Any experience of rapidly progressive dementia?

[Nel1234]

Hi all, I've posted a couple of times in recent months about an almost overnight change in my 78 year old mum.

She came out of hospital last Thurs after being in for 3 weeks following a fall at home. I had real concerns about her coming home (with a care package but knowing a lot of responsibility would be with my 82 year old dad). However my brother & dad were persuaded by consultant who said she'd do better at home!

She's now back in hospital (readmitted on Tues) after calling emergency services 3 times & saying she was afraid of dad.....police had concerns about her state of mind....ambulance called.

A whole series of tests is being completed again & a psychiatric assessment. All tests completed during her last hospital stay were clear.....they are still waiting on results for 2 autoimmune tests.

As she had a seizure in hospital mri & ct scans have been done, nothing acute.

I've done a lot of googling & now wondering as nothing acute has been found so far & the almost overnight change could this be RPD?

Does anyone have any experience of this could you describe the first changes you noticed in your loved ones?

Thank you

🌻
Glad it is working out👍

@Nel1234thank you. My uncle is having similar tests so we will continue to have to wait for results.

I'm sending you lots of positive thoughts. We had a much better experience the 2nd time mum was admitted. From the word go I felt the new consultant really listened to us & acknowledged that we knew her better than anyone & our concerns were how quickly she had changed. X

@urghhh47 DM has Lewy body dementia, and a fully blown mental illness is the best description of it for sure. Constant hallucinations, anger and paranoia are the norm. But because it’s a class of dementia care is not covered by the NHS (like other serious mental health issues) despite her needing 24 hr care. She’s been in a wonderful care home for over 3 years, how the staff cope with her is beyond me, she is an absolute handful, but it’s the only safe place for her.

@Nel1234 glad to hear your DM is doing better?

Out if interest did she have an underlying mental health issue previously? My M (sadly not DM) has experienced something very similar but with her, the mania and delirium seem to be like her pre-existing condition put on "fast forward" since she developed dementia with rapidly cycling mania episodes. We haven't had such a good outcome for her, but she is in nursing care now and safe.

Hi x yes there had been a couple of episodes many years ago & DM can get extremely anxious plus she's a worrier & overthinker. In recent years she seems to have either coped with this or hidden this extremely well! Prior to her becoming unwell this time, she'd been extremely concerned about our DF who she was convinced was ill - he was fine - but she continued to worry & consultant believes that's been the trigger for this episode. Since she got discharged I've had DF at gp for full mot & service & he's doing great. That's helping mums recovery too x

@Nel1234 Thank you for sharing. The more I learn about this, the more it seems quite common for rapid decline, without an underlying phsyical condition or obvious link to vascular dementia, to be linked to a previous history of mental health illness. Likewise M seemed to be masking very effectively for a while.

I hope things settle for you further. It has been quite scary how quickly it all happened at my end. Am only just beginning to feel human after several months of stress.