Knowing what to look for as far as physical symptoms I noticed slight symptons on my husband when he was 45. He is now 62. He is the
oldest child in his family and doing very well compared to a few of his younger siblings - one died a couple years ago and one is in a nursing home.
He is able to get ready on his own although it takes him alot longer than it used to - usually takes 3 hours for him to get ready if he is focused
on only that.
I still work and he stays home. I make sure he has meals and he needs no assistance in heating up or eating those meals.
He has been having balance issues the last few years, some days worse than others. He has fallen a few times. I am in the process of
figuring out what we can best do to help.
I like to go see the children or on short trips or to the lake. He always goes with me and enjoys it, however, he fights going most places anymore.
Once he does go he lets me know he was glad he did.
He was put on memantine about 1 1/2 years ago at a dose of .5 mg once a day. His memory problems weren't that bad at the time but I thought
it may help for the future.
My questions are: (1) he seems to have a very short short term memory most the time anymore. I may tell him something and he has to
ask a short time later many times. Would a higher dose of memantine possibly help?
(2) he constantly tells me he is "going downhill" and I know he feels that way. I try to stay positive and tell him that he is
doing so much better than most people in his situation at this point of the illness which I truly believe. When I ask him about going somewhere
with me a few days he tells me he falls and is going downhill. I tell him there are two of us - I will be with him rather than working and he
would do just fine. I wouldn't ask him to do what I felt he was unable to do. I know he enjoys these short trips and I want to keep doing them as
long as he is able. We had a COE tell him in May that he needs to do these things and that I would be there to help him.
Is there anything I can do to make him realize that he is able to do these things and that he is not as bad as he feels he is?

My concern is that as time goes on and he does get worse than he (we) will look back and be so sorry we didn't do these things.

I also feel that keeping him going helps him although I know it is harder on him as years go on.

Any ideas or input would be appreciated.

thank you.

I have to say you are doing very well with this. I'm impressed with how upbeat you are and how well you have managed. You are to be commended for being so strong and courageous!

As far as him going "down hill", I can relate, and I don't have HD. People feel that way when they get older even without HD. Believe me, I'm not the man I used to be either. So it's understandable.

What strikes me is that he can still go for so long a time. I'm sure he doesn't want to get up and go. I would only suggest that these outings not be so long or difficult on him. It would make it easier for all if you didn't tire him out.

My experience with victims of HD tell me it gets harder and harder to "reason" away things. Medications may help, but dosages would be up to the doctor.

If it were me, I don't think I don't a lot setup on these outings. I'd avoid planning it far in advance and just keep him moving until you get him in the car. If there is something he particularly likes about these things, just tell him he's going to do that. The prep would be that you make sure he has lots of rest before hand.

And I'll say it again, you are very strong and courageous for doing this. He is a very lucky man!

Thank you Fred for your very kind words. I try to be all of what you said but there are days that I do not do as well as I would like to.

If not for people like all of you I would definitely be very lost at times. You all give me courage and strength - I think we do that for each other
and that is the way it should be.

Thank you for your ideas - I appreciate your input very much.

Shar

When my husband was still at home, I could hardly get him to do anything. It was always a struggle, he had no motivation. Maybe that's what is going on with your husband. It may just be too much for him. How are his moods? I found that if i pushed too hard my husband would get angry, so I just stopped asking him to do things. Now, he is in a nursing home and wants to do EVERYTHING!