How are pneumonia and dementia connected?

If she has had a sudden and atypical decline then she could be suffering from confusion or delirium brought on by her hospital stay and health conditions. In my opinion too may doctors see dementia in anyone they perceive as being old without bothering to look for any other cause.

Dehydration and pnemonia cause Dementia type symptoms but they don't cause Dementia. Wait till she is home where things are familiar. Give her some time to "get back to normal". If you feel there is a problem take her to be evaluated for Dementia. The lethargy could be dehydration as so the diarrhea. Keep her hydrated.

Request an MRI and/or PT Scan for your parent.

Mild cognitive impairment a few years ago - how many years, and haven't there been assessments at intervals since then?

My guess, only a guess, is that deteriorating mental health led to self neglect and immobility which led to acute illness which led to the fall which led to hospitalisation which led to an up-to-date assessment. The pneumonia could have got a foothold through her comparative immobility, for example, or from her being unable to shake off a common mild infection.

Basically - it's all interconnected, more than cause and effect as such. Are there any boots on the ground you can consult about what's been going on?

Poor mother! Have you been able to visit her? Are you happy with her medical team's communication with you?

My Dad got hospital-acquired pneumonia in an excellent hospital after a fall and subsequent complications. Yes, he had "hospital delirium" and yes, it has long-term consequences. Google "ICU psychosis" and you will learn that even young people can get a dementia-type syndrome after hospitalization. In the elderly , those already with cognitive decline or dementia, etc., the fallout can be severe, long-lasting, even permanent. There are some things you can do to help, but it is a long hard road. I am so sorry you and your family are having to suffer through this.

Hospitals can be very dangerous places. they stay in bed and quickly weaken, and nurses are afraid of them falling -- so they are thankful they stay in bed. and that's how they get pneumonia and even blood clots. Hospitals also carry all kinds of dangerous contagious bugs that go from patient to patient. Even the doctor's stethoscope can transmit bugs. In bed means they did not fall. I have to assume that fall caused some injury--so that alone will keep them in bed and they weaken and go downhill very quickly.

Who is supporting your father as your mother's primary caregiver?

Have you asked the doctor how she was diagnosed? Can you ask for the specific test results? I wonder if they have an online system that you can be given access to, like we have at our health care system. I can go online and see the notes doctor made from appointments, test results, email the doc, etc.

If not that, perhaps they could email or fax you the info.

If the diagnosis was only done via a visual assessment, it may not be 100% accurate. As others stated, maybe when she's home in her surroundings and more recovered from her acute health problems, her dementia type behavior will improve.

Do you think you can get your dad to become a stronger caregiver? Like will he make sure your mom has plenty of water, good food, maybe some exercise to keep her mobile and regain her strength, etc.? If it's too much for him, then it's time to bring in some part-time help who could help with these kinds of things.

When my mom had the flu and a fever, she was completely out of her mind. Thankfully, when she recovered, she went back to normal.

As others mentioned too, I agree that the hospital stay itself can be damaging. A friend of mine, her mom went in for knee surgery and when she woke up, her dementia had increased dramatically and she has not recovered over a year later.

Good luck!

Oh, another quick idea - ask for the results from her blood work, which I assume they've done many of. BUT, do a little research on the "normal" range that you are given with her results. The ranges given are often HUGE (at least from my lab!) and do not necessarily flag a problem. What I look for is what is the OPTIMAL range and that's where you should be shooting for.

For instance, my ferritin level (basically stored iron) is only 36. BUT the lab range says 30 - 400 is "normal". But it is NOT optimal.

So maybe your mom has something wonky in her blood work that is showing a deficiency that could be improved through diet and/or supplementation.

It's probably more complicated than this, but just a thought. It's hard to find the answers but I like to at least try to keep digging to find out if there's something simple to do to help improve things.

Mild Cognitive Impairment can be stable, or nearly stable, for a long time ... and then some incident takes you to a new (lower) plateau. Pneumonia reduces brain oxygen, which causes both 'symptoms of more cognitive impairment in the moment' and sometimes 'longer term symptoms' as a result of mild anoxia. Hospitalization can cause delirium, along with deconditioning, for all the reasons mentioned above.

And, many people with MCI eventually progress into a Dementia. It's awfully hard to manage this stuff at long distance. If you can get her a neurological exam or some neuropsychological testing, you can get a definitive answer about her mental condition. But since there isn't much that can be done about it ... unless you need it to justify, for example, using her long-term care insurance for a specific kind of facility, it may not be worth it.

Definitely do the bloodwork. Things as simple as vitamin deficiencies or other blood chemistry can show up as dementia, and be cured within weeks. But if her bloodwork is normal there may not be much that can be changed.

Your dad may need some support, as mentioned by someone else. If she can't stay hydrated, she can end up back in the hospital.

Look into the medicines she’s taking, some can exacerbate dementia. Even something as seemingly benign as Benedryl or melatonin has been shown to increase dementia risk and symptoms.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but pneumonia can make oxygenation poor. And yes, please check med side effects and also levels of ferritin and B12. A bad case of pneumonia also means she likely isn't able to eat or eat well. The other side of your question is that people with dementia are more prone to aspiration pneumonia.

Your father can't add you to a POA but your mother can. Or, you can draft a letter for her doctor that says something like "Dear Dr Doctor, please ensure that my daughter* [insert your name, and phone number for good measure, why not] is added to the list of people authorised to share my information in compliance with HIPAA requirements." Then your father can get her to sign it and hand it in to whoever needs it.

And while he's at it, your father might want to get hold of some Health Proxy forms and fill them in for himself, just in case.

This is all assuming that there is no formal declaration of incompetence. If your mother is incompetent then technically she can't do this (though she might get away with it). In that case, perhaps the best thing to do is give your father a list of questions to ask.


*(- son? Sorry, forgot to ask! )

Hi. I am Valerie and I am taking care of my grandmother who has late stage dementia. Based on my observations dementia is at first difficult to notice because like my grandmother 3 years ago seemed to be mentally ok to the whole family who only saw her once in a while. I on the other hand would go and spent a month or two with her until 3years ago when she "locked all the doors, disconnected and hid all the phones and his the keys from me bc she needed to protect me from going out side the house, which is Colombia, SA and has bars on the windows, doors and its periphery. I was devastated and could not get her to understand that I was old enough to go outside on my own. Lol lol She called my aging parents who sided with her and did not believe me when I told them that she had dementia. Dementia is difficult to diagnose bc their mental state appears fine then all of the sudden they have a hard time making sense of the world around them.

Reading before seeing other responses...First of all, you acknowledge yourself she has been through a lot in a short period of time. Previously being found to have mild cognitive impairment may be a way of identifying someone who is on the slippery slope and may be able to cover up for shortcomings. They may laugh off little errors or forgetfulness. Being in a different environment and overwhelmed by a different routine, illness, imo, like a hospitalization...not to mention the potential for medication reactions can all be contributing factors. I would want to ask that MD myself how that decision was reached, because there are ways to rule in or out. I would want to consult with a geriatric or dementia specialist (i.e. neurologist) before believing that diagnosis. ANd those other symptoms could indicate another underlying cause which could impact results...diet? infection?

Connected very well though I would have never known it If one has dementia, you begin to forget everything - including forgetting to know how to swallow. When you don't know how to swallow the food goes into lungs, gets infected, and bingo, aspiration pneumonia. I wish I had known that with my dad though knowing it would not have changed the outcome.

The pneumonia could have contributed to a decrease in oxygen to her brain and adversely effected her dementia. I hope she improves once the pneumonia has resolved.

There is a saying “pneumonia is an old man’s friend.” This is true. My mom had dementia, and she developed pneumonia after her last fall with broken bones on her arm and leg.

My advice is to move your mom near a responsible adult child. She may be able to expertly hide serious conditions, not take medications, etc and lose all independence much sooner than need be. Pennywise and poundfoolish. Have her move IN with you temporarily for a month until you get a good handle on how she is living. We had no idea my mother in law had lost half her teeth from not brushing with toothpaste, because she always hid her smile. We saw her every week, and she ate with us several times a month. Her doctor had prescribed breathing treatments she never took. She always wore socks and shoes, and her feet were crippled with arthritis and uncut toenails which curved around the toe, cutting into her flesh. We saw none of that until she moved in.