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What were the first dementia signs you noticed?
My husband has vascular dementia as a result of at least 7 TIAs and 1 larger stroke as shown on an MRI. The only one we were aware of was a TIA in 2016. I'm guessing that some or all of the others may have happened in his sleep because there were no obvious signs like there were with the 2016 one.
Anyway, I've been thinking back to things that seemed "off" well before I started suspecting a problem. One thing was that he started mixing up pronouns. He'd refer to a female pet as "he" and vice-versa. He still does and he mostly does it with animals. He'll also tell a male pet that's he's a "good girl" and vice-versa.
When it first happened, it became a joke, but now I wonder if that was one of the first signs that something wasn't functioning the way it should. I'm curious if others can think of things that seemed "off" before the problem became obvious.
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Loss of taste and smell. It was during Covid so I put it off to that. The first thing that got my attention was the fact that he didn't know where anything was in the kitchen in our home of 30 years. I thought he was joking. I told him to go in and familiarize himself with what was in the drawers and cabinets. Then I realized he really did not know where anything was.
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2 Reactions@centre my husband is at the very early stages of this diagnosis. His MOCA score is 26 and our neurologist wants to begin the intravenous drug therapy immediately before "it gets worse". I'm not inclined to jump into this 18 month, very expensive program for what they predict will give us 6 more months so less decline. How long has this process of your husbands been ongoing?
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1 Reaction@flylgw He received the diagnosis in 2014. He needed to go into assistive living in 2022, although he was fully functional with personal care and ambulation. He got into “you’re not the boss of me” and wouldn’t eat the diabetic diet I cooked or allow me to do the meds, got everything mixed up and landed in the hospital. The neurologist and his PCP said it wasn’t safe for him to come home, as he continued uncooperative with me. He went into AL and Surprise! He has never asked to come home and is healthier than he’s ever been with the structure, guy friends, musical activities, and the attention and teasing from “the girls”.
The PCP put him on memantine in 2014, but googling it says it loses it’s effectiveness after several years, but PCP says once on these types of meds, they usually just continue them.
I’m not sorry the IV choice wasn’t available or offered back in 2014. He’s happy, content, safe, getting good care, and I can have a life too.
Now, in July 2026, he continues independent in self-care, supervised from a distance for showering for safety (at my request). He had 2 small strokes in 2024, Physical Therapy says is no longer safe to be an independent walker with any assistive device, uses a wheelchair for independent mobility with his feet, does a nice independent pivot transfer to/from bed, toilet, passenger seat in my car. His cognitive status has slowly declined, but he knows me, knows the kids, has a great long-term memory, much shorter short term memory, is very cooperative with the staff.
@centre so many things to consider going forward! We are looking into and have an appointment with a functional medicine doctor in Vienna, Va, who specializes in the Bredesen Protocol which treats the whole person and not just the brain. They are finding toxins, metabolic syndromes, infections, etc., can all affect the formation of plaques. They are looking for the underlying causes of the plaques, not just the removal without trying to make the patient and brain more functioning. We are both anxious to get started and hopeful to get some answers and improvements. We shall see.