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My husband was diagnosed with "an Alzheimer's type of dementia" a little over a year ago after a brief hospitalization, but had been experiencing memory issues for the year prior. He now exhibits behaviors from stages 2-6. It is a horrible roller-coaster ride - having to call 911 a week ago after 30+ hours of not sleeping and increasing agitation resulting in violence and a fall. I have had him tested for UTI on several occasions. This time he had all tests plus two cat scans, EKG, electrolytes, etc. all were normal except increased brain tissue shrinkage. I am imagining that the co-pay on this 8-hour stint in the ER will run at least $1000, not including  the ambulance. He has been started on seroquelat 50mg, but now down to 1/2 tablet as he was sleeping too much. I almost hated to cut the dose because at least it calmed him down and life was a little easier for two days. Yet he can do things that surprise me, and then the frontal lobe stuff takes hold. He is sooooo sneaky and paranoid and obsessive and more, then takes out the trash, rinses dishes and puts them in the dishwasher. I never know who I will meet any given morning or who will be here when the sun goes down!

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She, you are correct. Doctor's diagnose based on behaviors and symptoms.
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Why are we being told that actual Alzheimer's can only be accurately diagnosed post mortem by autopsy, yet so many folks on this forum refer to their loved ones as having this as opposed to the many other forms of dementia? I am confused.
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My mom's dementia symptoms have been all over the place. She was first diagnosed with vascular dementia, specifically white matter disease, followed by Alzhemer's. I, too, was curious about staging so I could know what to expect. The trouble is, Alz and vascular dementia progress differently, so it's really hard to know. Her neuropsych evaluation 2 months ago suggested moderate-to-moderately severe dementia (5 or 6 on the Reisburg scale), which seems to be fairly accurate, based on her symptoms.
She started with short term memory loss, judgement issues, sundowning, incontinence, and paranoia. This combination isn't necessarily characteristic of either vascular dementia or Alzheimers'. Testing ruled out dementia with Lewy bodies. The sundowner's now (in mbeginningsiddle stage) is mostly absent, but her other symptoms have worsened. But as others have said, staging is limited. "If you've seen one Alzheimer's patient, you've seen one Alzheimer's patient."
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As glad says, the stages are only an outline of what can be expected -- not an exact roadmap of what will occur in what order. We all need to aware, also, the stages were described and established based on observations of people with ALZ. They do NOT apply to other types of dementia. For example, in ALZ hallucinations typically come in the late stages (if at all); hallucinations are often the first noticeable symptom in Lewy Body Dementia.

As Talkey says, a person can have more than one type of dementia, making the "stages" very hard to track.

All any of us can do (including the doctors) is deal with the symptoms as they present themselves. If they occur in some kind of predictable order, that is helpful. But they very often don't.
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I love this forum. I just told my sister the other day I don't know who will be meeting me at the door in the morning. I am sorry we all have to go through this but at least we are not alone in dealing with these trials. I love my mother dearly but some days it is so hard. God Bless you all...
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She1934: Count your blessings for the good days. Let the rest lie.
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You sound like my life.. I don't think there is much you can do except talk to
his doctor and maybe he can be put on risperidone .
I found this helped my husband a lot.
I thought he was doing so well I tried to ween him off of the pill.
Within one day his symptoms came back so I put him right back on it.
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Gladimhere, thanks for the clarification.
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There are more than 70 types of dementia. Some can actually be treated successfully.
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My understanding is that there are 15 types of dementia, and a person can have more than one.
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She, once you have met a person with dementia you have met a person with dementia. The stages are only an outline of what can be expected. Most of those with dementia exhibit symptoms from all stages. My mom on any given day was exhibiting symptoms from state 2 to 6. She was all over the board and even the symptoms within the stages varied from day to day. You just never know what to expect or plan for.
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Hello She1934! You could be describing my mother. She also is somewhere in the middle stages. She has sundowners. After a fall and rehab she was treated at a geriatric psych. Hospital where they found the right medication for her. She is much better now with the meds. I always say she is somewhere in the middle. The good news is they do move on from the paranoid stage. The early stages seem so hard to deal with. She also slept when first getting adjusted to new medicine. She can still do dishes but usually has no idea of the date, month or year. This is all common but quite scary when it is New to you! You are never alone on here. Grace and Peace.
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