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R
russ1932 Asked November 2020

Can a very traumatic experience cause Alzheimer's?

Example, the death of an adult child.

GardenArtist Nov 2020
I won't opine on this b/c I don't know, and am not a medical pro, but what could be caused is PTSS (f/k/a PTSD).

Shell38314 Nov 2020
No. Trauma/grief such as what you are talking about can not cause any form of dementia, but like what Grandma1954 explain, if a person already has a form of dementia and was able to hid their symptoms and than had something so traumatic happen than their symptoms will come out.

My mother who has VaD dementia could hid her symptoms (for years); however, when my dad passed, her symptoms came out like something I never saw before. It was as if she turned into a completely different person.

Be mindful on how you read someone's behavior because grief can have many different forms especially to someone who loss a child.

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freqflyer Nov 2020
Russ, my Mom had the usual age related forgetfulness when she was in her 90's. It took a major fall, with head trauma, for my Mom to go into the last stage of dementia.

gladimhere Nov 2020
Stress can cause forgetfulness.

Grandma1954 Nov 2020
It can not CAUSE Alzheimer's or any other form of dementia.
However if the person was hiding signs and symptoms of dementia previously it is possible that the resulting grief, depression and confusion could make the symptoms such that they were more difficult to hide.
A Traumatic experience that caused physical trauma such as a Traumatic Brain Injury can cause problems with memory and eventually lead to dementia that is caused by TBI.
Alzheimer's is one form of dementia that has identifiable signs that can be tested for. Same with many other forms of dementia. So a traumatic experience would not cause those particular identifiable, testable signs.

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