I (29M) have been secretly adding a mushroom supplement to my dad's (58M) morning smoothie for the past 3 months, and the transformation has been so incredible that I'm simultaneously feeling guilty and vindicated.

For context: My dad was always sharp as a tack: retired engineer, did the NYT crossword daily, could recall obscure facts from books he read decades ago. About two years ago, we started noticing changes. He'd repeat the same story multiple times in one visit. He'd struggle to find basic words. He'd get frustrated trying to follow the plot of his favorite shows.

It terrified all of us, especially after we lost mom to early-onset Alzheimer's five years ago.

Dad refused to acknowledge anything was wrong. When my sister finally convinced him to see a neurologist, they ran tests and told him it was "mild cognitive impairment". Potentially the first stage of dementia. They offered medication that might slow the progression but couldn't reverse anything.

Dad, being stubborn, refused the meds. "Not putting that poison in my body," he said. "I'll just exercise more." But months passed, and he only got worse. He stopped doing his crosswords. Stopped calling his friends. One day I found him almost in tears because he couldn't remember how to program the coffee maker he'd used for 15 years.

I was desperate and started researching alternatives. I had already a pretty good background in natural remedies, as I have been doing a lot of biohacking for my own issues with consequences and recovery from addiction. I fell into a rabbit hole of medical journals about neurogenesis and brain plasticity. Multiple studies kept pointing to certain mushroom extracts showing promise for cognitive regeneration.

Like I said, my dad's always been skeptical of "natural remedies. So long story short, I started sneaking into his daily routine my go-to mushroom complex. Essentially a really powerful formula with 10 different adaptogenic mushrooms.

So I started adding it to his morning smoothie when I'd visit. I told myself it was just a temporary experiment. If nothing happened in a month, I'd stop and come clean.

Within three weeks, I noticed he was more present in conversations. After two months or so, HE called ME to discuss a documentary we watched together and for the first time in a very long time, HE was the one who remembered details I'd missed.

Last week, he fixed my sister's garbage disposal by recalling, step by step, the repair process he'd taught me years ago. Something he couldn't remember how to do just months earlier.

Yesterday, he asked me why "these smoothies taste so different from the ones I make myself." I panicked and deflected the question.

I feel incredibly conflicted. On one hand, I'm medicating my father without his consent, which feels wrong on multiple levels. On the other hand, I'm watching him come back to life. His eyes are clear again. He's telling jokes. I know this stuff works wonders because I have been using it for a year and it's transformed my life. So technically, I know I am doing him a favour, I just don't know how he is going to take it.

I've decided to come clean this weekend. I've printed out the research studies, gathered his improvement notes I've been keeping, and bought him his own supply of the supplements. I hope he understands why I did this and chooses to continue.

I never thought I'd be the type of person to do something like this, but watching the father I knew disappear before my eyes made me desperate. I'm prepared for him to be angry, but I hope he'll see that whatever ethical line I crossed, I did it out of love.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?