Memory problems, clumsy and absent-minded behavior. No, columnist Judith Zijdenbos does not have dementia, but it sometimes looks awfully similar. ‘It would be a shame if I were placed in a home simply because I have a lousy memory.’
Judith Zijdenbos. Image Ton Toemen
Showered, haircut (don’t underestimate this process with curls) and make-up, I step towards the counter to make my breakfast. A cup of green tea and a bowl of soy yogurt with some oatmeal and a handful of grapes are, as usual, on the menu. I turn on the kettle and add the three ingredients to my bowl. A morning proof process you would think. Until I poured the boiled water from the kettle over my bowl of yoghurt with a subtle arc.
I took a quick look at the damage, carefully dumped the puddle of water from my breakfast and started eating it as if nothing had happened. As an ADHD-I person (commonly called ADD person), these kinds of antics were nothing new.
After my wet breakfast I rushed to the university for a lecture on Dutch literature. Fate probably wanted to tell me something, because we discussed that lecture Chimeras by Bernlef. Chimeras is a book that describes life with dementia so well that many readers do not believe that Bernlef himself was not suffering from dementia.
Not entirely coincidentally, during the lecture I thought about my father who some time ago, after a stupid action on my part, said to me: ‘People have been put in a home for less, Judith.’ And he was right. My current functioning is not inferior to most people with early onset dementia.
To reinforce this statement, I took a quiz via the Alzheimer Netherlands website as part of ‘field research’. I may be absent-minded, but I am and will remain scientifically trained. With 70 out of 100 points, Alzheimer Netherlands could not deny that ‘I have problems with my memory’. Fortunately, the website did remind me that it is more likely to be a different problem because I am under 64 years old. Windfall.
I decided to share my field research with my friend. It would be a shame if I were wrongly placed in a home because I simply have a lousy memory, instead of dementia. Then it’s better that he puts a stop to that by then.
There is a generation for which the diagnosis of ADD did not exist and was therefore never diagnosed. A generation that was not able to tell their friend about their ADD before they approached the age of 65. A generation that is sometimes wrongly told that they have dementia.
Perhaps ‘sticking labels’ isn’t so bad after all. Bernlef possibly also had ADD. In that case, I can always write about dementia later. As I actually do in this column.
2024-02-07 16:18:00
#Bernlef #vast #ADD
