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My Sister Has Been The Caregiver For Her Husband Who
Question: My sister has been the caregiver for her husband who has advanced Parkinson's and the stress has caused memory and concentration issues. Recently she had a rather serious fall (her first) and was admitted to hospital. MRI and other tests revealed nothing but her confusion comes and goes. She has now been given a diagnosis of dementia. Can such severe stress be a factor? Now that the husband won't be returning home, could this situation reverse itself?
Brief Answer:
there may have been underlying symptoms
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
Delirium is an acute/recent or sudden onset in the change of a person's mental state (confusion, change in behavior, loss of memory etc). This means that all of a sudden, a person's mental state or behavior changes.
Delirium can occur in response to :infections, low blood sugar, liver or kidney disease, low levels of some vitamins (thiamine, cyanocobalamin), structure change in the brain eg mass or bleed, side effect of medications, abnormal electrolyte levels
Dementia is the diagnosis given when the changes occur over a long period of time. In this case, there has been a steady change in symptoms or behavior.
Some persons with delirium have underlying or early dementia. Eg they have slight confusion or memory loss but the infection or low blood sugar (or whatever cause)- worsens it suddenly
Stress can worsen dementia or delirium but is not usually the only cause. This means that being a caregiver and the stress associated with it could have worsened any underlying dementia symptoms.
It is possible that there may improvement since she is less stressed but she may not return completely to her normal state
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
there may have been underlying symptoms
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
Delirium is an acute/recent or sudden onset in the change of a person's mental state (confusion, change in behavior, loss of memory etc). This means that all of a sudden, a person's mental state or behavior changes.
Delirium can occur in response to :infections, low blood sugar, liver or kidney disease, low levels of some vitamins (thiamine, cyanocobalamin), structure change in the brain eg mass or bleed, side effect of medications, abnormal electrolyte levels
Dementia is the diagnosis given when the changes occur over a long period of time. In this case, there has been a steady change in symptoms or behavior.
Some persons with delirium have underlying or early dementia. Eg they have slight confusion or memory loss but the infection or low blood sugar (or whatever cause)- worsens it suddenly
Stress can worsen dementia or delirium but is not usually the only cause. This means that being a caregiver and the stress associated with it could have worsened any underlying dementia symptoms.
It is possible that there may improvement since she is less stressed but she may not return completely to her normal state
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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