A rapid decline?

PattiRN2 · August 24

My husband was diagnosed with MCI 2017 and diagnosed with mild/mod Alz on 4/24. The disease was progressing slowly. But since Jan, his symptoms are significantly worse. His MMSE scores dropped 4 points from Jan to April. And, in last few weeks, his symptoms suddenly worsened again. It’s like falling off a small cliff.Even our family doc was shocked. We had hoped infection or medications were the problem but everything else is fine. Can symptoms suddenly worsen? What’s going on?

harshedbuzz · August 24

@PattiRN2

Yes, sometimes symptoms do seemingly progress overnight even in the absence of an infection.

Often vascular dementia progresses in a series of plateaus and significant declines; my aunt had VD and her progression followed this step pattern. FWIW, VD tends to progress a bit more rapidly than Alzheimer's in terms of duration of the disease.

With my dad who had mixed dementia, it seemed like the progression of the disease accelerated in the late stages. In retrospect, I saw symptoms as early as 2005, with memory issues in late 2008. He was diagnosed in December of 2016 in stage 5 and passed in April 2018 in stage 7.

I am sorry you are seeing this rapid decline in your DH.

HB

jfkoc · August 24

Big declines are also a sign of Lewy Body Dementia.

Did the Dr do a test for UTI?

Jeanne C. · August 24

FWIW I think anyone can decline quickly. My husband was diagnosed FTDbv stage 5 in January 2023. He's now stage 6/7 and in hospice. 2 years ago he was driving and seemingly ok (just behavioral symptoms like anger issues and hoarding). Now he barely speaks (never more than a whispered word or two), sleeps 16+ hours a day, is fully incontinent, and needs help to stand.

I'm sorry your family is going through this.

LaneyG · August 25

Patti, coincidence. My husband has VD and some Alz. He was also diagnosed with MCI in 2017. Until this past January his decline has been gradual and for the most part manageable. But since January he has been declining significantly. Three hospitalization since then and I don’t know if he is going to plateau again or not. My best guess is that he has gone from Stage 4 to beginnings of stage 6 in a matter of weeks it seems.

PattiRN2 · August 25

I appreciate all your responses. I wasn’t ready to be part of this group until now. Life didn't seem that different. We were managing and I thought we had more time.

Family doc says no infection and we see the neurologist Tuesday morning. This is how crazy it is…this morning he spoke by telephone to his daughter and he was confused with significant word finding. His recent decline was obvious. Fortunately, I am in close contact with her so she was prepared. As best you can be. By afternoon he was more fluent and by evening sounded like his old self.

My heart breaks to hear your stories. So much suffering happening.

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/220357#Comment_220357

A rapid decline?

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