My mother 72 yrs old has been experiencing some confusion and I am wondering if this is any symptoms of dementia.
She lives alone by herself and does manage home doing things like cooking, laundry, household chores etc. She eats a healthy diet and does not suffer from any kind of disease and is physically active. She also socialize and have group of friends she hangs out with every evening.
However, of late there were couple of incidents that took me by surprise. First, she initially lost her way to her old home (where she used to live for 10 years) but later recalled. Second, on couple occasions she has confused me to be with her though I live abroad.
I do not see any memory loss though except for normal forgetfulness.
I tried checking the symptoms of dementia but did not find a close match to the symptoms I just mentioned.
So my question is if this is some kind of dementia? Or I should wait for some more time before seeking medical advice. The thing is she got offended when I asked her to seek medical advice for confusion.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Dementia is dementia. Most dementia is Alzheimer's, but lots of other dementia cases are Lewy Body Dementia, and there are some not-as-common kinds of dementia such as Frontotemporal dementia.
Does that help clear up the dementia scene, or just add confusion?
Whatever kind of dementia a person has, it is that kind from the beginning. (Chocolate doesn't become vanilla.) It is often very difficult to even guess what type the dementia is in very early stages, so it is often just called dementia. Later it may be called Alzheimer's or Lewy Body or Vascular (or one of about 50 other names). It was always that -- we just didn't know what to call it. It isn't that dementia "ends up" into Alzheimer's -- if that is the kind of dementia it is, that is what it was from the very beginning. As it goes through its progression it just becomes more apparent that it is Alzheimer's (or Vascular, etc.)
Dementia is progressive. Overall it gets worse. But sometimes addressing the symptoms improves the quality of life so much that the dementia seems to be halted or getting better. That is a wonderful outcome when it happens -- enjoy it while it lasts -- but ultimately the disease gets worse. As far as I know, there is no way to stop the progression, but there are many ways to improve quality of life. Some people think there are ways to prolong the early, mild stage, but eventually mild becomes moderate and that becomes severe.
I think that it is perfectly OK to "fool" your mother into an evaluation. Make the appointment but tell her it is time for her flu shot or her booster tetanus shot or a routine physical, etc. and let the doctor know about it ahead of time, so she can have the shot/exam/whatever first and then without making a big deal of it also have some testing done.
What I found extremely useful in caring for my husband was learning as much as I could about dementia in general and about the particular flavor of dementia he was diagnosed with.
My mom - who is now mid 90's - was extremely high functioning till about 3 years ago. Doing just like your mom but there started to be gaps but still overall very cognitive and competent. For her, the first things were visual - like seeing animals
or other visual hallucinations like getting lost (not because she couldn't remember where the house was but rather couldn't make out the streets or houses). She started to have this inablility to walk normally- now she is ambulatory but she walks with a shuffle (can't do a heel-toe-lift walking) with her feet on the floor. She probably has Lewy Body Dementia (probably because you can't say definitely till an autopsy is done). What was great for us, was having my mom become part of gerontology practice in which testing was done to be able to narrow down the type of dementia and where she was within the LBD spectrum. The med's for the dementia's are different so what works for LBD might not be best for Alz. Also for LBD there are some med's that absolutely are wrong. See if you can get her evaluated by a gerontology practice, if you can.
Normally I would say that perhaps she had had a stressful day and wasn't thinking clearly when she lost her way to her old home, but later recalled it. I think we've all had days or moments like that...temporarily having memory or logic fog. However, you experienced another unusual memory issue with her, so now a pattern is being created and frequency of these moments has increased. Is there a friend or relative who sees her often whom you could ask if they have noticed unusual comments or activities with her? Have any of her medications been changed lately? Medications or a change in dosage can cause forgetfulness or unclear thinking. Has she been ill? What we would consider minor, temporary illnesses or maladies, such as a UTI, can have a bigger impact on the mind and body as we age. I think they a friend or someone who sees her frequently could give you a clearer picture as to what's going on with your mother, if your concerns are warranted, and whether you need to intervene.
Awareness of a mental or behavioral change in an elder is a good reason for concern and should not be neglected.
Dementia is a broad term used to describe a mental impairment.
Some causes of dementia may be stopped or reversed if they are found soon enough, including:
Brain injury
Brain tumors
Chronic alcohol abuse
Changes in blood sugar, sodium, and calcium levels (see: Dementia due to metabolic causes)
Low vitamin B12 levels
Normal pressure hydrocephalus
Use of certain medications, including cimetadine and some cholesterol-lowering medications
Dementia usually occurs in older age. It is rare in people under age 60. The risk for dementia increases as a person gets older.
Alexander disease
Canavan disease
Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis
Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy
Fatal familial insomnia
Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome
Glutaric aciduria type 1
Krabbe's disease
Maple syrup urine disease
Niemann Pick disease type C
Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
Neuroacanthocytosis
Organic acidemias
Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease
Urea cycle disorders
Sanfilippo syndrome type B
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2
It is possible for a patient to exhibit two or more dementing processes at the same time, as none of the known types of dementia protects against the others. Indeed, about ten per cent of people with dementia have what is known as mixed dementia, which may be a combination of Alzheimer's disease and multi-infarct dementia.
Therefore a proper diagnosis is the place to start.
You should educate yourself about... healthcare, legal, financial, and care giving, issues involved.
Always remember these things....no matter how you are treated by the person who has any type of Dementia, that you are not at fault, don't feel guilty if you are doing all you can do.Put out one fire at a time. Music is the best medicine of all.
You mentioned you live abroad - are there any siblings, family members that can check on her? We had a lot of help with neighbors, etc. as we lived 2 hours away and couldn't see her all the time. Take care.
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