
Memory Loss, Depression, Agitation, Confusion. Did She Have Dementia?

It does sound like dementia though in the elderly depression can often be confused with dementia.
Dementia is a term used to describe loss of brain function that affects memory,thinking,judgement and behavior.It may be associated with loss of emotional and behavioral control.
It is not just loss of memory, it reduces your ability to learn,reason,retain or recall past experience with loss of pattern of thoughts and feelings.
There are different classifications for dementia and different causes. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia.
Some other causes and types are vascular dementia (occurs in persons who may have repeated small strokes) ,lewy body dementia, due to infections, medications, nutritional deficiency,brain bleed, lack of oxygen to the brain are just some of the other causes.
Dementia is diagnosed after at least 6 months of symptoms. Diagnosis requires history, examination to rule out any illnesses that could be contributing to the symptoms, mental state examination is performed on the person to check cognition is normally done to assess the stage so it would not possible to determine what stage she was at post mortem.Normally when the mental state tests are given the person is given a score to let you know how far along they are.
In addition blood tests should have been done to assess for any reversible causes of dementia.
A CT scan is also part of the normal investigations.
Depression is common in persons with dementia and depression can often be confused with dementia.
Diagnosis of depression requires the person to have a depressed mood most days or loss of interest in activities. In addition to one of these the person should have at least 4 of the following : loss of appetite(some persons have large increase in appetite when depressed), difficulty sleeping, fatigue or loss of energy, difficulty concentrating, intense guilt ,feeling worthless, slowing down of movements,suicidal thoughts.
Diagnosis of depression in a person with dementia is sometimes difficult because they cannot describe their feelings.
I hope this is helpful to you, feel free to ask any additional questions


From what you are describing there were definately changes in all these areas so it is likely that she did have dementia.
Receiving a definate diagnosis may or may not have affected the outcome. There is medication to help control behavior and medication that may slow progression for a short time but it is not a sure thing and the progression is slowed not stopped.
It sounds as though that as a caregiver it was stressful for you as well which is what normally occurs which is caregivers are advised to have respite ( temporary relief from duties ever so often)

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