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wonolancet Asked November 2021

My husband is back to full functioning. Confusion much better. Is this up and down normal?

Nice to have a break from the confusion.

lealonnie1 Nov 2021
It's normal to have periods of lucidity and periods of mass confusion for a person dealing with dementia and Alzheimer's. Don't get too comfortable with anything; with periods of lucidity OR with periods of confusion, that's my suggestion, b/c things tend to change dramatically overnight! One day my mother is ranting on and on about the dead relatives insisting they're not dead, just ignoring her, and then the next day, she's talking about things that happened 40 years ago in minute detail. I never know WHAT to expect from her except that she will keep me off balance 100%; that I know for SURE. Enjoy your husband's times of lucidity and the breaks you get from his confusion.

Best of luck to both of you as you travel this journey together.

AlvaDeer Nov 2021
Some types of dementia have an up and down pattern (Lewy's does) more than a downward projectory that is inexorable. Some go down in stairsteps where there is decline, then a period of stability, then decline again. Some are a slow slide (Alzheimers). Some FTD has a lot of variation. So given that each case, each patient is individual as his own thumbprint, it is hard to make any hard and fast guesses about decline and good days. I will say that in my brother's own Lewy's there was a lot of variation dependent on how anxious he might be about something or other. A lack of anxiety made him so much better. I hope this period lasts a while for you. You give us little information on this. When was your husband diagnosed? What is his norm? When did he seem to get better? How long is "better" lasting? And I am assuming that your husband had a full workup and diagnosis at some point.

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Geaton777 Nov 2021
Your profile says he has dem/alz, so does he have an actual diagnosis? Was he having any other medical issues, like a UTI? When you say "full functioning" do you mean physically and cognitively? More info would be helpful.

I have learned a lot about dem/alz from watching Teepa Snow videos on YouTube. She's an expert in her field and gives a lot of very useful information. There's also non-profit websites, like alz.org or the mayocliniconline.com.

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