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  1. Difficult Behaviors
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  2. Is it the stroke or alzheimers disease

Is my mother's behavior caused by strokes or is she developing Alzheimer's?

Cheryl bieringer asked...

my Mom is 91 years old. She is in a care facility at present. about a year ago she had a deep brain stroke and has had many small ones since.Or so they say they are strokes.she is falling alot. This past week she fell 2 more times but now she is seeing people who are not there. They are people from her past. She is saying she is gardening and doing things she did in the past.She is putting on her coat to go and meet someone but she does not know who she is meeting.Are these signs of alzhiemers and does it progress that quick in one week?

Expert Answer

Ladislav Volicer, M.D., Ph.D., is recognized as an international expert on advanced dementia care. He is a courtesy full professor at the School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, and visiting professor at the Third Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Twenty-five years ago, he established one of the first dementia special care units.

Hallucinations and delusions could be symptoms of both vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Very often, both of those diseases are found together when the brain of pople who died with dementia are examined. Rapid changes are more likely caused by vascular dementia (small strokes) and there may be some improvement later.

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