What stage?

[Brucie]

I know this thread may be a sensitive one, but there have been a number of posts recently about the stages of Alzheimer's. I only today looked at a definition of the stages for the first time, so I can clearly see where Jan is at the moment.

We already have polls on the age of carers, sufferers, etc. Can we try one on stages of Alzheimer's?

The best definition I have seen of the seven stage theory as suggested by Dr Reisberg is on http://www.agelessdesign.com/Librar...F794FD979D16}&InfoGroup=Main&InfoType=Article

[this site tends to move the article about so I have attached an Adobe PDF version that will remain stable here]

 

[daughter]

Good idea Bruce, there's a bit of overlap with some things but overall I think the stages are quite well defined.

 

[Brucie]

Yes, every person has a different path, and perhaps stage 7 is the easiest to define, unfortunately.

 

[TED]

while I believe my mum is at what they describe as stage 5,
having read the other 'symptoms' I would have to put myself at stage 3 or 4.

Seriously guys, what do I do .... I'm only 36.
TED

 

[chrissieL]

Hi Brucie,
Do these stages apply to VaD aswell? They sound as though they do. I would say my husband is at stage 4, but I haven't voted yet because I'm not sure if you only want AD stages.

 

[Linda Mc]

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

 

[Brucie]

Ted

I wouldn't worry overmuch. I'm not an expert in this [heck I only found the definitions myself today!!!] but one of the reasons that diagnosis of dementia takes so long is that some of the patterns are common to other conditions.

I have to say that I can also look at some of the symptoms given in 3 and 4 and recognise them in myself. But that, I suppose, is why diagnosis is so difficult - the doctors are always looking for the defining symptom or symptoms for the condition of dementia, whatever they may be. I guess it is actually a combination of all sorts of things.

Memory is something that is retained by repetition. We see someone regularly, we remember their name. If we don't see them for 5 years and we didn't know them well, then we may not recall the name though we may remember their face. When we are worried about something, then we divert our thoughts into certain areas and ignore others and in doing that we miss things. For instance, in caring for Jan, I totally lost interest in world affairs as they were absolutely irrelevant to the task at hand - caring. So if someone asked me about something that happened somewhere at sometime in the past 8 years, unless it struck a chord at the time, I won't have registered it because my brain was busy doing other things.

You are 36 Ted, so LIVE!

Hey Chrissie, I'm not a statistician or scientist and have only a personal interest in collecting these bits of information. My own feeling is that the stages relate to all dementias, so do please add to the poll. I just think it is good to know a bit more about the others who are posting here, in an anonymous way. Who knows, it may also be of interest to the AS.

 

[Brucie]

I reckon we won't get many - if any - votes for stage 1 or 2 as it is not until the later stages that people and doctors start to consider dementia.

I suspect that the list of stages is most useful as a retrospective - ie to say, yes I recall that happening, yes, they were like that, etc.

I reckon most people experience some part of stages 1 and 2 at one time or another and never ever have dementia. The human brain and body is a complex organism, and these things just happen.

I'm waffling again....

 

[rummy]

My Mom is moving out of 5 and into 6.

 

[chrissieL]

O.K. Brucie, Thanks.

 

[Ol'Dutch]

It's never simple !

Hello Brucie. Apart from a reaction on the NICE situation this is my second post. I have been listening for some time but as an eternal novice on the PC did not yet contribute. My wife Pat is in her fifth year of VaD/AD and it's amazing how the stages flow into each other. From early 2001 until end of 2003 the descriptions of stages 3 to partly 6 were apparent at the same time. During 2004 and 2005 todate stages 6 and part of 7 could describe her situation but there are quite some differences. Pat's verbal abilities are still good but she is doubly incontinent since the beginning of 2004.
Let me just add, Brucie, that discovering TP this year saved me from cracking up.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to share the situation we find ourselves in with people who really understand what living with a Dementia patient means.
Ol'Dutch

 

[Brucie]

Hello Ol'Dutch

I'm really glad that TP has helped you in a very similar way to how it has also helped me, and I'm sure, many others.

The list of stages of Alzheimer's/dementia is most likely purely based on observation of a finite list of a certain number of people. Then the most common symptoms among that particular group would have been shuffled into an order.

Add three more people to the group [more likely a greater number, but I'm being illustrative [ ] and the shuffling might have been different.

So the stages of the disease are only really illustrative. For some people they will be spot on; for others, like you, the boundaries between stages will be fluid.

I think in very broad terms the list is useful because it is likely that, where the majority of symptoms match, we can say that is the stage we are at.

 

[Ol'Dutch]

Thanks for reply

Hello, Brucie. Thank you for your reaction. I do agree with you about the general nature of the definitions of the stages. However, the more you look at them and your own case the more you realize how individually different the illness manifests it self.
Ol'Dutch

 

[Lulu]

stages

I find the 7-stage theory better than any other, and would say that my mum must be in stage 5, though sometimes I would say 4, then wonder if there is anything wrong with her at all. It causes confusion all round, and I find more and more fitting into some of these catagories too!

 

[Ruthie]

My husband seems to be worse than Stage 6 but not quite as bad as Stage 7 in this staging - but have marked the poll as Stage 6.

Ruthie

 

[KarenC]

Five-and-a-half

I voted Stage 6 for my mom. She seems kind of between Stages 5 and 6, but closer to 6. I see that's where a lot of our loved ones are.

Karen

 

[h_eclair]

poll

Hey Brucie
Have decided thats mum's about 3, great idea to keep a poll.

Take care H

 

[bernie]

i'd go for stage 6

 

[jc141265]

Dad

Stage 7 dang it all...can we hit rewind here? Running out of time for that miracle to happen!

 

[Brucie]

I have come across the document I have attached, which compares the way a child develops to the reverse progression of Alzheimer's in an older person. Seems to make some observational sense.