tell school they had another appointment the next week.
A few times I've forgotten if I've had breakfast or not

Emmzi

aliasojo wrote: »

Oh Emmzi I didn't mean that either. Looks like I'm going to end up offending someone no matter what.

Will go change the title again........

It's difficult, isn't it!

I knew you were a kind soul, so many posters would have told me to get lost!

Thank you jojo - I hope you get less stressed soon and your memory comes back as bit!

xx