My husband has not been diagnosed with anything, but he has a lot of the same Alzheimer's symptoms everyone is talking about. Any thoughts?

Caregivernow, you mentioned your husband was in the hospital for a month... what was the reason for him being there? Knowing that might help us understand more of what is going on.

If your husband had surgery, depending how long he was under, for each hour it would take one month for one's brain not to feel so foggy. If surgery was 3 hours, thus it would take 3 months. Plus being in the hospital for one month, he is probably feeling delirium being back home until he becomes for comfortable at home.

I would recommend you bring this issue up to your husband's primary doctor, or if he had surgery to his surgeon, for answers.

If this persists, make an appointment with a neurologist that specializes in Dementia (not all of them do) for a full neurological workup. You can find more help at alzconnected.org/discussion.aspx?g=topics&f=2147485438

What the others said is good....I suggest also that you devise a strategy of just going along with him and not "correcting" him to say his loved ones are long gone....You may want to fudge facts and say that his mom called her yesterday and said they were o a trip to Europe and won't be back for a month, etc. You could add "You were napping and I didn't want to disturb you to awaken you and have you say hello."

His constant repetition may well wear on you heavily at times...For your own sanity, learn to consider it the "new normal" and with God's help, realize you will do better emotionally if you strive to have a servant's heart.

God bless you,

Bob

Going to the hospital for a month can be traumatizing....it can take a while to come back to reality....if it persists, a trip to his doctor and neurologist is your next step. Did the hospital change his meds? What the reason for hospital visit for a month? He could have a UTI (urinary tract infection), you never know...that, too, causes some unusual behavior. Go slow and breathe...one step at a time. All the best to you!

This group has already given some great advise. I wonder too whether your father was given a full blood work up which included looking at his vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. These can go south in the elderly fairly easily, causing confusion, and unless they are specifically checked they are easily missed.

Could he possibly have a UTI or other overlooked condition? I would think 65 y/o is rather young to have this kind of confusion from being in the hospital happen.

After my mom came home from surgery, she was extremely confused. It took a few months. I'm surprised no one at the hospital told you that.

65 is still kind of young for this kind of thing. At that age my Dad valve replacement surgery. He had some memory loss but not to this point. You said he was tested for the confusion, check to see what tests were run. I would call his primary. Dementia and Alz don't come on this sudden. Going under will make it worse but not cause it. Ask if he was checked for UTI. Even if h was, I would check again. UTIs are harder to clear up in men. Potassium low levels could cause this, sugar too. Dehydration too. He could have had a stroke too.

Without knowing why this man was admitted to hospital and kept there for a month it's really impossible to comment meaningfully.

Sounds like he developed delirium during hospitalization. It can take weeks or even months to fully resolve. He might have a UTI now, but what is more common is for older adults to also be experiencing other factors that aggravate their brain function, such as medication side-effects, pain, sleep deprivation, and constipation.

He also might have vitamin B12 deficiency (it does not come on quickly but it is common and makes brains more vulnerable) or a thyroid abnormality or an electrolyte disturbance or another type of medical problem that makes brain function worse. An evaluation for cognitive impairment (a term that covers both dementia and delirium) should check for all of these.

There is no formula for how quickly people recover, it really depends on the underlying health of their brain, whether all delirium aggravators have been removed, and how restorative their current environment is. I will say that it's not uncommon for it to take months for people to fully recover, and unfortunately, a fair number of people never get quite back to the way they were before.

About dementia coming on quickly. It usually does not come on quickly, however, when we ask a lot of questions, a fair number of people who were supposedly "fine" before hospitalization were actually showing some signs of memory/thinking problems beforehand. So what we often say is that delirium can "unmask" an early dementia.

Having early (or more advanced) dementia is a risk factor for delirium.

I hope your husband starts doing better soon. At this time, I would say it's less important to see a dementia specialist and more important to ask his usual doctors to help make sure he is evaluated for anything that might be contributing to persisting delirium. He should also be evaluated for common medical problems that cause cognitive impairment.

You can help him recover by minimizing stress and strain around him. I completely agree with the other comments, don't try to correct his errors. Accept his reality and do what you can to maintain your sanity in the meantime.

good luck!