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Photograph: Guardian Design Team
Photograph: Guardian Design Team

My elderly mother has signs of dementia but won't see her doctor

This article is more than 5 years old

She is becoming forgetful and confused, her house is in an untypical mess and when I arranged for her to see her GP, she lied about going

My mother is in her early 80s and starting to show signs of dementia. She lives a long way from me, and on her own, but we speak regularly on the phone and she is becoming increasingly forgetful and confused. The last time I visited her, her house was in an untypical mess, the kitchen dirty, piles of recycling and rubbish hoarded and no food to eat. When I try to talk to her about it, she brushes it off. I want her to go to the doctor to have a test, but she hasn’t been to see her GP for several years. I did make her an appointment but she lied about going and is starting to lie more and more about things to cover her tracks. Do readers have any advice?

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