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What do you do with a high functioning dementia patient? How do you make decisions for them when they are so opposed to being managed? My mom's behavior led us to secure guardianship and place her in an AL. Under care she has improved greatly and wants to return home. The doctors and myself will not clear her for this. To many people and family she appears normal, so there is plenty of pressure to make changes for her. I still see the issues even though she is well managed now and well medicated. She is very verbal, very active, seems clear, yet I still see the underlying confusion, the struggle, and the delusions. The hallucinations have stopped I believe. Many people feel she is cured or misdiagnosed. I will admit with pressure I can doubt the diagnosis and the prognosis too. I do not regret the steps I have taken though, it has given her safety, some normalcy, and me plenty of peace. However she would like to go home, and I was about to sell her place. What is the likelyhood she will ever live alone again? The doctor says no chance. He is reluctant but willing to repeat testing at our request. This is all very hard and confusing.

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I should add, my dad has never been officially diagnosed because he’s always refuse any such exam. IM FINE G DAMMIT! But his doc says he exhibits classic ALZ behaviors.
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I don’t think you should second guess yourself or succumb to pressure from family. This stuff just goes one way and it can be painfully slow.

I’ve been watching my dads decline for over 6 years now. He would still be considered high functioning in some respects but gets confused about his meds and is forgetting people that he doesn’t interact with regularly. It has been soooooo sloooooow. He can still showtime a little but he ain’t fooling me, I know better. I’m the one that does the bills and keeps the ship afloat and so are you. Don’t back down.
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