Our Neurologists says husband has Parkenism and BOTH Vascular Dementia and AD. What is the difference between the two?
Are the stages the same? I would say he is in 5+6. He knows everybody and I always thought AD patients forgot spouses, children etc. or is it too early?
He is too early to forget the people in his life. That is a mid-stage 6 symptom. My husband has only not known who I am once and he was sick that week.
Vascular Dementia generally occurs because of a stroke or series of strokes, but other kinds of brain damage can also cause it. My husband was resuscitated multiple times after an accident. His heart kept stopping. That is the probable cause of his Vascular Dementia. Heart attacks can also cause it, especially multiple ones.
Most patients with Vascular Dementia also have Alzheimer's. They find that out if there is an autopsy after death. They discover that both exist.
There are some differences. Alzheimer's patients are supposed to have a smoother decline than Vascular Dementia patients. And sometimes a Vascular Dementia patient will be at a stage 3 or 4 for some things and a stage 6 for others. My husband takes a walk every day. They average an hour and a half and can last over two hours. And he comes home on his own every day.
That isn't normal for someone who's language is at an early stage 6 range and where he is losing words daily. An Alzheimer's patient would not be able to do that. Everything else is still at stage 5.