My mom died this week she was mid stage also given ambien at night. I thought end stage was when they had issues with swallowing? Mom had multi aspirating pneumonia and died I am confused abt this
Staging dementia is only a guideline, it's not written in stone. Some people get to the point where they can't swallow, some don't. There are no hard fast rules about who reaches what stage and when.
My dad had dementia related to liver disease and I'd run around after him with a pamphlet in my hand trying to discern what stage he was in and his Dr. told me that using stages with dementia is more of a diagnostic tool than rule of thumb.
Many people ask questions here about what stage of dementia their loved one is in. They detail the symptoms and ask what stage it is. People with dementia can bounce around from stage to stage. They can go back to a previous stage and then show signs of a later stage. The lines between stages can be blurry and confusing.
I am so sorry to hear of your mother's death. My condolences.
Did your mother have dementia? Swallowing issues often are severe in the end stage, but they can occur earlier, too. Aspiration pneumonia means she had a bacterial infection in her lungs from something "going down the wrong way." It could be food or even saliva. Even people on feeding tubes can have this happen. It may be that the swallowing problems were not constant and severe and perhaps not noticeable yet, but they were apparently present. This is probably one of if not the most common immediate cause of death in dementia patients.
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Staging dementia is only a guideline, it's not written in stone. Some people get to the point where they can't swallow, some don't. There are no hard fast rules about who reaches what stage and when.
My dad had dementia related to liver disease and I'd run around after him with a pamphlet in my hand trying to discern what stage he was in and his Dr. told me that using stages with dementia is more of a diagnostic tool than rule of thumb.
Many people ask questions here about what stage of dementia their loved one is in. They detail the symptoms and ask what stage it is. People with dementia can bounce around from stage to stage. They can go back to a previous stage and then show signs of a later stage. The lines between stages can be blurry and confusing.
Did your mother have dementia? Swallowing issues often are severe in the end stage, but they can occur earlier, too. Aspiration pneumonia means she had a bacterial infection in her lungs from something "going down the wrong way." It could be food or even saliva. Even people on feeding tubes can have this happen. It may be that the swallowing problems were not constant and severe and perhaps not noticeable yet, but they were apparently present. This is probably one of if not the most common immediate cause of death in dementia patients.
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