Can dementia get rapidly worse over a couple of weeks?

[Croissant26]

Hi, to give a bit of background- this year has been far from normal- DF was diagnosed with cancer and has had major life-changing surgery and is on chemo. Obviously it has been hugely stressful for all of the family including DM.

My concern is that DM has developed some very obvious signs of dementia over the last couple of weeks. One thing is apathy- she literally doesn't do anything except sit on the sofa and stare into space/sit with her eyes closed. She doesn't read or watch tv anymore, doesn't talk to me except to ask for help, shows no interest in the garden which she used to love. Her memory is ok- she might forget the odd thing but nothing major and has no problems with language- although maybe the not speaking much thing is related to that? She does talk to DF more than me.

Looking back I think she has had this for a while- she has been pretty much housebound for a couple of years except for medical appointments- but still used to enjoy a couple of holidays each year (apparently was a different person on these according to DF!). She has a bit of a shuffling walk and doesn't lift her feet off the ground properly which I understand is also a symptom. Very light sensitive too.

Could any of these issues be stress-related or is dementia more likely?

The cancer may have spread.

is it possible she has a UTI? These can cause an increase in dementia like symptoms in the elderly.

It’s DF with the cancer. Why would you think dementia? It sounds to me like she’s just overwhelmed by stress and slightly traumatised?

It could be a bit of both. She's probably been masking things for a while and this illness in your dad may have made things worse. The shuffling gate makes me think of Parkinson's but also can occur in dementia too.
She needs a review by her GP and some bloods and a urine test to exclude anything reversible.

With my Mum it was memory first several years before anything else. Then during the lockdowns, isolation made her depressed which further escalated her symptoms. She was diagnosed recently with mild Alzheimer’s.

Given what is going on with your Dad, I would suggest you explore depression first maybe? In my experience, you can contact GP on her behalf and explain your concerns but they won’t do anything without your Mum’s consent (which was the hardest battle with my Mum as she was (understandably) in denial).

Apathy is a symptom of many many things not just dementia and honestly in the circumstamces (husband with cancer) stress and overwhelm sound much much more likely than dementia.

Unfortunately yes, stress can cause rapid progress of dementia. It is not unusual at all especially in vascular dementia where progression is stepwise. So they stay at the same level if cognitive function for a while and then sharply decline.

I’d also suggest seeing if she has an uti

Yes, it could be.

But it could also be old age, depression, stress, arthritis, uti, hearing loss (people underestimate this - a lot), amongst a whole raft of other things , so would investigate with GP as a lot of these are treatable.

Thanks to all who have replied- will follow-up later- off to take DF to chemo.

When this happened to my MiL, it was a UTI, really scary but thankfully treatable.

apathy and shuffling is classic Parkinson’s

Hi, it's DF who first suggested that it might be some sort of dementia which had led me down a google rabbit hole of researching symptoms and probably reading too much into everything. My first thought was that it must be stress/depression because to be honest, since we found out about the cancer, my own memory has become terrible and I struggle to focus on anything (except reading about cancer) so I can't imagine what it must be like for my elderly Mum who has her own health issues too. However, a poster below has mentioned Parkinson's which also sounds likely. Definitely need to take DM to the GP to discuss all of this, will be difficult though.

Yes- I've been reading about Parkinson's this evening (I always assumed that a tremor would be one of the first signs of this but apparently not) and it does seem to fit a lot of DM's symptoms. Need a GP visit.

Yes we noticed this with my MiL. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s after a decline in her cognitive function. She was still sort of OK with some support living at home and was still driving but then she had a series of serious UTIs and this seemed to advance the dementia considerably. I think many people do bounce back a bit but unfortunately she didn’t.

She sounds depressed

It is likely a side effect of the chemo. While you are there though, ask them to screen for a uti. It is a quick, cheap, noninvasive test.

The elderly also are less likely to complain of pain while urinating and instead it is not dilated until there are mental changes.

It's her father who has cancer, her mother is the one with possible dementia