5 ms·

My grandmother passed away a few years ago. Her Alzheimer's had gotten very severe, although technically she died with the disease not of it. Her symptoms defin

My grandmother passed away a few years ago. Her Alzheimer's had gotten very severe, although technically she died with the disease not of it. Her symptoms definitely did not diappear shortly before her death. However, she did have a moment a few months before where her symptoms seemed to completely vanished for a couple hours after a doctor flushed out her Alzheimer's meds. Unfortunately I was not there, but my mom said she was suddenly completely attentive and remembered everything like her old self during that time. I don't know if it was coincidence, related to the meds, or if the flushing process did something (I'm told it was intense). I wouldn't be surprised if other patients have experienced similar things, but I don't think it's related to death.

ianhawes 5y ago
My grandfather had a similar fate. Roughly 4 months before his death, my uncle was taking care of him for a week while my grandmother was traveling. My uncle had, for the longest time, been adamant that the medication had made his dementia worse. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, he stopped administering the dementia meds for the week that he was caring for him. It was bizarre interacting with him during this lucidity. He was able to do most physical things without assistance (he still had a bad hip) and you could engage with him in conversation. He knew who I was without prompting, something he hadn’t been able to do for about 4 years. He knew all his children and grandchildren. He also shared stories from his middle years, something he had stopped doing during the early stages. It wore off though, in about a week or so he began to have the brain fog set in. His doctor was also not too happy to hear about the withdrawal. The only person who seemed disturbed and worried about this moment of lucidity was his caretaker, who had worked with dozens of elderly folks with memory issues prior. She said it almost always happened before a sudden decline. She was right, about 3 weeks later he became very ill and then died within a few months.
nunb 5y ago
could you tell us a bit more about the flushing process and what these meds were? if they were anti-anxiety & anti-depression meds, then perhaps they could have had the effect of unsedating a person?
- CivBase 5y ago
  The flushing process was some kind of medicine which induced vomiting. I'm not familiar with the meds, but I know they were intended to delay the progression of Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, we can't know if it actually worked for her because we don't have a control to compare to. It's tempting to say they were ineffective given what happened, but for all we know things could have been even worse.

ianhawes 5y ago

My grandfather had a similar fate. Roughly 4 months before his death, my uncle was taking care of him for a week while my grandmother was traveling. My uncle had, for the longest time, been adamant that the medication had made his dementia worse. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, he stopped administering the dementia meds for the week that he was caring for him. It was bizarre interacting with him during this lucidity. He was able to do most physical things without assistance (he still had a bad hip) and you could engage with him in conversation. He knew who I was without prompting, something he hadn’t been able to do for about 4 years. He knew all his children and grandchildren. He also shared stories from his middle years, something he had stopped doing during the early stages. It wore off though, in about a week or so he began to have the brain fog set in. His doctor was also not too happy to hear about the withdrawal. The only person who seemed disturbed and worried about this moment of lucidity was his caretaker, who had worked with dozens of elderly folks with memory issues prior. She said it almost always happened before a sudden decline. She was right, about 3 weeks later he became very ill and then died within a few months.

nunb 5y ago

could you tell us a bit more about the flushing process and what these meds were? if they were anti-anxiety & anti-depression meds, then perhaps they could have had the effect of unsedating a person?

CivBase 5y ago
The flushing process was some kind of medicine which induced vomiting. I'm not familiar with the meds, but I know they were intended to delay the progression of Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, we can't know if it actually worked for her because we don't have a control to compare to. It's tempting to say they were ineffective given what happened, but for all we know things could have been even worse.