What stage is he at?

[ZZ]

Good morning, bit of a strange question really as I sort of know the answer.

My husband has Altzheimers and in the last few weeks the short term memory has got REALLY bad. He has just asked come down to ask where his coat is within 1 minute of coming down to ask where his coat is! He rang his sisters telephone number recently and she died 3 years ago. He can't remember what he did an hour or so before, even if he was taken out by a friend for lunch. He can't remember if are children are in or out of the country - even when he has seen the in our house that morning.

I am just wondering where I am/he is at and what happens next, what is the next thing to go as it were? I feel we are mid stages but have recently tipped over - I mean I do know - I have seen it with his mother and his sister - but it just seems to have progessed quite a bit in the 6-8 weeks.

Bit of a garbled thread today, apologies. Oh lord, I can hear him coming down again now, probably looking for coat again.

I hope you all have a good day today, well as good as you can. I send all of you LOVE this morning. Being a carer is the toughest thing ever, and we thought that we had dealt with all the tought things in life - my own serious illness was not this hard.

Thank you for listening.

 

[sapphire turner]

Hi ZZ, oh dear it is so frustrating isn’t it? It is something I ponder a lot, how long will this stage go on, is this a new stage and are we moving from moderate dementia to something worse?
I have found that although the overall trend is only going one way, there are ups and downs along the way. Might your husband be under the weather with something else? When my husband got Covid in the summer he was so bad, hardly able to speak, i thought he might have had a stroke. But he rallied again quite quickly. We now seem to have a rotation of moods, cheery but annoying, silent and withdrawn, and angry. Not sure which is worse really.
If only we had some idea of what was coming, we could at least try to mentally prepare! Thinking of you and sending love xx

 

[maisiecat]

Hi ZZ,
I would also agree that you need to check for any other illness as it really changes things quickly particularly an urine infection. They often tend to not empty their bladder completely which increases the risk of infection. If there is a noticeable change might be worth a check in with a GP if you can. My husband has 2 types of dementia and the vascular one definitely steps down so there is a noticeable change but then levels but doesn't go back to normal. The other thing that you have probably thought of already is is there anything going on today. I think they feel strong anxiety about managing any event even going shopping.
Very best of luck and yes being a carer for PWD is exhausting,distressing and pretty thankless. We are all heroes Ha,ha

 

[JaxG]

Hi @ZZ it's tough isn't it trying to make sense of what is going on. My OH also deteriorated quite suddenly in the last 4 or 5 months and the changes seem to be speeding up. He has mixed dementia - Alzheimer's/Vascular, but I would say Vascular dementia is the dominant one. He woke up one day and could not work out how to get out of the flat, could not find the local shop which is 1 minute away, can no longer walk the dog because he gets lost, and his short term memory is very very bad. We went for our Covid booster yesterday, and OH has no memory of the pandemic, Covid or lockdown. He now spends his days staring into space, looking at a newspaper or book, he can still talk fluently but only comments on what he can see, there is no reasoning or conversation.
In our case there is no underlying infection, it's just the progression of the disease and he seems to be changing almost daily.