She was fine except for the arthritis up to 6 months ago. Dr first mentioned Dementia 4 months ago - does it always progress this fast. Taking care of her is breaking my heart - sometimes I still see my Mom in there. What must it be like for her as she struggles to communicate...
1. Reaction to drugs. Is Mother on any medications? Medications can be a godsend for improving quality of life and reducing symptoms. But getting the right combination of drugs takes a lot of effort and trial. Sometimes along the way a medication makes matters worse. Discussing all of Mother's drugs with her doctor is an important step to take. If the horrible symptoms are a drug reaction, solving that problem will result in significant improvement.
2. A physical disease, illness, injury, etc. Patti4Mom has already mentioned one of the most notorious causes of dementia-like symtoms -- urinary tract infection. Any illness, including colds, flu, contstipation, headaches, pneumonia, a swelling due to a fall, just about anything happening in the body, can make the dementia symptoms far worse. If this is the cause of a big decline, it will clear up when the illness is gone. I don't mean the patient will no longer have dementia -- but will return to or close to the baseline before the illness.
3. The disease has simply progressed. It is what dementia does. So far, there is no way to stop this from happening.
Why is your mother so much worse in only 4 months? It may be the progression of the disease. The other two possible causes are worth checking into very carefully.
but prepare for the worst". It is very hard to hear those words but it is our
wake up call. I know you love your mother and sometimes we have to
start letting go. Its hard but in time letting go might be the right thing to do.
Be strong and get some well deserved needed rest for yourself.
Our behavioral neurologist is an internationally-respected researcher. A few years ago he shared a theory about that dreadful first year. Apparently in SOME LBD patients, the autoimmune system tries to fight off the invasion of foregin bodies (the "Lewy" bodies that are a protein that doesn't belong in the brain) and in doing so cause an inflamation in the brain. The symptoms we were seeing were not only the dementia but the inflamation as well. When the inflamation gradually went down, and the treatment plan for the dementia symptoms was in place, what we saw was more typical of early-stage dementia, and that has continued until recently.
I don't mean to suggest that this is common, or to hold out false hope that all severe first year symptoms might be inflamation and can improve dramatically. But that is one of many things possible.
In my local support group there is one other caregiver whose husband had a first-year experience very similar to our. There was also a caregiver whose loved one died within less than two years of being diagnosed. The range of possibilities is staggering.
I hope that your mother's doctor is experienced in treating demenia. Work closely with him or her!
My mom is still on B supplements as well as lots of others to help blood flow to the brain. Good Luck and take one day at a time, because everyday and or week presents different problems for them sometimes good, sometimes bad....its always changing.
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