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Dementia


Nicole44

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Did she have a stroke or does she have atherosclerosis? Although it is generally not reversible, taking care of the underlying cause of vascular dementia can keep the problem from worsening and can prevent other issues. 

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29 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

What is stage six?

google says:
 

Quote

STAGE 6: SEVERE COGNITIVE DECLINE. Stage 6 is also known as middle dementia or moderately severe Alzheimer's disease, depending on the diagnosis. This dementia stage is characterized by a need for caregiver help to perform even basic daily activities, such as dressing, eating, using the toilet and other self-care

Best of luck - my family is dealing with this with a parent, and my father in-law and I think now my older brother.
Dementia/Alzheimers sucks

 

here is another link that goes into the stages
https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/aboutdementia/facts/stages/

Edited by Wally Fairway
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Geez.  Shitty, and timely.  A beloved great aunt has been in rapid decline.  She was moved to another state to be closer to her daughter, and she's in a safe facility.  But she still has her phone, and keeps in touch with extended family.

Last night, she called my daughter, because she wanted to talk.  And it was a disaster.  She was incoherent, all over the place, made no sense.  And after the conversation, my daughter came to grips with the fact that the great aunt she loved was gone.  Through some pretty big sobs, she said how it felt like the woman she loved had already died.  It was real and genuine -- and justified -- grief.  It fucking sucked.

I feel for you.  Dementia is the absolute worst.  It's cruel as hell, and devastating across the board.  

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Sucks to have that problem so young. The typical patient has a stroke (part of the brain loses its blood supply and stops working). The stroke is classified as ischemia (loss of blood supply) or hemorrhage (bleeding) in the brain. Typically the cause is high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and/or smoking. Because of the lost brain function the person develops dementia which can range from minor to severe.

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My mom's cognitive functions have been in fairly rapid decline over the last year, which the doctors attribute to Alzheimers. Whatever the case, it tears at you to see the person you knew your entire life just fade away.

She was a really intelligent, interesting and entertaining person to spend time with, and now we only catch brief glimpses of that person. Perhaps still catching glimpses is what makes it toughest. Brutal disease.

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5 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

My aunt is 68. This was unexpected 

One of my SIL's died at 68 a few years back, she'd first started to exhibit symptoms when she was around 63 or so. By the time of her death she was pretty far gone. At family gatherings she was mostly silent and didn't seem to know anyone. We're currently dealing with my 93 y/o mom's dementia, she was moved from assisted living to nursing care in the last month. As was mentioned it's in some ways almost as though they have already died. You realize that their world no longer includes the family or friends they've known forever. Some of the behavior can be disturbing. Painful as hell to watch. Best of luck to you and yours in adapting to this.

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I will add that vascular dementia can progress like a stair step down where you are stable for a while then a vascular event can happen (micro infarcts for example) and then you see a quick change in cognitive function and/or personality.  It is hard to watch anyone go through this. Maintaining remaining function will be important.

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My MIL has had severe dementia for years.  She fabricated stories and scenarios in her mind that are crazy, but real to her.  She’s been bedridden for a couple of years.  Her quality of life is zero.  It’s really sad.

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My mother in law is in steady decline. I saw her mother go through this, and she's at about the same pace at the same age (mid 70s).
In a way we're lucky, as dementia goes. My MIL is pleasant to those she recognizes and says funny things. She isn't violent or angry or paranoid. It's as simply as the lady we know slowly dissolving, all the armor of adult life falling off with her identity, leaving behind a gentle, sweet soul, slowly fading into the dark.  Her mind will go, her body will become harder to care for, she will probably stop eating, and pretty soon that will be it.  There are worse ways to go, but what we give our dogs is better than that. 

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My dad at 63 is a very advanced parkinsons patient with early onset dementia. It's a waking nightmare every minute of every day. The biggest things for him are that he never built good habits and patterns for how to take care of himself, so as the disease takes more away from him, he regresses even faster and consistently has the worst decision making process.

If you can work with her to put systems and routines in place to take care of herself and leave little reminders that can help to mitigate some of the minor day-to-day stuff.

Still won't make much of a difference in the weight of how shitty it is though. Sorry to hear it, man

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Having lunch today with my FIL who has Alzheimer’s.  It’s painful to watch play out in super slow motion. 

Such a horrible disease.

I try and remember all victims, but especially their caregivers in my prayers as much as I can. 

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My father died from dementia. I never knew how bad it was until we put him in memory care. I guess he could fake it when he came to our house like he knew us and where he was. One day in the memory care unit we passed in the hall and you could tell we were complete strangers to him. I don't want to put my wife through that.

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Yeah I hear all of you and my heart goes out. I first starting hearing about issues with my aunt from her daughters. She has afib and has to be on medication for it so initially I thought it was the medication. But over the last few months since my grandmother/her mom passed away I’ve had a chance to see more of my aunt. The other day my mom and I picked her up at my aunts house and my mom was waiting outside in the car while my aunt and I were locking up the house. It took twenty minutes to leave. She kept going through her purse and her keys and finally settled on putting all the keys and the garage door opener in a large plastic ziplock. We went out the garage and she kept hitting the lights thinking that it was the garage button and kept muttering “Don’t do this to me!” And kept switching the lights on and off before we finally went through the door and she found the garage door button and was like “Oh ok.” She has two grandchildren and they are both under the age of five and forgot the oldest s birthday this year. My cousins thought to take her to Spain this fall to have a chance to do something special with her and she freaked out about leaving and said she wasn’t going and then a few weeks ago asked one of them how their trip to Spain went even though it’s not until September. She barely eats and is like razor thin. She came over to my side of town (Plano) from where she lives in Highland Park and even though she’s been to my new place at least twice before since I moved she drove over to where I had lived before I moved. Lots of shit like that. It sucks. 

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23 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

My mother in law is in steady decline. I saw her mother go through this, and she's at about the same pace at the same age (mid 70s).
In a way we're lucky, as dementia goes. My MIL is pleasant to those she recognizes and says funny things. She isn't violent or angry or paranoid. It's as simply as the lady we know slowly dissolving, all the armor of adult life falling off with her identity, leaving behind a gentle, sweet soul, slowly fading into the dark.  Her mind will go, her body will become harder to care for, she will probably stop eating, and pretty soon that will be it.  There are worse ways to go, but what we give our dogs is better than that. 

That's pretty much how my dad went a few months ago.  Fucking awful way to go.  Told my wife to never let met get to that point and make it look like an accident or something.  Just awful.

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I just got off the phone with my mom. A staff nurse called me and said my mom wanted to talk to me. The nurse put her on the phone and we talked, she wanted me to come pick her up, she thinks she's at an Eckerd's store for some reason. She was trying to get the nurse to give her the address of the Eckerd's that she's at. The nurse says mom's been kinda agitated all day and they may have to put an ankle bracelet on her because she's managed to find her way to the ground floor in the short couple of weeks that she's been where she is. It's not a "memory" facility but has more safeguards than assisted living does. We, the family, knew that the move could be even more confusing and it appears that is the case. Punch in the gut.

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I understand that. My grandmother had maybe one good month when we moved her to assisted living and after a stroke and issues with her pacemaker she became a shell of a person and was moved after breaking her hip in a fall in the bathroom to a memory care unit. There wasn’t much there by that point. I saw her the week before I got married and while I could see in her eyes and smile she recognized me she didn’t speak. Ugghhhh

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I deal with patients on the psychiatric side of dementia - the "behavioral disturbance" piece of it. Any medications prescribed are largely designed for caretaker benefit (e.g. reducing agitation). Some medications may help with depressed mood and anxiety accompanying dementia, but in my mind, they are largely palliative.

Vascular dementia is the second most common dementia in the US behind Alzheimer's. A diagnosis of vascular dementia is usually made in combination of neuroimaging (which would likely show damage to the brain as a result of strokes) and taking into account the patient's clinical presentation. Often times a quick mental status exam (e.g. Folstein Mini-Mental or Saint Louis University Mental Status [SLUMS], the latter commonly used in the VA system) can identify severity of cognitive decline. If a diagnosis is suspected, but the evidence is not convincing, then can proceed to proper neuropsychological testing which may last an upwards of 3 hours and may be extremely difficult for patients to complete due to inability to maintain attention and effort.

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The hospice nurse told my wife and the family my FIL will be much better situated after 3 weeks, I guess that’s the typical adjustment period. My FIL is on day 12, he didn’t do well the first few nights he was there. Some of the things they do are comical and heartbreaking all at the same time. My prayers to all of those dealing with this horrible disease.

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6 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I didn’t realize there has been progress in tests to predict Alzheimer’s.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-21/a-blood-test-can-predict-dementia-trouble-is-there-s-no-cure

I’ve heard of a startup here in SA that is looking at analyzing people’s gait as an early sign of dementia. Interesting to think one of the ways your brain could adapt to the coming dysfunction is to change your gait in a characteristic fashion. 

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I wish we would see the govt pour more money into dementia research even at the expense of other chronic diseases.  Even if you look at it from an unemotional viewpoint, the cost of care to people suffering much dementia is high. 

And as we solve more and more other physical chronic conditions, it most likely just lead to more people suffering from dementia. 

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9 hours ago, RMac5 said:

One of the the early test of dementia is the drawing of a clock, seems crazy that they cannot do it even when they have very little or no signs of the disease.

That test may become increasingly unreliable or even obsolete in the not too distant future. iPhone etc... Do we even still teach our little kids how to read a clock? 

Just kidding, kinda.

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I'm in the group that would rather pass away than deal with advanced demetia/alzheimers.

First time I ever saw it was in a favorite uncle, we went to his lake place for 4th of July about 10 years ago. He said it was the first time he took the boat out for the year, when we asked if it had been having problems he said "Nope, I'm afraid if I go out I won't be able to find my way back". Now he was always a jokester, and it really isn't that big of a lake; but later my folks tell me that he has quit driving...fast foward 2 years and I'm at my parents house, as they are watching him for the weekend so my aunt could go to a reunion. While I'm there he comes out of the bedroom, after my dad helped him shower, and he didn't have a shirt on. So dad takes him back and gets him a shirt to wear. The sad part was when dad told me there were 3 shirts on the bed but he didn't know that those were what he was looking for. He moved in to assisted living about a month later, and passed away less than 2 years later.
It made me profoundly sad, then and now, but I realized at that point that I never wanted to go through that and even moreso didn't want those close to me to have to deal with me.

Thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by this horrible disease, and to their family and friends.

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