Hi. My father is 63 years old. He has always had a very laid back, grounded personality. He rarely worries or gets anxious, enad enjoys his hobbies. In the last 4-6 months, he has gone from being his usual self, to displaying some out of character and strange personality traits...It seemed to start out as a little fatigue, and some very moild depression, and trouble sleeping. He now has started to show some anixiety symptoms, such as worrying over small things. He also has started asking my mom questions about what she is doing, which is very unlike him. My parents have been married for over 40 years, and own a business. They have activities they like togehter and their own hobbies. They have had a well balanced marraige. Recenlty my father began questioning her about a trip she took 7 years ago, and things of that nature. When I visited them recenlty, my dad seemed his normal self until I started to chit chat with him. Its hard to pinpoint, but he just seems "off" a little bit. My mother says he has lost about 10 pounds in the last few months and isnt eating or sleeping well. He also seems to suddenly worry about something very small out of the blue. ALthough he hasnt had any blatant memory issues, a few months ago when he was putting in a door (a hobby of his is remodling, building) he said it tooke him 30 minutes to remember how exactly to do it, even though he has done things like this for years. He hasnt had any memory loss as to person place or time, or any day to day living sort of memory loss...My father only goes to the doctor for a routine checkup about every 2 yrs or so. He is very healthy normally. His past medical history if only significant for episodic vertigo, for which he underwent MRI and blood work about a year ago, which were negative. He has not had any vertigo since abiut a year ago, so I dont know if that is even related. My dad is "countryfolk" minded. He does not take any medicine, other than a tylenol rarely for aches and pains. My mother thinks he is depressed. My gut feeling is that he is ill. My mother has mentioned to him about seeing a doc to maybe take something for depression, but he thinks that "all those drugs" are addictive. Just looking at my father, I can tell he does not feel well, and talking to him, I can tell he is not his usual self. If anyone here, a doctor or someone with similar experience could give me advice as to what mught be going on, maybe I can get him to listen to me and go to a doctor. I am very worried about him. Thanks-MM
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
Well, it can definitely be depression. From your father’s symptoms alone it sounds like chronic fatigue syndrome. This usually presents with widespread myalgia and arthralgia, headaches, chronic mental and physical exhaustion, cognitive difficulties, concentration difficulty and memory problems.
Then you also need to get your father investigated for other causes of such problems like liver dysfunction (get liver enzymes done—liver function test), kidney dysfunction (get kidney function test done), and anemia.
Do discuss this with your doctor and get him examined. Hope he is fine soon.
Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!