We thought it wasn't working too.   Until we stopped it.   The sudden
worsening was so dramatic, that we couldn't wait to get her started back on
it again.

JJ I am amazed.   Your doctor wasn't much help to you at all.  

It is usually a diagnosis made after several tests, including a CAT scan or a PET scan, which will often show physical changes in the brain itself.   A psychiatrist usually does a cognitive test, a thyroid test is usually included too, since low thyroid can also manifest as memory problems.  

Have you ever heard of the book "The 36 Hour Day"  ?   You should get a copy.  It explains so much and is very helpful.   It is widely available, so it won't be hard to find.

 vascular dementias where there is sudden change indicate likely
 strokes or TIAs.

 Don I do not mean to sound ignorant about vascular dementia but are you
 saying that TIAs can cause them to have a big change in their behavior?
 as I have noticed with mom and have been saying now for several years
 that I feel mom has had mini strokes as she I can tell she is gets
 really out of it for a few days and seems very tired and even her eyes
 look like they are staring into space. she seems to get this way every
 so often. could it be that is what mom has? she had a cat scan done and
 they found spots in her brain. Took her to a neurologist but he was of
 no help,
  just said yes she has Dementia and it will get worse. sheesh !!! I know
 that -----but he really did not explain anything to me.
 gave here the typical test of what day is ? whose is the president ect
 which she did not know so he said that she was not getting enough blood
 to the brain and as the spots get bigger she will get worse.
 wasn't really much help to me.
 JJ

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strokes or TIAs.

Don I do not mean to sound ignorant about vascular dementia but are you
saying that TIAs can cause them to have a big change in their behavior?
as I have noticed with mom and have been saying now for several years
that I feel mom has had mini strokes as she I can tell she is gets
really out of it for a few days and seems very tired and even her eyes
look like they are staring into space. she seems to get this way every
so often. could it be that is what mom has? she had a cat scan done and
they found spots in her brain. Took her to a neurologist but he was of
no help,
just said yes she has Dementia and it will get worse. sheesh !!! I know
that -----but he really did not explain anything to me.
gave here the typical test of what day is ? whose is the president ect
which she did not know so he said that she was not getting enough blood
to the brain and as the spots get bigger she will get worse.
wasn't really much help to me.
JJ


Hi JJ.....My MIL was 100 years old when she decided to go to a nursing home.   Her children ( all in their 70's and 80's) were not able to take care of her after a fall and she understood that.   Within hours of the fall she become incontinent and couldn't walk.  I figure she had a stroke.  She did not at the time have any signs of dementia.   When she got to the NH she began to fail.   They only offered to make her comfortable.  Doctors aren't really interested in helping someone her age to get better.   The fact that she gave up after the first week didn't help.  She knew nobody lives forever.  You said that your mother is 92.   With this disease you need to be proactive if you want straight answers.  In the doctors defense, perhaps he didn't want to give any false hopes.  I think I've learned more in this newsgroup about dementias than I've learned from doctors.   It's a rotten disease with no cure only bandaids and drugs to prolong it or make it bearable for the caregivers and the people suffering from it.   You must take care of yourself first.   You're a caring human being and I'm sure your mother has had a lot to do with that.   When I make decisions for my mother, I always put myself in her shoes so to speak.   If it were me, what would I want my daughter to do?   I find that really helps.  

I'm sure that TIAs are the cause of my mother's dementia. No doctor has told me that but after a lot of research on my own and conversations here, I've come to that conclusion......June

I didn't make that statement and know next to nothing about the
subject.  Be careful who you're attributing quotes to.

JJ

The old thinking used to be that TIAs were harmless. However, they now
know they are NOT harmless. Every time a person has one, it means
there has been a temporary blockage to the brain, either from blood
clot or other (like bits of plaque). Every time that happens, even if
the person has very little in the way of symptoms, it is causing the
death of brain cells in the area where the circulation is blocked.

Its incideous - endless tiny strokes, chipping away at the brain,
accumulating more and more irreversible brain damage. If the
neurologist gave your mother a scan and saw SPOTS, rather than overall
shrinkage, its extremely likely that she has multi-infarct dementia.
This may be on top of having Alzheimer's, OR it could be INSTEAD of
the Alzheimers (you can have one or the other, or both at the same
time).

Her doctor should have taken more care in explaining things to you.
People with multi-infarct do tend to progress in a more jerky step
like fashion, than the slow steady decline you get with some other
causes of dementia. They all end up in the same place though.

Mary

absolutely.  anything that affects blood flow to the brain,
especially when there are previous blockages and damage, can
cause enough damage that behavior can change radically if
critical neurons are destroyed.