my husband is classed as having severe altzheimers. he has had dementia for about 8-9 years. can anyone tell me about the stages of dementia. is it their behaviour or the length of time they have had it? thank you.
Everybody is different. Some people are in denial for so long, and go to great lengths to hide things, that they may have a shorter assessment time, but their behaviour may suggest otherwise.
There isn't a Richter scale, so you can't say with definitive certainty "X has had this illness for Y years and often does ABC, so they must be advanced". Some people respond well to medication, so may have the same type of behaviour for years, and then suddenly deteriorate.
Or they may deteriorate gradually and then stay at one point for ages. From a carer's point of view, it's a case of finding the things that work for you, and help make life as bearable as possible.