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Has anyone ever heard/read of cases when Alzheimer's is caused by extreme physical abuse? I'm curious because both my mother and grandmother are suffering from the disease at the same time. Onset was almost exactly same time! My mother is early-onset & their symptoms are nearly identical. Mom's neurologist commented he was baffled by her symptoms, some similar to Alz and some similar to Parkinson's but neither have the 'tale tale' signs of either?? Her walking is terrible, like her brain can't tell her feet what to do. Now she only stands and turns to get on potty or in wheelchair, never really walks. There are no other family members who've had Alz, and my mother and grandmother endured severe physical abuse by the hands of my grandfather when she was young. Once before she started school, he beat her so bad that she slept for 10 days! I hear of athletes with Alz and Parkinson's caused by concussion and hits to head and makes me wonder. Basically from time of abuse, x number of years later, they both are suffering from this although there is a 20yr age difference!!! I haven't been able to bring this up in front of my mother to a doctor, and I have not been able to find much online to call dr and discuss when she's not in front of me. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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I believe some research implicates Traumatic Brain Injury as one possible cause of dementia. I don't know how conclusive that research is at this time or how detailed it is concerning length of time before onset, etc.

I suggest that you do write a note to the doctors giving this piece of medical history.

Has your mother's neurologist discussed Lewy Body Dementia with you at all?
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What type of brain imaging would I request? She's had multiple MRIs to check for stroke and pressure on brain. The neuro hasn't mentioned Lewy Body or any other specific things. In July he called it probable Alz, saying we can only know thru autopsy for sure. He wants to send her to Emory University which is several hours away (transporting her is extremely challenging & we worry for her safety everytime we have to get her in and out of car. Plus she needs to go to bathroom every 15-30min) and it's not in network on their health insurance either.

One other thing, they both did terrible on Aricept. It made both of them begin to decline rapidly & once they stopped taking it, they both leveled off & the decline continued but not as quickly.
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Just as an FYI, trauma such as you describe can definitely cause brain damage, which can certainly produce dementia in the victim. But this is NOT the same thing as Alzheimer's Disease, although it may produce similar behaviors. And will likely have to be dealt with similarly. But it would make sense (IMHO) that a medication intended for Alzheimer's disease (the Aricept) was not useful in treating dementia cause by brain damage, if that was the cause. ...Also, not all Alzheimer's is familial. Actually most is not, so the lack of other family history of it, is not going to help you explain it...........

For what it's worth, the issue of having to urinate every 15 minutes is fairly common in dementia patients. My mother had the same problem . There was another patient in the same area of her nursing home with the same problem also. The nurse's aids were taking them back and forth to the toilet constantly. Mom was repeatedly tested for UTI, and taken to a urologist, and there was no physical cause. It was miserable for her, and everyone else, as this problem was never resolved.

Now this is pure wild speculation, but with them developing this deterioration in their mental functioning simultaneously, I wonder if they were living together. If possibly there was some other possible external cause that might have affected them both. Lead poisoning is what came to my mind.
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Brain imaging would be needed to determine what damage exists. So bring it up with the neurologist, privately if you can.
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I mentioned Lewy Body because it is the most common kind of dementia associated with Parkinson's. The "bodies" (named by their discoverer) are misfolded proteins, and they cause either Parkinson's Disease or Dementia with Lewy Bodies, depending of what part of the brain they are found in. So whenever there are symptoms like Parkinson's and also some kind of dementia, Lewy Bodies comes immediately to mind. There are no conclusive imaging or other tests to confirm this. Careful, detailed observations of symptoms are helpful.

Are there visual hallucinations? Are there sleep disturbances? Do these women act out their dreams sometimes (while alseep)? Are there problems with depth perception? Do some of the symptoms come and go -- almost normal some days and very impaired another day?

Your story is interesting. Please share with us anything else you learn.
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Ask the neuro if Emory University has any kind of study or program she might qualify for, to cover the expenses. Also talk about transportation issues. Often such places can do more specific diagnostics and come up with a treatment plan that your local neuro could then work with. Transportation might not be so daunting if you only think about doing it once rather than every time she needs a doctor.
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