Early On-Set Rate of Down-Slide?

m3ghan

Hello,

My DH has been living with aphasia for the last 2 years and was only recently (within the last month) diagnosed with AD. Since the diagnosis, he appears to be rapidly devolving - - anxiety about a number of different world events (hurricanes, war, covid, etc.) and amnestic symptoms, neither of which had been an issue prior to diagnosis. Does anyone have experience with such a rapid devolution in abilities following diagnosis?
Thank you in advance.

marier

Early in my DH disease process the news sent him into an anxiety filled night. He also would become extremely agitated at many normal things such seeing large group of people crossing the street, waiting for a bus or walking in a park.

It was helpful in the evening not to turn on the TV unitl after local or national news was over. Medication helped with some of the unavoidable situations. Eventually this faded as he now is in stage 7.

M1

Welcome to the forum. I don't think anyone can tell you definitively, but early onset generally does progress faster than later onset. Death is likely to come quicker, too. Agree with not watching the news. Before memory care days we only watched sitcoms, things like Andy Griffith, Golden Girls.

JoseyWales

One of the hardest things I had to deal with is the unknown rate of decline. I hear early onset is generally faster, but that hasn't been my experience. My husband was finally diagnosed at age 51 after years and years of testing. Here we are 9 years later, and he's still with us.

I did find that decline happened in steep steps, with long plateaus between.

harshedbuzz

@m3ghan

I've heard it said that early-onset tends to progress more rapidly, but it's very individual.

My dad wasn't well oriented to place, so in his mind every disaster— war, wildfires, hurricanes, blizzards, gun violence— was right on his doorstep. As the disease progressed further, he started to conflate the plots of mom's favorite crime dramas as having happened to him as the victim. The man could say what he'd had for breakfast, but he could recall the details of being kidnapped and killed the night before.

I put parental controls on the TV to block all 24-hour news and weather channels and all shows with specific ratings/content warnings.

HB

ppfrmo

Yes I think even if you don’t have any dementia problems the news is too scary to watch every day. We attend a local small Church and I find the people that are well informed on the happenings of the world generally are not happy people! LOL