Published on 12, July, 2020
I find i worry all the time, mostly about the future and my own health. I suffer badly from health anxiety. But I've got GAD and it causes me to worry chronically about most things.
Lately I've become increasingly worried about my mum. She's in her mid fifties and her memory is very bad. I went in to town with my mum a week ago and she couldn't remember which way it was to get to certain shops.
And earlier in the year she took me to the doctor's but she doesn't remember even going and can't remember the doctor's name or anything.
My Gran, her Mum had Alzheimer's disease and I'm terrified that my Mum now has it. I don't know what to do, whether I should say anything or if I'm overthinking it.
I love my Mum so much and I'm terrified of her getting sick or worse than that.
A few years ago I was detained for mental health reasons and it was after this when I first noticed her memory wasn't quite so good and she can be distant.
I feel responsible.
Kay said:A few years ago I was detained for mental health reasons and it was after this when I first noticed her memory wasn't quite so good and she can be distant.
This memory issue can also be just old age - any seniors I know have it to some degree and I am finding myself forgetting silly stuff at times, but this is just a symptom of a brain with high milage
As for worrying about Azheimers, try to rationalise that worrying won't change the fact that it may or may not appear. In the event there is a positive diagnosis later down the line, the fact that it is fairly slow onset should give you plenty of time to talk about the stuff you want to with your mum, ideally record her while she is still in a good stage and have something to show to the family further down the line when they ask about the older generation of the family.
You will have time to learn how to cope, how to make the most of life and there is still time for a medical breakthrough - who knows?
So find something else to worry about, something more immediate and of a lesser nature so you keep your brain engaged in this state of anxiety that it seems to crave.
Hope your mum will be okay.
Alzheimer's is a huge one. Not knowing basic things takes its toll on the other parties.
Fortunately, I was never detained. However, I was hospitalised back in May 2019 with what turned out to be a sensory overload. I spent longer waiting for an ambulance from the Hospital to the Mental Hospital than the actual triage process. Bureaucracy meant that The Southern Trust, Craigavon Hospital, didn't have the records for the Northern Trust, where I'm subject to.
I also experience debilitating health anxiety that has caused me no end of intense panic so I can fully empathise with you on that. It can be incredibly tricky trying to figure out what is "just anxiety" and what is a legitimate concern. In this case I'd reccomend getting your mum checked out, at least once. If they give her the all clear happy days but I always think its better safe than sorry right? I'd perhaps raise the concern with other family members and then her and see if she is open to getting a check up.
I'm sorry to hear that you were detained, I've come very close myself a few times the only thing that stopped me being detained was the fact I was misdiagnosed with a personality disorder at the time.