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Thatcher's struggle with dementia
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by LotusFlower | August 24, 2008 at 12:51 am
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Dementia strikes people around the world from any background and no matter what one's politics are it is sad to see Margaret Thatcher being, like Ronald Reagon before her, afflicted by it.
Dementia and it's causes is still not fully understood and although there are some drugs to help some for the majority of sufferers it feels a no hope situation.
Love and understanding from those around the sufferer are essential and some, given the self reported nature of Carole Thatcher's poor relationship with her mother, are questioning the reasons for her reporting of her mothers illness. Others just see it as a reporting of the facts.
As Mrs. Thatcher's memory worsens it is safe to safe that memories of her and her policies bor better or worse will continue to be studied and restudied. She will not be forgotten.
In her new book, Carol Thatcher tells of her pain at haveing to repeatedly break the "truly awful" news of her father Sir Denis' death to her mother until the information sank in.
In her book, A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl: A Memoir, she wrote how her mother's "blotting-paper brain" which had always absorbed information got confused between Bosnia and the Falklands during a conversation about the war in the former Yugoslavia.
She wrote: "I almost fell off my chair. Watching her struggle with her words and her memory, I couldn't believe it. She was in her 75th year but I had always thought of her as ageless, timeless and 100% cast-iron damage-proof.
"The contrast was all the more striking because, until that point, she'd always had a memory like a website."
In the book, serialised in a Sunday newspaper, Ms Thatcher added: "From the fateful day of our lunch, telltale signs that something wasn't quite right began to emerge.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (10)
at 06:16 on August 24th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 06:25 on August 24th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 06:26 on August 24th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 08:03 on August 24th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 11:04 on August 25th, 2008
Thatcher is a murderer her policies made this country depressed addicted to drugs and suicidel. Crime rates doubled under thatcher. The glutteny of her government caused what we live now. And going back a bit, to the falklands war she authorised the sinking of the Belgrano an argentine battleship. It was sailing away from british troops at the time. God will judge her when she dies along with the rest of us, i could be wrong but i think she will burn when she dies
at 11:04 on August 25th, 2008
Thatcher is a murderer her policies made this country depressed addicted to drugs and suicidel. Crime rates doubled under thatcher. The glutteny of her government caused what we live now. And going back a bit, to the falklands war she authorised the sinking of the Belgrano an argentine battleship. It was sailing away from british troops at the time. God will judge her when she dies along with the rest of us, i could be wrong but i think she will burn when she dies
at 11:05 on August 25th, 2008
I'm not at all surprised that dementia has entered the lives of the Thatchers, it affects millions each and every day. What I am surprised at is that Carol, regardless of her relationship with her mother, has chosen this time to publish private details and information regarding a personal family tragedy. People suffering from dementia can have lucid periods of total comprehension. Maggie was possibly not a warm milk toast kind of mother, but I'm not sure she deserves to have her mental demise out there for public consumption.
at 11:05 on August 25th, 2008
Thatcher is a murderer her policies made this country depressed addicted to drugs and suicidel. Crime rates doubled under thatcher. The glutteny of her government caused what we live now. And going back a bit, to the falklands war she authorised the sinking of the Belgrano an argentine battleship. It was sailing away from british troops at the time. God will judge her when she dies along with the rest of us, i could be wrong but i think she will burn when she dies
at 23:52 on August 25th, 2008
at 15:26 on September 22nd, 2008
Academic Convocation for
The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Thatcher, L.G.,O.M.,F.R.S.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979-1990
Photo taken Monday, March 27, 2000 at Hofstra University
(Margaret Thatcher and Michael Ogazon)
exhaustless1 has contributed a photo to this story.