She has been on Aricept and Memantine along with other meds for other medical issues. Sees her Gerontologist regularly and also her other drs. Do Alzheimers patients develop a sort of 'plateau' of calmness and coherancy; can think a little more clearer. She still gets confused but it seems like she is more aware right now....will this change suddenly ??? and when it does, will it get worse ??? Just wondering...
My Husband was "diagnosed" with Alzheimer's but after a while and reading I think he also had Vascular Dementia as his decline would be slow and steady then it was like he would level off then all of a sudden he would have a pretty significant decline then he would even out again.
It is possible to have both Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. (a Neuropsychologist I heard speak said that the combination was like "winning" the lottery of dementia's...and my Husband never did anything half way so if any one could have had both it would have been him!)
Bottom line..
Her dementia will get worse, she will decline. If it happens suddenly or bit by bit it does not matter because nothing can prevent what is. The damage is done nothing will ever change that. Even if they came up with a "cure" would you want the progression to stop now?
Accept the plateaus she has, be grateful for the breaks in decline but also accept it will continue.
((Hugs))
That is the case with my wife, also some eight to nine years into Alzheimer's, who appears to have reached a plateau over the last six months.
Each person with dementia is different, but there does appear to be a key decision that people with dementia face: stay well as long as possible or let yourself go downhill fast. This is set out clearly in June Andrews, "Dementia the One Stop Guide: Practical advice for families, professionals, and people living with dementia and Alzheimer's disease (a key chart is on p. 38 and repeated often throughout the book).
As the dementia journey continues, the person (and the carers) going on that journey both change. Dr Jenifer Bute with Louise Morse points out in "Dementia from the Inside: A Doctor’s Personal Journey of Hope" that: (1) There is always a reason why a person is behaving in a particular way; (2) When facts are forgotten, feelings remain; and (3) Familiar patterns of behaviour continue.
Nicci Gerrard’s "What Dementia Teaches Us about Love (Allen Lane/Penguin, 2019), is a brutally honest attempt “to make sense of an illness that has the power to dismantle the self, that comes like a robber in the night to sneak into a house built up over a lifetime” (p.2). A key theme is that “the diagnosis [of dementia] is not a sentence but the start of a process that can take years, even decades, and that can contain hope and kindness and adventure as well as fear and sorrow and heart-wrenching loss” (p. 9).
Reading these three books could save you a lot of trouble and be helpful in trying to understand what is happening to your loved one. Nicci Gerrard sets out the pitfalls, Jennifer Bute the hopeful possibilities, and June Andrews a balanced reflection on how dementia might develop after a diagnosis.
With my best wishes and prayers
Tomorrow, he might hold a conversation for several minutes where he's completely clear and aware. Yes, I do believe there are plateau's and they change constantly. It makes trying to get an idea where the illness is, how far has it progressed and what is still ahead, very difficult. Only solution I can offer is just love your Mom, remember the saying, "Love your family, they are on loan to us by the Lord. One day he'll call in his loan." Hang in there!