Anyone experience Dementia?

[knhockensmith]

Paranoia

Hi everyone. I appreciated everyone's comments about possible dementia in als patients. I also had heard multiple times that als has no effect on brain function. My mom (who is 56) was diagnosed with als almost 4 years ago. She has held on a long time. Recently, she has started to say some off the wall things. She is convinced that she is infested with worms and that they are invisible. She then gets upset when we won't reach in her mouth and pull them out. It is impossible to reason with her on this, although other thought processes seem normal...she seems fixated on these worms.

Also, she is also in lots of pain. Has anyone else experienced severe pain with als?

Thanks for any replies.

 

[Al]

Hi and welcome but sorry that you have to be here. New studies indicate that frontal temporal dementia is a problem with some ALS patients and is similar to Alzheimers in it's manifestations. Severe pain is not normally a symptom of ALS. Where is she having the pain?
AL.

 

[midwestgirl]

Hi! Welcome to our forum. There is another thread called "Throat Problems" that was just posted early this month. It sounds very similiar to what your mother is experiencing. It is actually hairs that grow down the back of the throat. Normally people on soft diets, or feeding tubes, are affected because the cells grow out long because the cells don't get rubbed off with normal eating. There can be other causes, also. This is called Hairy Tongue, or Black Tongue. There are some links that explain this in the thread called "throat Problems." I hope this can help your mom.

 

[CindyM]

Hi Midwestern girl- this is a distinct possiblilty! I deal with my Mom's dementia and often forget that there can be an element of reality to her delusions. Like when she says there is a small animal on her floor. Often what she's really seeing is a pair of shoes, but the idea doesn't come completely out of mid-air. Thanks for the great suggestion! cindy

 

[hearts_and_thoughts]

Wish I'd known about dementia...

Wow, after reading some of the posts on this thread, I realized that there is a good chance the barrage of anger tantrums is caused by the disease. I had no idea. I read it once about the connection of ALS and dementia and my sister yelled at me and said "don't go there", so I didn't. Well, I should have!

Now, I am going to look into this alot more...because it really changes my perspective of my brother and who he is. I didn't know him before the disease...no one in our family and friends did...and it's very possible that his disease is the cause of the "personality defects".

This forum is phenominal...

 

[hearts_and_thoughts]

I came across this transcript in my search for info about ALS and Fronto temporal dimentia.

http://www.alsa.org/files/cms/Healthcare/Cognitive_Impairment_Transcript.pdf

Of all the literature I read...this one seemed to be the most insightful for me. I hope it can help someone else.

Mary Jo