Behaviour that needs your attention!

On By Tea With JenniferIn Family, Life changes, Psychology, Relationships, Spirituality

Welcome my friend! It’s so lovely to have you drop by, come we’ll enjoy a cuppa & chat together.

Today, I thought we would reflect upon a growing concern for many families around the globe including our own.

This topic concerns family members who show slow or sudden signs of cognitive & behavioural changes.

Recently I’ve had quite a few prayer requests from families for their dear loved ones who are showing these signs of Cognitive dysfunction.

Before we begin, let’s grab our cuppa’s & get comfy…

Healthy Cognitive functioning 

Cognitive functioning or Cognition is better known as, how we think & perceive the world around us.

This includes many neurological processes;

  • it’s how the brain processes visual, auditory & physical information, in other words how we make sense of the world.
  • As well as how our thoughts are processed by the brain by neurochemical & electrical interactions, giving us a well balanced & healthy Cognitive functioning.

However, any one of these processes can be interrupted by things like;

  • Imbalance in hormones,
  • infections,
  • neurochemical imbalances,
  • chronic medical conditions,
  • medication changes,
  • grief or traumatic events,
  • Or more serious medical or mental health issues

to cause unhealthy cognitive functioning.

Unhealthy cognitive functioning may be in seeing, hearing or feeling things that aren’t there (delirium).

Or conversely real events that are totally misinterpreted which is out of character for that loved one (aka illusions). 

This is often when the family start to notice ‘changes’ in their loved one’s perceptions, thought processes & behaviour.

These changes may be subtle at first or suddenly their behaviour may be totally out of character for them.

ie. Consistent Angry outbursts over things they would not normally get angry over.

It’s at this stage that it’s very important to get your loved one to immediate medical help.

As mentioned above there can be many reasons for these perception & behavioural changes.

All needing Clinical diagnosis & treatment.

white and brown animals near fence

Let’s make this personal

Years ago when I was married to my late husband I noticed subtle changes in his behaviour.

Things like leaving a paddock gate open where the sheep were grazing & could’ve escaped, which he normally never did.

Wanting to drink water instead of tea, when he disliked the taste of plain water & always preferred tea or flavoured water.

Putting these subtle changes down to being busy with the preparation of the farm for his forthcoming shoulder surgery, which would have had him on four months of post operative rehabilitation, I brushed them aside at first.

However, these subtle changes increased to the point of him leaving the shed unlocked where the firearms were kept!

My husband was normally an extremely cautious & responsible man especially where firearms were concerned.

Being a Clinical therapist I knew these changes collectively were of great concern, neurologically.

So I took my lovely gentle husband to the physician the following day, who sent him for tests & the results came through that night.

They had found a massive brain tumour. He was immediately flown to a major city hospital for Neurosurgery.

That surgery found a Glioblastoma Multiforme Grade 4 cancerous tumour – brain cancer!

Prognosis, terminal & he was given 6 – 12 months at best to live.

However, we only had 3 months together from that diagnosis until he passed away.

Family are very important in these situations to notice subtle changes in their loved one’s perceptions & behaviour, for family know their loved ones best.

So when we notice things are not quite right, & these changes are persistent or increasing we need to act!

Strength & Courage 

Life my friend can be full of challenges, hardships & tough times.

But even amidst these things the Lord encourages us to be strong & courageous!

“…Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,

for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

For as the above scripture states, He is with us through them all!

Until next time,

Jennifer

You’re most welcome to join me in The Reading Nook

Or 

in Prayer

© 2022 Jennifer M. Ross, teawithjennifer.blog All Rights Reserved. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com 

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37 thoughts on “Behaviour that needs your attention!”

  1. It’s so hard to see those subtle changes because we don’t WANT to see them. 😦 But facing reality is always more beneficial than avoiding it. You were wise to pay attention. I’m so sorry that you and your husband had to walk that journey. Thanks for sharing the lessons with us.

    Reply

    1. You have raised a good point Lisa, we don’t WANT to see & recognise these changes because it’s so disturbing to us but we NEED to recognise & act for our loved one’s well-being.
      Not all diagnosis are life changing. It may be an infection that simply needs a course of antibiotics. But left untreated will turn into something much more serious.

      Reply

  2. Hi Jennifer, this is such a practical post. We are currently struggling with similar issues in that we are trying to find out why. God willing we will know soon. Thank you for being so open so that in doing so you encourage others. God bless

    Reply

  4. Oh Jennifer. I’m so sorry for what your late husband went through, and you with him. I’m also glad you wrote about this today. I have a whole litany of “if onlys” I could share about my mom’s cognitive decline and how my family was either in denial or too busy trying to fix the problem without knowing what it was. In retrospect, I take comfort in knowing that God was sovereign over all her days. But I’m also thankful for the knowledge–and hopefully the courage–that comes from hard experiences like this. Hugs, friend.

    Reply

  8. Thankyou Jennifer. We so often put people in our sinful box and criticise them for not living up to our standards . When all along it’s a a mental dysfunction. GOD is more tolerant than we are and understands our thoughts afar off.

    Reply

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