Advanced Alz

Journey813

Good morning everyone.

After talking to my mom's neurologist I asked "what stage is my mom in". I asked because they only mentioned her diagnosis after her test results last year and never mentioned what stage she is in. The response was "I think it's safe to say she has advanced Alzheimer's". What does advanced mean? Has anyone heard this term before? My mom seems as though she is in mid-late stages due to not making sense when talking, hallucinating all day, pacing, sloppy eating, no shower or allowing washing or changing clothing. Her arthritis has her dragging her leg but I don't think it's the arthritis. At times I have to physically lay her down, she seems to not know how to do it and her legs feel heavy like dead weight, not like she is resisting but I don't know. Any opinions???

SusanB-dil

Most of us on here go by the 7 stage model. A lot of doctors go by 3, which, to me, is actually more confusing, as it is 1: early stage, not too bad 2: mid-stage, getting severe 3: later stage, dire There is so much more happening with 'this', with all the 'in-between' stuff that goes on.

Here is the 7-stage dbat - hope this helps:

https://us.v-cdn.net/6037576/uploads/B0XGDF5TALMA/dbat-287-29-281-29.pdf

H1235

I’ll just tack on a bit. Someone is usually considered to be in the last stage they have symptoms for. You should also keep in mind that people with dementia may never see some of the symptoms. It’s a rough tool to give you a sense of where she is at on this ugly journey.

Lilydaisy

My DW's neurologist is equally cryptic. I am not sure how helpful she is overall. However, her family physician is understandably reluctant to take over DW care. When I pressed the neurologist about DW stage, she said without hesitation, "severe Alzheimer's."

To me, looking at the 7 stages, she is part stage 5, part 6. As much as I would like a pinpoint diagnosis, we can all understand why that is hard. But we all really have a feel for our LO's behavior. Speaking only for me, I think it is just a numerical clue toward how close we are to the sad end.

Quilting brings calm

I found this stage table helpful. If you scroll over to the right, you will see average length of duration.

https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/aboutdementia/facts/stages/

Journey813

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/280284#Comment_280284

Thank you for this! By looking at this checklist it puts her in stage 6. The only thing she doesn't have at this point is incontinence. Wow the confusing daughter with mom in stage 5 yes she does that. I thought she was calling me what I call her until she actually called me by her mom's first name.