Dramatic Increase Alzheimer's Behaviors since Seizure

Cobalt

Interested if others have experienced their LO having a sudden and dramatic decline after a medical incident.  For us, my son had a very difficult grand mal seizure Thursday morning while I was driving him to a specialist appointment.  I think he was gasping for air and having trouble breathing.  He came out of it at 2 minutes, 45 seconds, but for 4 days since he is now having more delusions, more yelling/screaming/pounding and significantly less "normal" conversation and behavior.  It's pretty rough.

I have called to 4 doctors now and am awaiting return calls.  But I do believe this turn of events is related to a medical event.  Have you seen this happen?

Quilting brings calm

Cobalt-   Has your son always had seizures or is this a fairly new symptom?   One of my sons has epilepsy( grand mal). .  He’s considered stable since he can go for a couple years in between, and usually has forgotten his meds when one happens.  He usually can’t remember the last hours before one, has confusion after, and sleeps for most of the next day after one.  His is of unknown origin as there are no brain malformations present on the MRIs. 

I know that seizures can decrease short term memory capability in people  who have a lot of them.  I know that some people with dementia start having seizures as the damage to their brain increases. It would stand to reason that the dementia behavior would get worse in cases such as that. 

Had your son had an MRI recently?  Is it even something that would be considered at this point? 

Cobalt

Lifelong seizure disorder and it has always been "status elipticus" meaning they continue on and do not stop without intervention.  Usually this means a rescue medication, but since 2007 with a magnet used to give a jolt to his "pacemaker" for seizures, that will stop one.  He has a VNS device, vaso nerve stimulator that mostly controls his seizures.  He also takes 4 anti-convulsants, so he's generally under control with maybe 2 seizures a year.

My son had one of them discontinued in early October because he was under such great control.  But alas, in 6 weeks he had 3 strong seizures unexpectedly.  Since the last was unusual in that he was gasping for air and it presented differently, I was worried if there was a consequence of this seizure.  It stopped by itself after 2 minutes, 45 seconds and I've never seen that before.  I am just thinking there may be a connection between the seizure event and then the sudden Alzheimer's decline with extreme agitation.

So my question is really meant to be for anyone whose LO has a medical incident or event that may have increased the Alzheimer's suddenly.  I swear this is connected.

We may take him to ER this evening for a medical evaluation.  If he continues this bizarre agitation, at least we can get a doctor to look at him.  No MRI because he has the VNS pacemaker.  He can have a CAT scan or x-ray.  Maybe bloodwork and urinalysis may show something amiss.

EdiBug

My husband with EOAD had what the doctors thought was a seizure.  He blacked out, fell and bit his tongue and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. As he came around, he was extremely agitated, combative and hallucinating and actually hit the paramedic in the face. It took hours with lots of meds given to semi-calm him down. It ended up that he also had a resistant UTI. Once he had the first seizure, he continued to have mini ones over the course of several days. This eventually led to his inability to swallow. I just received his autopsy results and the seizures were actually a series of strokes.

 Looking back, I realized that there were signs of something happening several months before. He began leaning while walking and sitting, had several falls, his agitation and hallucinations amped up and his skin began to break down. After the seizure, the hallucinations were off the chart crazy. I think the medical event absolutely contributed to some of the AD behaviors but I believe it was mostly from the blood vessel constriction leading within the brain.