Hospital delirium is very common in people with dementia.In this study, having had delirium was linked to thinking abilities declining twice as fast in the year after a hospitalization. People who’ve experienced delirium tend to mentally decline more quickly during the following years than people who haven’t had delirium.Instead, they settle at a new, lower level of mental ability. Some people with dementia who experience delirium never recover all the way back to their previous level of thinking ability.It is especially common during hospitalization.Īlthough the extra confusion of delirium does tend to get better with time (and of course with the treatment of whatever illness or stress brought on the delirium), it’s very important to know the following facts: Delirium: What it is, why it mattersĭelirium is a state of worse-than-usual confusion brought on by illness or some kind of stress on the body or mind. So today I’m going to write about what I think is the most important of these potentially dementia-accelerating problems: delirium. This is too bad, because often it is possible to take actions to avoid or minimize things that might cause dementia to get worse faster. In my experience, people often have heard about things that might slow down decline ( exercise is one of my favorites).īut it seems to me that people are often much less well-informed about the things that can speed up Alzheimer’s decline. In other words, the actions we take - and don’t take - can influence a person’s dementia journey. (Given enough years, it will eventually damage the brain to the point of causing a slow death, which is why Alzheimer’s is a terminal disease.)īut on the other hand, we do know that some things tend to slow the progression of brain decline, whereas other things seem to speed up the decline. Now, Alzheimer’s disease - the most common underlying cause of dementia symptoms - does slowly get worse no matter what. “How can one keep Alzheimer’s from getting worse?”
Earlier this week, while I was listening to a social work colleague ( Mary Hulme of Moonstone Geriatrics) give a talk on dementia at the public library, the following question came up:
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