Dementia and Hobbies

 

Have heard of many people discussing patients, who forget their medication and it made me think about it seriously.

After getting the diagnosis of dementia and being put on medication, we are all told that we must remember to take our medication, and one way of doing that is to try to have a routine and stick to it.

That's all well and good when you have a good memory, but when you have a memory that does what it wants to, it causes problems to the owner.

I have a routine that I try to stick to on my own, but when things change this causes many problems especially when it comes to taking tablets.

I always take my tablets after straight breakfast, straight after lunch and then straight after tea. I say "straight" after for a good reason, because if anything disrupts me, I am in a mess, because I completely forget the tablets and carry on as if nothing had changed.

There have been times when this has happened at breakfast and then lunch, and then by tea time I realize that I have not had any tablets that day.

My wife used to get very upset with me, but then she realized that it was just the way things work, and she now checks to see if I have taken them. But like all careers, she has a hectic life and she can also forget when she is tired.

I also find it hard when using my inhalers, because I tend to forget at times which ones I have use, and no matter which way I do it, it still causes me grief.

Going on holiday can also cause problems to routines, because at home I always find it easier to shave after breakfast when I feel more awake. Where, when we are at a hotel I always feel that I should get a shave before showing my face outside the room.

The problem is that this then throws my routine out of line completely.

We can never win but we keep trying...