I noticed last year that Herb's memory had started to decline on a pretty rapid clip, he would have times of total cluelessness but would come back with a little prompting. Now, the decline is accelerating at a very rapid clip and he simply cannot find words, keep the story straight, can't remember who his family members are, couldn't even remember how to operate a spray bottle the other day.
My question for thosse of you who have been down this trail already, what am I to expect? I read the other day (somewhere) that for those with mild AD, the decline is most rapid. Was this true for you?
It's so heartbreaking (I know you all know this) to see your beloved becoming so helpless and more and mroe dependent by the day. His sister lasted 9 years from diagnosis to departure from this earth. I'm wondering if this will be his path, as well. I pray each day for a "soft landing" for him and that he won't have to go (we won't have to go) down that black hole that the end stages of this disease promises to deliver. I know I can make it through this whole journey, it is just all the sudden becoming so much harder.
My husband's dad lasted 25 years. His sister was diagnosed 3 years before him so I am trying to judge his by her decline because I definitely do not want to go 25 years.
We really can't know since each is different, but nothing wrong with kind of using her progress as a reference keeping in mind it is only a reference.
Mothert I sympathize with where you and your DH are in this journey. They change from being forgetful to being rather helpless. While I tried to gauge my husband's progress into the disease with what I'd read on these threads, there is no rhyme or reason to what fails or when. They are all different. However, our Neurologist told us that you can get an idea of how fast they may progress through the stages by how fast they ARE progressing through the stages. My husband went from stage 4 to stage 6 in 3 years. That may (or may not) be an indicator as to how fast he will progress in the future. But it's all a guess, since there is no science as to what they go through and when.
When my husband got to the point yours is now, I just started taking it day by day. I didn't question or plan, I just quietly took everything over so that he would not have any stress and tried to keep our life as even keeled as possible. Of course, he thought I was telling him what to do and didn't like that and he had to quit driving which he HATED, but overall I tried to keep him safe and content (kept LOTS of ice cream in the house) and that was the best I could do.
I applaud you if you think you can make it through this journey. I once was that optimistic, however I'm beginning to wonder if I will. My DH is really accelerating also. Very little he says makes sense, wants to go home. Incontinence is a problem.mothert what do you mean by mild Alzheimer's? Wierd term if you ask me. Nothing mild about these symptoms. I pray for an intervention . I am to the point where I'm not sure I can do this much longer. Just frazzled!
I was going through and sorting out medical papers for DH. I was putting them in order by years. I did not realize that the first time I mentioned memory problems to Dh's doctor was 2003. That was 11 years ago. I am like everyone else here, you cannot really know how fast they will progress. From that point until now, DH has gone back in forth with symptoms in varies stages. I would say that from mild cognitive impairment to stage 6 has taken these 11 years. So on average it would seem that from stage 1 to 6 lasted about 1.5 years each. But I believe that he leveled out from his testing and really declined faster in the past 2 years. I do not know how long Dh will last now. I try to follow the Fischer Scale. But really, none of us know. It is heartbreaking to see them go through this. It is also taking its toll on us as caregivers. There are times that I don't know how much longer I can take this. I try the day by day approach, but that is really hard when something happens and you are in the middle of the catastrophe. Just do the best that you can and take some time for yourself. I know easier said than done.
I once had someone say: you can really see the decline when the disease is progressing faster than they can make new brain cells. My husband is showing more signs lately like trouble finding words and his memory loss is getting further back. That tells me the new brain cells he was building with the word searches he does all day long is not enough to counter the lost ones.
Ky - I got the "mild Altzheimers" from an article I was reading and when I looked it up it is really mid stage (5-6). He has symptoms from several of the stages and not all of them from any. His symptoms have indeed been accelerating lately. PTL, he is happy and compliant most of the time. He is becoming more dependent and I will see how that goes. The dependence tends to bother me more than the other stuff and makes me feel like the walls are closing in on me. Getting away for more than a few hours is pretty difficult as the daughters both work and one has 2 school-aged children with busy lives and is very seldom available and/or willing. So, I take what I can get and try to be happy with it. I know I will really miss him when he's gone. Nice to have all of your to chat with whenever I need a friend who understands - thank you all.
mother, each person is different as you know. My husband plateaued for 3 years in stage 5 and only got a little worse each year. Once he hit stage 6 (like everyone, he had symptoms from many stages and not all the ones in stage 6) the decline seemed to accelerate and he went thru stage 6 in about 1.5 years. Like others have said here, his constant instruction when driving (turn left, stop, pull up, turn left, etc) annoyed me to no end, but I would give anything to have him give me instructions now but he can't because his speech is so very bad. We're in early stage 7 now, but he is still ambulatory however his speech is very bad and he is now doubly incontinent.
mothert I don't have much to offer, however just wanted to drop by and give you a hug. Dado's decline was so rapid, we know now that he does not have alzheimers, but a dementia caused by parkinson symptoms, lewy bodies, and possibly brought on by agent orange exposure in Vietnam. So awful to see that though all his vitals are still perfect, no health issues, ( except for the parkinsons), his mind is leaving and he is incapacitated.
I am so sorry for your struggles, all of you, and just send my heartfelt love to you.
Fiona68 is right, the doctors use prior rate of progression to predict how quickly they will progress in the future. Of course, this can be affected by other concurrent illnesses.
You have to remember that in the beginning, they can cover up deficiencies. However, once the person with dementia progresses to a certain point, they lose the ability to do that. (So it seems like the progression has sped up, but it really hasn't.)
I want to comment, but I have no idea what I can say. I haven't been here for several weeks (my own hospitalization,surgery, & recuperation), so I'm playing catch-up. I have no definitive indication just what stage D. is in - as others have said, there seems to be a little of all the early stages. His short term memory is pretty much shot, it's useless to try to explain something or reason with him, but other than that, he seems to be progressing VERY slowly. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing! He does seem to sleep more, but sometimes seems so restless - never quite know what's coming. I tell myself to just take it as it is right now - try to deal with the future when it gets here. Actually,sometimes I think he's not all that bad - then, in the blink of an eye, it becomes apparent once again that he is not the D. I married. Sometimes he just looks like the little lost soul.....makes me sad. Well, I guess I found something to say, but it's just the same old. Good to read the message board once again.
Each time I get on here my DH has deteriorated more. He can't put on his clothes, he tries but he is so shaky and weak. He never complains, just takes it as it comes, bless his heart! He's very shaky wen eating, totallyincontinent.he was doc in 2008' but I had been taking him to doctors for three yrs before dx. That is nine yrs. I'm not sure how much longer I. Can manage him. I'm also getting weaker.
Coco - you are such a dear, dear kind person, thank you for checking in. My friend's dh is a Vietnam vet and everyday (it seams) that poor man is diagnosed with another auto-immune disease, he has a defribulator implanted in his chest and the list goes on. I think it can all be the result of Agent Orange exposure. It would take him the rest of his life to get anything out of the VA, they are so inept and behind.
Mim, your dh sounds exactly like mine. Some days I could swear he's back to normal, and just as quickly, the veil comes down and he can barely remember my name. But, he dresses himself (I get out all of his clothes for him and tell him what to wear), still continent with occasional accidents (I have to manage what he eats and when very carefully), still loves to talk, talk, talk, so, I think he's doing very fine - an interesting new wrinkle is that he asks me what he's eating allt he time now, he doesn't recognize his favorite foods anymore.
I think I'll go to bed, it's past midnight. Good night all.
Im new to this site but have been dealing with this disease for 8 years. My DH is likely in stage 6, 60 years old. He cannot dress, do any ADL without assistance, doesn't know my name and doesn't even remember us being married. He is bowel incontinent unless I can sit him down and catch it. (works most of the time) but I have cleaned up many a mess. I deal with anger, agitation and 3 times he had to 'rescued' by search and rescue, one time walking 63 kms into the mountains behind our town. He hasn't gone missing now for about 3 years and all our crisis seem to come and go. (the roller coaster ride). He is physically strong and enjoys to walk, eats really well (too well), goes to day care 1 day a week and that's how we cope. Or I cope. So many of you have gone through so much and my heart feels such a compassion and empathy with all of you. this site is going to be my comfort and salvation.