Mark was diagnosed with behavioral variant Frontotemporal Dementia in February 2018. He was 38 years old at the time, and had been displaying symptomatic behavior since approximately June of 2015. If you are interested in following our journey from the beginning, go to the "Mark Updates" tab and start at the beginning.
Frontotemporal Dementia is a relatively rare form of dementia that tends to affect a younger demographic. It is considered early-onset dementia. While dementia in general is the disfunction or death of a brain, Frontotemporal Dementia is a form of dementia that affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. The behavioral variant of the disease affects the personality more than anything. A person with bvFTD would have very low impulse control, be very apathetic, appear very lazy, withdrawn, and have very odd behaviors or personalities, as well as an extreme OCD behaviors.
For more information about FTD, The Association for Frontotemporal Dementia is a wonderful resource.
If you are a spouse of someone who has FTD, please join us on The FTD Spouse on Facebook.
If you are a spouse of an FTDer and live in the state of Minnesota, join us on Minnesota FTD Spousal Support on Facebook.
Both groups are closed, meaning that while you will be listed as a member, any non-members will not be able to view the content posted in the group.
If you have any questions pertaining to FTD, please feel free to ask! I may not have all the time in the world, as a single Mama to 4 little ones, but I can certainly help set you up with resources!
I am so sorry for all you and your family are going through. My son, who is 48 years old was diagnosed with FTD in July of 2019. As a mother and knowing him so well, I feel he was Inflicted with this monster for at least 15 years before he was diagnosed. We live in New Jersey and living options for him are so difficult to find. He now is in a facility which is located 15min from my youngest son (his brother). This is a God sent. The facility is geared for senior patients with dementia. He is the only young person and is getting old....
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind if I reach out to you occasionally, it gets very difficult as you very well know.
My prayers to you and your family.
was inflicted with this monster for at least 15 years
Thank you so much for your blog. It has given me great insight into the path I will be following in the upcoming years. My 59 year old husband was diagnosed just five days ago. It explains so many of his behaviors, but also has left me a bit overwhelmed. Your description of the years leading up to diagnosis just broke my heart as I have in many ways been suffering in the same way. I truly thought our marriage was over -- my husband asked for a divorce quite frequently, is convinced I don't love him and has lots of thoughts about sex, that I am not affectionate enough, etc. He's also been very angry and scary. We have no idea where this will lead us, but it frightens me greatly.
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