Songbird,  My MIL has a combination of vascular dementia and AD
according to her MDs and that is based on her functioning and their
experience-because earlier we could not convince her to have a "brain
test" and later we decided it wouldn't change anything.

There are some characteristic patterns of behavior with some labelled
dementias, but what you see is what's working-and what's not working is
because of the brain damage.  The vascular cause is theoretically more
manageable-in that there are some factors that can decrease progression
of damage (controlling hypertension, diabetes, etc); whereas they're
still figuring out the mechanism of plaques and tangles for AD.

As far as medications-Aricept was tried very early-when she was still
living alone.  She'd only taken Premarin regularly, not even vitamins.
So when a $70 prescription did not help her memory in 1 month she would
not renew it.  When we got her a few years later-Zoloft(antidepressant)
really helped her anxiety and later on Zyprexa was used for about 8
months to decrease her resistance to going with the flow of a daily
routine.

Once we placed her in a dementia-specific ALF, the routine there
demanded nothing specific of her-she calmed down, adjusted well, and the
meds have been steadily decreased so that she is only on a very tiny
dose of the anti-depressant now.  She always was social and she remains
"there" with "her peers".  But is very vacant, aphasic for the most
part-but not miserable.  A MMSE of 27 sounds wonderful for me; but I'm
sure has its problems.  She's a zero, but walking, talking, and
continent when awake.

We've been fortunate not to have the aggressive behaviors others have
described.  She has also maintained the "social graces" and is not a
behavior problem at all. Just don't ask her anything and she's fine.

Best wishes.  It still hurts to watch the inch by inch decline.
Beth, Physical Therapist.

Songbird,

OF COURSE you can!   Whatever the cause, the outer symptoms are the same and
you are dealing with the same issues.

My father is 91 and he has carotid artery blockage problems too.   One is
shut completely and the other is about 80% blocked with a stent keeping it
open.    He doesn't appear to have any symptoms of dementia, but it is
possible it just hasn't become evident yet.

He is being treated with several things, a blood thinner in particular, and
also a statin drug for his cholesterol.  I tried to convince him he should
also be taking coenzyme Q-10 in about 150mg size too, but he wouldn't spend
the money for it.    He does take a fish oil capsule every day, fortunately.