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C
crumbs Asked March 2015

My husband has Alzheimer's, probably considered moving into the moderate stage. We struggle with not knowing what will come next. Advice?

We know that no one, including our doctor, can predict exactly how the disease will progress. I see different things, like forgetting to let the dogs out or in, not remembering when they were fed, putting groceries in the wrong places, not working the remote control properly, not following the story line in tv programs, staying in bed or in front of the tv, focusing on every little ache and pain.

We know these are relatively small things, but we both want to know what the future holds. Ultimately we know what will happen, but when, how, what are the signs, what are major milestones in the disease. Is it strokes, not being able to walk, not knowing who others are anymore. It's so hard to just take one day at a time doing basically the same things over and over.

One big question I have and it's a difficult one to ask, but what do most ALZ patients die from? I know it is ALZ, but what happens physically to cause the body to shut down. Is there suffering?

We know that everyone is different in the length of time they live with the disease, but there is obviously some information that gives some level of expectation. My husband was diagnosed about 2 years ago. But by then we realized that the disease was becoming active up to 7 or 8 years earlier than that when he began to totally withdraw from ALL social activities and interaction with anyone outside the family. How long can one really expect to live? I know there are not any scientifically proven answers, but does anyone have any reasonable good averages/expectations that might be helpful and/or comforting? Thanks!

Rosebush Mar 2015
My mom had Lewy body dementia and Parkinsons. Ten years prior while undergoing pre op testing for BREAST cancer we found out she had an anuyerism but they were not touching it. My mom could stand but that was about it. She needed to be fed and dressed. She died from a brain bleed. Went on hospice, very peaceful, no pain, wonderful passing. When the time comes accept the hospice services sooner rather later. Wonderful group of people who can help you and your husband for months rather then weeks.

Windyridge Mar 2015
I'm going this this same process with my dad. He refuses to be tested so we don't know exactly what type of dementia he has but the doc says his behavior is very typical of alz. Currently he seems to have reached a plateau, he doesn't seem to have gotten much worse for the last few months. But dementia can progress suddenly in many cases getting much worse very quickly. There is excellent info on this site about the progression of alz. It will eventually begin shutting down body functions and cause death. I'm not a medical expert by any stretch, but my advice is to read up and prepare all the legal, care issues, end of life details etc. sadly, this only gets worse. I saw it coming with my dad about 3 to 4 years ago and I've been scrambling to get things in order. We all have some rough sledding ahead of us and some difficult decisons to deal with.

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