Are these typical signs of dimentia? Or could it have been a stroke?

My grandmother has been diagnosed with dimentia in the past year. However, this past week she has undergone a rapid and significant decline.

She went from forgetting who my mom was every now and then to having no clue of what's going on at all. She is totally confused now and saying things like "I'm tired to this job, can I put in my two weeks' notice?" And saying to my mom who she lives with, "May I stay here for awhile"? Those are just a few things she says among other similar statements that make no sense at all.

What I'm wondering is if these are signs that she may have had a stroke. My mother will be taking her to the doctor to find out, but I wanted to ask in the meantime, because it seems odd that she has been declining so fast.

Yes, check for a stroke. If you're truly concerned that she had a stroke, which might possibly the case, take your grandmother to the emergency room IMMEDIATELY because "time lost is brain lost."

Sometimes someone with dementia will decline quickly as a result of the disease. This seems to be happen a lot if the person has had a bad event happen (like the death of a spouse or someone else that's really close to him or her or this person breaks a hip or some other bone).


By the way, peaches6, Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia. Dementia is defined as "loss of mental skills that affects your daily life," which describes Alzheimer's disease.

Dementia does affect a person's memory so she may not remember that she lives with your mother and that she isn't at some job.

You can find out if she had a stroke, but she could possibly have Alzheimer's and not dementia. Also, is she on medication to control the dementia? I would see about getting a second opinion just to be sure. Good Luck!

quick stroke check

1. Ask person to smile (look at corners of mouth - one will droop - so will that side of face)
2. Ask person to raise arms over head (one lower)
3. Ask person to say a complete sentence to you. ( won't make sense-i.e. misplaced words - wrong subject and verb etc)

any of the three may indiciate a more urgent need to see a doctor

all the best