Behavior change following stroke?

Patience
Its good to remember that dementia can be in addition to other health problems. In other words he could have dementia AND strokes. The highs and lows sound like bipolar.

Usually doctors can try to treat symptoms even when there are no meds to *cure* dementia.

My FIL had a severe head trauma that caused hallucinations. In his case his sodium was low. After a long Hospitalization and rehab and sodium tablets his hallucinations went away. Later he had dementia but no more hallucinations. He died years later from the effects of a second fall.

UTIs can also cause hallucinations as can dehydration. Something has gone wrong in the brain or is affecting the brain. Exactly what is causing your dad’s hallucinations might be difficult to unravel or might show up on a blood test or culture.

It depends on which parts of the brain were affected by the strokes as to the end result. Different parts of the brain control different skills, behaviors, and thought processes. So, yes, behavior can change after a stroke - sometimes dramatically.

Multiple strokes can result in vascular dementia. That can explain the sexually oriented behavior. (I saw this with my own father.) It's also possible that he has had underlying bipolar disorder that was never diagnosed or treated.

Yes, strokes, head trauma, age all affect brain function which in turn affects behavior. My mother had head trauma after surgery resulting in TBI. She has depressive and manic episodes, is occasionally delusional and sometimes has hallucinations. She has been diagnosed as manic depressive which is a logical but inaccurate diagnosis. None of these behaviors can be “fixed” but there are medications than can lessen them. I continually looked for a cure but there is none. She has been prescribed depacote and seroquel which work for the most part, but twice a year like clockwork, she has manic-type episodes that last five weeks and then she’s back to a relatively normal state for her. She lives in assisted living where the routine has been good for her and she’s happy there. I’ve lived with this for forty years and I’ve come to accept that everything than can be done is being done to manage her symptoms.

Highs and lows with post stroke patients is common. It does not mean bipolar. Depression, crying one minute, happy the next and laughing is very common with stroke victims, depending on the area of the brain affected.

So sorry for your situation.

Sort answer, yes I think strokes can cause changes in behaviour. My own experoence I've seen halucinations with delerium or ALZ not stroke though but I'm no expert. I agree with 97yroldmum - low sodium, UTI, dehydration could cause systems like this. Also an ongoing bleed in the brain? If UTI or dehydration suspected he may need a doctor/transfer to hospital. UTIs common in older folk & behaviour so much worse but clears when UTI does.

My Mum's stroke last year has certainly caused personality changes - oh yes! Also did the mini-stroke (TIA) the previous year where she lost spacial awareness of how to hang the washing line cord. Dad didn't think too much of that until the spacial awareness also mean she kept crashing the car... Mum's damage was at the back of brain but she also has some 'emotional lability' which I think is more common if damage to frontal cortex. She can swing from happy to crying & can't stop for ages. We were given a handout from the rehab on this 'emotional lability'. Basically said be understanding - nothing you can do :(

As a volunfeer of a Stroke Survivor group for a time I met a man who looked perfectly normal, but blurted out inapproptiate things (sexual inc) & swore at random times. We accepted that but was very hard for him out in tbe world.

I hope it's just a simple UTI & things improve soon.

Any type of brain injury can cause behavior changes and rage. This is sometimes the hardest part of long-term recovery of brain trauma. Some people are treated with beta blockers to help with those issues. A family member of mine couldn't tolerate the beta blockers in combination with his other medication for seizure, so they went out on a limb with an unconventional approach and had a pacemaker implanted to create a similar effect and it worked.

My Father had Alz and I started to notice some symptoms with memory loss and odd behavior in 2008. The behavior was mostly little things like isolating himself from social events. In 2009 he refused to come to my wedding, let alone give me away. By 2011 he made a joke that if he'd seen me on the street he wouldn't have recognized me. We both brushed it off.

In 2015 he had some TIA's and ended up in the hospital. None of the many doctors was saw mentioned the possibility of dementia or Alz. At one point during the stay, he was punching the nurses. This was totally out of character for him. After the TIA's he began to have trouble speaking, and very shortly afterwards forgot what a toilet was for.

That's when I moved both parents into my home. On the 4 plus hour trip, he claimed I was kidnapping him. Although we stopped frequently I actually had to stop and pour him a G and T to calm him down.

Once at my home he settled in, but he also became much more psychotic as well, especially at dusk when Sundowners occurred. There were days when he was walking around the house swearing and cursing. On one occasion he pulled himself and Mum to the floor on their walkers, and then went into a rage. When he wasn't in a rage, he was crying.

Eventually he ended up in a psychiatric hospital, but still even there, there was no diagnosis of Alz. Eventually in 2016 I got both parents into the Cleveland Clinic but by the time I got him there he was again in a psychotic state. There were no tests necessary since to the trained eye it was obvious (to them) what was going on. Finally a diagnosis! Thankfully they were able to adjust the meds and with their help he seemed to be more calm. With the new drugs we were able to spend some time together before he passed.

I don't know what strokes do to the brain but if the resulting behavior is horrible, then you MUST NOT ALLOW THEM TO LIVE WITH YOU - OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED. People with nasty, abusive, horrible behavior must be placed somewhere. Ther are no if's, and's or but's - they cannot be kept home.

patience, I hope you get some good responses here and that the experts at his facility will be able to guide you well. 🙏 Hang in there.

My mother sure has. She’s always been “ difficult “ but this has an added dimension of mean. From what I’ve read vascular dementia has a tendency toward aggressive behavior. My mother’s diagnosis is vascular dementia with behavioral disturbances. Alz and vascular dementia have different ways of presenting. The end results are the same but the voyage is different. If he hasn’t been evaluated by a neurologist, it would be a good start.