What stage?

What stage of Alzheimer's?

  • I don't want to think about this

    Votes: 14 4.0%
  • Stage 1

    Votes: 14 4.0%
  • Stage 2

    Votes: 6 1.7%
  • Stage 3

    Votes: 22 6.3%
  • Stage 4

    Votes: 50 14.2%
  • Stage 5

    Votes: 86 24.4%
  • Stage 6

    Votes: 108 30.7%
  • Stage 7

    Votes: 52 14.8%

  • Total voters
    352

Little 'Un

Registered User
Mar 2, 2010
26
0
Berkshire
I feel I want to learn as much as I can to help my dad but find reading what will happen in the later stages frightening as I have depression and anxiety/stress related problems and feel I wont be well enough to deal with that and another 90 year old to care for too. Then I feel selfish and that I would be letting them down if I don't cope with it. I end up thinking that it hasn't happened yet and, at 90, perhaps he will 'go in his sleep' and never have to face all of that indignity and I wont have to face the decision of keeping him at home or not. Bit of a cop-out but I think for now I will concentrate on enjoying our time together for as long as possible.
 

Izzy

Volunteer Moderator
Aug 31, 2003
74,002
0
72
Dundee
Hi Little Un. I feel a bit like that about my mum. She's 92 and has some kind of dementia. I don't think they're even going to go to diagnosis. They're just treating it as dementia. She has her ups and downs but does quite well considering. I, like you, kind of hope that one day she goes in her sleep (as her own mum did. Take care. Izzy x
 

Little 'Un

Registered User
Mar 2, 2010
26
0
Berkshire
Hi Izzy. Glad to hear that someone thinks like I do. I think it must be so much worse to be diagnosed when you are still relatively young. What I've been pleasantly surprised about is that no one at the hospital has treated my dad with any less concern because he is so elderly. You might think they would think someone so old can expect to have problems like this and concentrate their efforts on younger patients but I can honestly say we have a lovely Doctor who treats my Dad with real concern and has tried to get the medication for us as soon as possible. I feel like they value his life, even though he is 90, just as much as a much younger man. It's good to see.
 

nannysulee44

Registered User
Feb 27, 2010
1
0
dover,kent
stages

I think my husband is at stage 3/4 some things at stage 3 he can do but others at stage 4 he can't so have voted stage 4.

Linda
I think my husband Frank is between stages 3/4. But definately no diagnoses from doctor yet. We did another visit to the consultant 4weeks ago. the doctor said I was coping with 'IT'very well.I presume 'IT' is what they call it intil they finally have to give in and say its dementia?
 

jc141265

Registered User
Sep 16, 2005
836
0
49
Australia
16th of September 2005 I chose Stage 7 for my poll answer....I still believe that was the correct assessment for Dad's symptoms then, but here we are 7th of April 2010 and we're still in Stage 7.

Maybe a phenomena of early onset dementias, but thought I would post for a bit of perspective of on how long so called 'end stage' can last!:rolleyes:

Perhaps we need to create a new stage, the 'I refuse to be categorised, and I'll roll over when I am good and ready thank-you very much' stage.
 
Last edited:

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
16th of September 2005 I chose Stage 7 for my poll answer.

When I started the thread in July 2005, I too chose Stage 7, and, visiting Jan once more today, I still choose that definition.

I think Stage 7 [and all the others for that matter] have their own sub-stages. When a person has been generally healthy, then their body deteriorates at a relatively normal pace, while the dementia takes its toll mentally and in terms of general function.

Maybe a phenomena of early onset dementias
Difficult to make that call because young onset people have come to Jan's home, and passed on within a relatively short time - actually avoiding the final stage at all.

Others, like Jan, have held on.

There was one who joined the home when it first opened, who was in a worse state than Jan is now when we first saw her, and who lived a further 5 years, having already been there a good 8 years.

All are impossible to call.
 

PostTenebrasLux

Registered User
Mar 16, 2010
768
0
London & Oxford
2010 relaunch of your 2005 poll?

Dear Brucie,
I enjoy your thread and as it is your thread created in 2005, I would be interested to see the stage we are at now, 5 years later - and would love you to relaunch your poll for 2010.
Many thanks!
Martina
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
Hi Martina

Glad you like the thread.

Unfortunately, a poll can't be re-made in the same thread so a new thread would need to be started, with a new poll.

I would be interested to see the stage we are at now, 5 years later

Any new poll would have a new bunch of folks contributing so would give a snapshot of how today's members relate to the stages of dementia, and it would only be comparable in broad terms with the previous poll.

It wouldn't be possible to simulate a longitudinal survey as responses have been anonymous, and by a moving population of members. People drift into TP, and drift out; people who have dementia progress in the condition, and ultimately pass on.

A true longitudinal survey would have a fixed group of members who are measured at regular intervals over time, so enabling an analysis of the speeds of progression of dementia across the group during the period of the study.

I'm no longer on the forum regularly, but any member is able to set up a poll, as far as I recall. The thing to be aware of is that polls need to be carefully and unambiguously created, with the options not overlapping, and meaning something in the context of the subject being polled. Random and unlinked questions easily invalidate a poll.
:)
 

PostTenebrasLux

Registered User
Mar 16, 2010
768
0
London & Oxford
thank you Bruce!
Will consider a poll launch after the Summer. More as a snapshot for a given week (and requesting the poll to be closed at such time).
Glad you still pop in tough!
Martina
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
just one more to go

it isn't possible to predict how long each stage will take any individual who has a dementia.

some go through the initial stages quickly, then go quickly through the final ones.

for other people, it works the other way around.
 

bethan

Registered User
Dec 15, 2009
76
0
totally confused

I have just found this thread ( really informative) and tried to apply the stages to my mum and she just doesnt fit.

Mum had her first episode of delirium in March 2009, but had been avoiding new situations/ difficulty with organising anything for a couple of years prior.

She had 7 episodes of severe delirium over 18 months, denial, emergency admissions and hallucinations, physical aggression,delusions, frequent falls, double incontinence, refusing care etc due to physical stressors , usually a uti but also constipation and unknown infection. Each time she regained her independent living skills and her MMSE went back up to 29, and managed with very little care until the next one which usually came along in a couple of weeks.

Now mum is still able to wash and dress herself and heat a ready meal but unable to remember what she did earlier in the day, has no spatial orientation so is mostly lost, frequently thinks it is the wrong day ( despite 5 calenders) cannot shop and hasnt been able to handle finances for a long time,is totally urine incontinent and often doubly incontinent, doesnt sleep at night but does during the day, is very muddled about what is happening and when and her most recent MMSE was 24. Often unsteady on her feet.

Any stress eg toothache makes it much much worse, but then she comes back again to being able to function, albiet with a lot of input from me and monitoring of meds and bathing thanks to carers .Mum knows she cant remember things and that she keeps getting lost going to places she has been dozens of times.She is on permenant antibiotics to stop the infections, and there is a tentative diagnosis of Lewy Body dementia.

Does anyone know if thiere is a scale for this, and how different it is from AD?

Thanks
Beth