Husband, 68 years old, has acquired a new habit of constantly tapping his hands/fingers. Is this a sign of early dementia?

aztowisc2021, did your hubby volunteer to retire at 67 or did the company say it was time?

I remember when my Dad retired at 65, it wasn't a choice, it was the law back then. Otherwise, my Dad would have kept working up into his 80's as he loved the work that much. My Mom's world was housework, thus unlike a work project that gets completed, housework gets done then next week one starts it all again. Same old, same old. There was just so much gossip about family and neighbors Dad would listen to, he would just doze off.

Thus my parents did volunteer work into their 90's, so that kept them busy, gave them something of similar interest to talk about. Mom handed over some of her household chores for Dad to do, such as vacuuming [guys like noisy things]. They would walk 2 miles each day, on rainy days they would walk the mall which was nearby. It helped make Mom feel like she was having some retirement, too.

Since your profile states he has Parkinsons, please take this question to his neurologist.

Also see the first post from Lealonnie1 about the Mayo Clinic link on PD, and please read it to educate yourself further on this disease. I wish you peace in your hearts on this journey together.

I'm curious as to why this question is posed although does not contain pertinent information in your profile (as some here research profiles to gain more information). I don't as I presume the writer provides all facts and background when posing a question.

Confused as to why you didn't mention that your husband has Parkinsons... did you think it was not important to mention?

If readers do not have all pertinent information, we cannot provide a helpful response. Am I confused here?

aztowisc2021: As you state in your profile that your husband unfortunately suffers from Parkinson's disease, the tapping is no doubt associated with the disease. Perhaps his neurologist can assist especially with him impatiently waving his hands when in communication with you.

Just a "Thank you" to Caregiverstress. You gave a perfectly reasonable and logical explanation to the whistling. I'm so glad you did; now I "get" it.

Make an appointment with a Geriatric Psychiatrist who can educate you and medicate him.

For approximately 2 years, my moms behavior was rude as hell. I just thought she was being an ass. Turns out she had dementia and was just trying to cover for her lapse of memory. If he is acting out of character, investigate it with a doctors visit.

That was one of the first things I noticed with my husband. He has been diagnosed with Alzheimers and Atypical Parkinsons. The fidgeting was in place of or disguised his tremors for a long time. But it took more than a decade for him to progress from the tapping (and more fidgets later, like foot bouncing too) to issues that were clearly a memory disorder.

My husband, recently 80, has Alzheimer's (no Parkinson's) and is constantly tapping his fingers. He is not conscious of this, and even when we hold hands in bed at night, within a few minutes he is tapping on my hand. Obviously, this is not sleep friendly, and I have to release his hand. He can stop the tapping if I bring his attention to it, but before long, it starts up again.

Another habit he has developed along with his disease is whistling. There really is no tune, just a blowing whistle. I have asked him about why he does this and he said, "It helps me." I have no idea how this works, but if it helps him, so be it.

My father who lived to be 94 did have Parkinson's, but there was no movement that I would describe as "tapping." His was more of a shaking or trembling, and it was obviously beyond his control to deliberately stop it.

What did he do before he retired?
If it was high stress, fast paced then I can see someone getting impatient with the much slower pace of retirement. Thus the waving of hands to speed things up or the tapping of fingers. (quite often people that do things out of habit do not realize they are doing it. Tapping fingers, biting nails, tapping their feet and so on. My Husband, when I first met him he would sort of "bounce" his leg he never realized he was doing it and I would mention it, he would stop and in moments he was doing it again...and that was YEARS before the dementia)
Have you noticed other things over the past year or two?
Getting lost?
Getting confused doing tasks around the house?
Dressing in appropriately?
Searching for words, using the wrong word?

When was the last time he had a physical? The Medicare Annual Wellness check typically also includes a mini mental exam as part of the exam.
If he has not had the Annual Exam you can schedule it and if you have access to a Portal with his doctors office you can send a note and express your concerns. They will read it before his appointment.

Golf? Pickle Ball? Building furniture?
If you are not seeing tremors of any kind, I would say more a reaction to boredom and retirement than anything else, and I think you may be worrying about nothing. It is not easy to have them around when they first retire, either, hee hee. But they are REALLY at loose ends. My mate loves to foster and train dogs, and he occupies his time nicely with that.

My mom had Parkinson’s disease and later developed dementia.

My mother had tremors. Meds can help with tremors and other movements. Sometimes, dosages need to be adjusted. Speak with the neurologist about the symptoms that he is experiencing.

I don’t know if his impatience is associated with Parkinson’s disease or not.

My mom did start taking Ativan along with her Parkinson’s medication (Sinemet.) I found that she was calmer with the addition of Ativan.

According to your profile, your husband suffers from Parkinson's disease. The movement issues are likely coming from the PD and if dementia does crop up, it too is associated with PD. Interrupting you and waving his hands around impatiently sounds like behaviors you'd need to talk to his doctor about. Have you asked him what's up with the rude behavior? What's his response?

Here is a link to an article about PD from the Mayo Clinic:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/parkinsons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20376055

Best of luck