Ok when your LO forgets how to do things -does it return later or stay gone????When they go down hill -do they stay there ??? I get so confused with Paul-he will know how to put his shoes on then in an hour he has no idea where the shoes are(still on his feet)--or like this evening we were eating dinner-he was doing fine then right in the middle he forgot how to eat-just sat there looking at his plate and silverwear. We sat there awhile then like a light switch he said oh I know what this stuff is for and finished his dinner. It is like wires just hit and miss and I never know what to expect.or how long to expec
Yup, dementia is a progressive 'brain rot' and yup connections are continually made and broken. The disease destroys tissue and the body tries to heal itself.
Symptoms and behaviors do indeed come and go. This is what makes AD so much 'fun'! The challenge for us is to live in THEIR world and abandon 50, 60, 70 years of understanding how the world works and learn to live in juat the moment. For an AD person there is no past and no future only that paticular moment. Disappeared can include the past that happened just 60 seconds ago . . .
It is because of all this randomness that while most all AD folks have the same symptoms the are each different too. "If you have seen one AD person, you have seen one AD person"
With my DH sometimes it returns, sometimes not - or will much later. It's sort of like a electical surge, or a blackout - take your pick. Never expect anything and you won't be disappointed!
I would liken it to faulty wiring in the process of failing completely. You begin to see certain outages and sometimes jiggling the wires helps. Eventually the ones that are blinking on and off will fail entirely. (but as some have pointed out, there can be surprises when you thought you'd never see a certain skill again.)
All one has to do is scroll down to another thread on this page " Intermittent incontinence" to see how there are not pat answers to any of the cruel twists and turns of the AD disease process
Bak, we are Late or end stage and I no longer get the "love you" anymore. Once the wire is shorted out a skill is completely lost. I sincerely think I will not.hear "love you" ever again from DH.
This is not really what you asked but it is, I think, close enough in terms of the concept of gone.
H has been dx with ftd, cerebral atrophy, eoad. The docs can't make up their minds so how can I know? I do know this: I will never hear anything relating to affect again. Sometimes he will look at me and compliment me but it is not much different from everyday life.
What I wonder about is H's appetite and sleep pattern. Some days he does not want to eat at all while other days he eats seven bowls of cereal. Along with this, his sleep pattern differs from day to day and is now between 16 and 20 hours.
nellie, is that the same with rage? Once it is gone, at least as a dominant thing, is it just gone? Or, at some unspecific time, is it going to return?
Abby...I don't know anything about rage, however my dh was very paranoid about 18 months ago thinking people were stealing things out of the garage, etc. Drove me out of my mind and almost made me ill. His neuro put him on seroquel and within a week he was a new person (so to speak). He had lots of problems that are very typical but the paranoia went away. Well...guess what....just this past week it is back again and "they" are taking everything he has out of his garage. Then he laughs this strange laugh and says they are laughing at him. He told me tonight he was losing his mind. His head was spinning. He also said..."I can't live like this". Tonight has been very upsetting to me and almost frightening because he seemed so agitated.
I called for an appt. with his neuro yesterday but I can't get him in until Monday. I had some of the seroquel left and I made him take it. His behavior was so strange for him. He seemed more "out of it" then he did 18 months agao.
Moral of the story....it seems from my experience this evening...things (behavior) can go away and return much later.
I am so sorry. I don't know what else to say except that I have come to do this: before sleep I pray for everyone, but not including myself and do the same in the morning after affirmations. By everyone I mean everyone whom I feel is my community. This community as well as others whose cause I believe in.
Please accept my prayers. You have helpfully responed to me tonight and in the past months and I appreciate it very much.
abby...thanks for your kind words. You do need to pray for yourself because you are needed here and I am sure other places. Tonight I am so tired...but not sleepy...this "new" old thing with my Dh has just thrown me for a loop.
Judith, I can relate to DH saying someone is stealing things from his garage...in our case he blames our son, breaks my heart. Our dear son comes over to help us. Little silly things are so precious to him and he hides everything. Dh is now having trouble telling the time, and this morning couldn't work out how to turn the kettle on to make a cuppa, he was looking for the whistle on the automatic kettle that turns itself off. The raging seems to have settled a bit Just today Dh said he didn't know what to do, when I asked him about what...he said he'd had enough and didn't know what to do...this scares me!
judith if you feel threatened call the local emergency numbers. or if he is coopertive enough take him to the hospital ER if you think its needed. you dont have to wait til appt if he gets worse to you. if anything we have seen in over the days that things can spiral out of control with this disease on a dime. meek and sweet folks turn nasty and mean and scary. take care and good luck. divvi
I have found that my DH does not understand what I am asking him to do. I asked him to be sure to use the shampoo when he takes a shower. He said what is it and where is it. It is in the niche in the shower as always. If I ask him to brush his teeth, he starts to shave, which he has already done. Yesterday, I asked if he wanted a banana. He said yes, he'd get it and then just sat there. I said do you want me to get it. No,I will get it he said and just sat there. Finally, I got it for him. He complains that he can do things for himself and doesn't want me to do them. However, if I wait for him to do it, he would never put on clean underwear, would wear the same clothes all weak and go hungry. I believe this is the next stage. Every week it seems to get worse. He is usually calm, sleeps a lot, goes to a day program three times a week. He pretends to read, has started to dislike TV. He is having trouble with vision. Sometimes, he does not know I am in the same room. I think I am experiencing a lot of the same things as many of you. This is the hardest thing I have ever done.
maryd, it sounds like your DH is at the same stage as mine. I could have written your post. We're maybe in stage 6? Yes, it is the hardest thing I have ever done.
Hi bak, I found that things went back and forth and then finally left for good. When he died, he was still incredibly good about putting his socks on. Probably 4 out of 5 days it would work. Then a day would come when I would be looking everywhere for the missing sock only to find that both were on one foot. Other times he would try to put them on his hands or put them on by trying to fit the toe end of the sock on. Incredible is the only word to describe it as well as heart breaking.
Sorry to say....No...things are not better this morning. He is wandering from room to room and very stressed. He almost cried about all the things that he believes are gone from the garage. (nothing is gone from the garage. I am trying to keep busy this am so I don't get stressed. Having had this same experience about 18 months ago I know there is no point in trying to reason with him. Just have to let it take it's course and hope the seroquel will help. Gave him another one this am and will give him 2 a day until we see the doc on Monday. Thanks for your concern.
JudithKB. Just an FYI. . Seroqul takes a while to "kick in" From the Seroquel site:
If you do not take quetiapine for one week or longer, you should call your doctor before you start taking the medication again. Your doctor will probably tell you to start taking a low dose of the medication and gradually increase your dose as you did when you first started taking the. medication. It may take several weeks or longer for you to feel the full benefit of quetiapine. Continue to take quetiapine even if you feel well. Do not stop taking quetiapine without talking to your doctor. If you suddenly stop taking quetiapine, you may experience withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Your doctor will probably want to decrease your dose gradually.
Another day of the YES I know what to do to-no I don't. He put his shoes on fine and then in a few minutes he was going to take them off so after he looked at them for a while- he decided if he knew where the scissors were he would just cut them off. And we had the same forgetful things at dinner time too.Then in a few minutes he was ok again. Thanks all for understanding That even thought I should know by now he is broken I just keep looking for my PAUL to come home and stay!
bak...so sorry. That has to be very difficult to see that decline and knowing there is nothing you can do to help. We all here probably will never meet, but when we go to heaven we will be the ones with BIG wings...and we will deserve them.
Judith, could you tell him you know how concerned he is about the items in the garage, so you have moved them all to a locked storage unit where they will be safe? You could even print a picture from the internet of one and show it to him when he gets worried...
That might work...but, he claims he knows who "they" were that took all his stuff and they are laughing at him. Then he does this silly little laughing thing to let me know how they are laughing at him.
Late in the day yesterday he did get better and was talking some. But, he was really having problems in trying to tell me what he wanted to say...using very strange words or forgetting what he wanted to say after just a few words. But, he did seem calmer and didn't talk about the garage. He switched to "money"...like "how much retirement do I get? Where is it? How much ss do I get? I want it to be here...where is it? I told him the banks were closed and we would get it next week. Of course we won't.