vasscular dementia

[gizmo]

hi my father has vascular only diagnosed 18 months ago, but professor says he thinks he had it for bout 6 to 7 years.
now until recently he welcomed visits although has been increasingly sliping into his own world then a few weeks ago on a visit in he looked different same person but his face not look right like its moved sort of angery looking its hard to explain
but at this visit he got agressive and wanted us to go since then he still has same facial look but doesnt want visitors

can anyone tell me is it as i thought he worsening again ?


why is his face changed ?

has any one else expirienced something similar with there family or friends


is it normal to get agressive

any advise plz

[Bluebird]

Hi Gizmo

I look after my Mum who has advanced Vascular Dementia. Although my Mum has never got aggressive, I know that this does happen and is part of the dementia. The only time my Mum's face changes shape is if she has a stroke or TIA, could this have happened to your Dad? TIAs are very hard to spot at times.
I suggest you look at the Alzheimers Society website, they have a Talking Point forum and I am sure that carers on there would be able to offer you some more help.

Wishing you all the best, Dementia is very hard to deal with.

Bluebird

[Pete the Paint]

Hi Gizmo, yes I concour with everything Bluebird has discribed.
When my wife had her mini strokes, TIA's, she started acting very strange. She sat outside all night smoking, falling asleep and burning holes in her cloths. She started walking lop sided and hunched. It was awful how she seemed to age over night and I mean physicaly really change, almost into another person. She became aggressive and then really happy in an instant. She kept on falling asleep just anywhere. On the bus/train/taxi. Even sitting in a folding canvas chair (not the most comfortable of things) she slept the whole night hanging over the side!! If I tried to get her to bed she got very very angry and told me to mind my own business.
We took her three times into A&E, only to be sent away telling us there was nothing wrong with her!! The fourth time the Paramedics took her in as she had Phemonia and when they witnessed her bizzare behaviour first hand, then they sat up and took notice of what we had been saying for weeks! They gave her a CAT scan and MRI scan and the latter showed up several infarcts in her brain i.e. TIA's or mini strokes. It was hell to live with as she stayed up all night talking to herself non stop!!! She kept on asking me to take her photo all the time!!
Eventually she went into deep depression and took to her bed for five months!
It's taken over two years to get her something like normal. I feel that at least I've got my wife back, although now I look after her 24/7

I hope you get it sorted and dont let medics and Jr Doctors fob you off like we were. Make them aware of your fears and mention Strokes and TIA's to them.

Cheers

Pete

[Adeline]

I am sorrey to hear about your distress
My friends father became very agrressive with this condition
He was a lovely man before the condition worsened

My mother also has this and I noticed some mood swings
I hope that my mother is not affected like this but sadly I have heard about character changes
I beleive my mother has had a TIA also and has started to drag on one side and has slighy droop on one side of the face

[Danny]

Hello Gizmo
My mother went through an aggressive patch, abusive towards nurses, myself and my father, it is another phase we have to cope with. My mother is now bed bound being nursed at home, she has had 6 mini strokes leaving her unable to talk properly or care for herself in any way at all. I am just saying make the most of time with your father as you can because it is even more distressing when they dont recognise there own family. We have been through aggrresion, wandering off, lack of balance, non recognition and double incontinence, then they wonder why we need anti depressants !!!. Keep your chin up and i wish you all the best.

[MS Carer]

i'm no medic but my understanding is that vascular dementia is the result of damage to the brain tissue as a result of TIA's......if someone already has had a TIA maybe they have an increased risk of other TIA's....is it not reasonable to assume that the disease progresses as a result of these further TIA's

there may be lots of generalisations and errors in the following but its my opinion based on actual experience and observations so i dont know if this is relevant to your situation but here goes..

my mum has vascular dementia and my mum-in-law has frontal lobe dementia...although their dementia has different mechanisms, they both share the symptom you described ...and both showed similar patterns of aggressive, sometimes violent outbursts

My father in law was suddenly taken into hospital leaving her without a carer...i had tried to tell the family for 2 years of my fears about her health but my fears were dismissed...however without her minder she was lost and it quickly became apparent to all that she needed help

....in the very early stages the patient is aware they are struggling and will hide or cover up their symptoms...this may be years before anyone else notices....but it means they are already disposed to being secretive

....more and more often as the illness progresses they start to forget things as well as ideas...they move something....but because the dementia destroys their short-term memory, they then cant find it...now imagine how many times they are doing this each day...its easy to see why they think "somebody is hiding stuff or stealing their stuff"

The sufferer's usual solution is to squirrel stuff away and of course they know they hid it ...so to them thats proof that someone was watching them hiding it and stole it... they may start to look closer to home for the culprit and blame the spouse , a relative or a carer or any visitor but the end result is a cycle of unwillingness to talk, unwelcoming attitude to visitors coupled with anger etc and a deep unwillingness to leave where they feel safe......in my mother-in-laws case...only i noticed....but she carried on pleased that she was keeping up a facade of normality

This gradually worsens until it almost becomes paranoid and delusional..my mum kept saying that bastard stole my fags...my dad had emphysema and they had both given up 20 yrs earlier.....both my mum and mum-in-law would rather die than voluntarily leave their possessions to be stolen....they would literally have to be dragged out...it took 4 police officers to get my mother-in-law to hospital..with her screaming that my wife was trying to get rid of her so she could get her stuff....the house is up 12 stairs and my wife is confined to a wheelchair with MS....

Although these delusions continue and can get worse you can still work around it using distraction techniques...eg...i know ...we'll try to find it in a minute...do you want a cup of tea....lets go next door to see ....did you said you want your coat....oh sorry you said you wanted to go to the garden for tea...you must have forgotten .....

hello...oh you dont look pleased to see me...dont you remember you asked me to come...oh well im here now...do you want a cup of tea.........whats on the telly....oh i like your radio...oh i like your hair....anything to distract them......sometimes it works

its a sair fecht but the rare flashes of them as they were become more precious than gold...hang in there and please keep in touch to let me know how you are coping