Probable dementia - antidepressants

[Castlecould]

Hi all
Unfortunately my mum has been showing signs of possible dementia/Alzheimer's the past couple of years but it is only recently that she has been referred to the memory clinic and for blood tests and a brain scan.
Surprisingly for us, the brain scan did not show anything unusual although (from further reading I understand that dementia/Alzheimer's does not always show on a brain scan)The consultant did note how my mums score in the memory tests were way below the expected range.

So the consultant has suggested a wait and see approach and is recommending my mum starts taking an antidepressant. Unfortunately I wasn’t at the appointment but my dad queried this when mum is showing no obvious signs of depression but didn’t get an understanding as to why this might be useful. Has anyone had experience of antidepressant in early dementia/Alzheimer's and what the benefits might be? Google is giving me a mixed bag of results.

I'm afraid I'm really posting to follow your thread, rather than offer any experience. I'm currently in a similar situation with my mum - unlike your mum she hasn't had any tests yet, but she's increasingly forgetful, losing words, a bit confused, very repetitive etc, and I suspect it may be the beginning of dementia. She's worried about her memory, and I'm currently trying to persuade her to see the GP.

In mum's case, though, I would say there are certain depression-like symptoms, and a friend has suggested that anti-depressant could be helpful. Mum's increasingly anxious about social situations (or really any situation that requires any amount of planning) - anything 'new' puts her in a tailspin, even if it's something pretty simple. She's got chronic insomnia and some digestive symptoms (which provide an 'excuse' for cancelling any plans she does make), which I suspect are largely anxiety-based. Her world is shrinking rapidly around her, which means my dad's is too - it's very hard, and she's not really coping.

I'm sorry you're going through a similar situation, and I hope someone pops up with some experience to help.

Sorry to hear about your mum. My granny was on anti-anxiety medicine for a while during what we now know was early stages of dementia.

She wasn’t irritable but very worried, uneasy, not sleeping, having nightmares etc. We think she had symptoms for a while but was able to mask them well.

My DMIL had Vascular Dementia and had anxiety which did increase. Can't remember her being an anxious person before, she had always seemed very calm.