Husband diagnosed with dementia, vascualr (from strokes) and possibly AD. He started out having some pretty profound symptons. Was in the physc hospital twice trying to figure out what was wrong with him and getting him on right medications. He has now been on medications about 5 months and seems to be doing much better. There was a time when he was pretty much a "zombie" not communicating and starring into space, but now is coming back to "life" persay. He still has problems with focus, concentration, doing certain tasks, motivation and some memory but his overall emotional state seems almost normal. I am trying not to read to much into this as it may not last, but would like to know if anyone else has experienced this kind of improvement. Would this be what they call a plateau?

HI Victorino

Vascular dementia is one of the nastier ones, as you discovered .. thankfully things seem to have sorted themselves out.

For the moment, enjoy. Each day can bring new symptoms and behaviours, so while the calm is there, make the most of it. But do be prepared for the body to start tolerating the med's and perhaps not work as well. This is just a theory, I'm not a medical professional, but I found with my ex-charge and simple anti-depressants, that they worked 'for a time' but didn't work as well long term, and med's had to be stepped up or totally changed. She started off on a mild-anti depressant, went to a mid stream one and is now on anti-psychotic med's which, according to my source, now has her as a happy calm sedate wonderful little old lady .. just like she used to be (temperament wise).

I wish you luck in your journey with your husband, you will have your ups and downs, but at least you can share it with us.

Cheers
Sally

My FIL has become increasingly anxious on Zoloft and Seroquel and exhibited violent behavior in his lockdown unit. The doctor has added another drug, an anti-seizure one, and decreased the Seroquel, but my FIL now seems to sleep most of the time. He is lethargic and incontinent on this new drug, which he has been on for a little over a week. Should we ask them to ease off on the new drug or is there a period of adjustment needed? I hate to see him so disoriented and almost miss his antsy behavior. Of course, his girlfriend, who has finally being allowed to visit him under restricted conditions, thinks the AD unit nurses just want him drugged up so he won't be a problem. But other residents of the unit do not seem to be so lethargic so I am hoping they will try to calibrate his drugs so he isn't violent, but is awake. The girlfriend is driving me crazy.

Jane

Dear Jane,

Too bad the GF was allowed back - she is again doing what she seems to do best: causing trouble.

Give the drug a chance to kick in, and his body a chance to adjust to it.

I would consider a permanent ban on her visits.

Love,
Martha

When the sun comes up, it is so much brighter than had you never seen such deep darkness.

Wishing you many more happy moments,

B.Y.

Jane, just to let you know that my hubby had the same problem as your dad, slept all the time (16-18) hrs a day and was like in a transparent state. I remember worrying about all the sleeping and feeling guility, thinking this is not really a person I am talking to. There were times I even thought of decreasing it, but remembered what he was like before he started them and I could not go through that again. Well, I think there right in saying give it time to work, I was told this too. Not having your mind is a terrible thing and I think all of us down deep have that hope that maybe, just maybe we could change them. Hang in there.
Diane

Thanks for the encouragement. My DH and I plan to visit my FIL on Wednesday and see if he is still so lethargic. My FIL's daughter visited him today and said he seemed docile, but not really too out of it. We had lunch with the GF and she seems reconciled to giving up control. She made a point of telling me that the nursing staff was really glad to see her on Saturday when she was allowed her first visit. I wonder if she thinks we are making up the charges the nurses have made against her. She also made a point of telling me that when FIL was diagnosed with dementia that he told her that she would be the only one he would care to remember. I think with her diminishing control she may lose interest in him. I hope so.

Jane

I’m glad your husband is doing well good luck.

caseypup

Hi Everyone,

I just had to jump in here! Barbaric Yawp (sp?), are you a poet, or are you quoting someone else? You do seem to have a way with words!!!

Just to compare notes, my dad sleeps at the least 10 hours and at the most, 18 hours per day! It depends on what he has to do on a certain day. If you let him, he would sleep 14 - 18 hours per day! I sort of think that he is depressed and that is one of the reasons that my dad sleeps so much! But, everytime I ask him (or the dr. asks him), he says no he is not depressed, or just sits there and does not answer. He may not know what being depressed means?!

I say, like someone else said, enjoy the more sensible times and more happy times while you can!!! Our charges can go down hill very fast! It seems like my dad is one his way down again. No more upping of meds, either! My mom said that he was seeing bugs in his Wendys frosty and picking them out. She said, there were no bugs! I told her that he was hallucinating. And that later he would see people again.

Hope everything goes well in the next few weeks and everything smooths out!

Take care.

Love, Wannabe