Can signs of dementia or alzheimers be painful feelings of 'fireworks', 'sparks' and 'throbbing' in the brain

Hello,
My mum is 63 years old.
For more than 2 1/2 years she has complained of 'fireworks' in the brain. Her head throbbs when she lays down and she has much trouble sleeping. She has not been a well woman for many years and the doctors have not been able to detect anything abnormal. She had a brain scan about 2 years ago and is to go for another one next week.

Mum is now starting to panic. She is getting forgetful and has insight into 'silly' things she is doing. (Eg parking the car, then trying to put 20 cents into where the key goes before getting out of the car).
She describes that she can feel 'things' bursting in her head and this has been going on for the past 2 years, but worse lately.

Can anyone please provide me with any suggestions?
I am an occupational therapist and have worked with may people with early stage dementia and alzheimers, but I have never heard of of physical pain complain of 'fireworks and sparks' in the brain. Mum calls is varicous brains.

Sounds more like migraine to me, but surely someone would have diagnosed that by now?

It is not unusual for post menopausal women to get confused and forgetful, all to do with reduced hormones, so maybe the two symptoms are not related. Is she suffering from any kind of stress? that can have all kinds of effects

. I do hope you find the answer.

I have never heard of these symptoms, my nana had Alzheimers, but she didnt have any fireworks etc. has she got high blood pressure as this could cause headaches and throbbing head? Iam sorry couldnt help more

If it's Alzheimer's in my experience of my dad's last few years, it was like a gradual dimming of his memory. He could talk for hours about his childhood but couldn't remember if he ate that day. People well known to him were regarded as strangers. He used to get angry and tell me to phone his best friend because he had not visited. This was his friend who died 17 years before.

sounds like epolepcy (if thats how you spell it) there are many mild forms of it. ask if she can be tested for it. i seem to remember reading some where about some one describing 'what they called whumps' in the head. sound similar to me. worth asking i recon. becouse if it is! they can perscribe tablets for it and give her her life back. hope thats of some help. regards to you and your mum.

Oh, get a second opinion, trawl the internet for the symptoms, good luck, you mum isn't ancient

It doesn't sound like Alzheimers or Dementia, it sounds like some other neurological complaint. I am sorry your mum is ill, I know first hand how frightening it is when there is something neurologically wrong and the doctors cannot find it, but as one neurologist explained to me, there are 33,000 neurological illness that they know about, and at least as many again that they don't. It could be anything, so make sure that the doctors do not just dismiss her, even if they continue to find nothing abnormal, something clearly is, you may have to fight her corner for her, getting her second opinions and the like, but keep at it, someone somewhere will come up with something that either diagnoses her or helps her. Just because she is doing things like sticking money into the keyhole does not mean it is linked to dimentia. The brain is associating parking the car with the need to insert money into the parking meter, the keys must also be inserted, into the ignition, so the brain is making a logical link, but is getting it a little wrong. I have severe ME and have all sorts of weird things going on in my brain, pains, sparks (not fireworks though) and a weird sound like a wet flip flop being slapped onto a tiled floor (only way I can describe it) and I do things very similar to your mum.

She is slightly on the older side of the normal age for contracting ME, but if as you say she has been ill for many years, and has not found out what is wrong, it may very well be ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and perhaps it is getting a little worse. You could check out some of the dedicated ME websites like Action for ME www.afme.org or a hummingbird's guide to ME, you would need to search for the web address, but it is very informative. It would also explain the sleep problems.

I am not diagnosing your mum, just that it could be something like this. At least it gives you something to rule out if she does not have the defining symptoms.

I hope someone can find something soon and is able to help your mum, it must be very frightening for her, and for you. God bless both of you.

You may benefit from consulting a practitioner who uses the marshall protocol.The theory being that infections can cause these types of symptoms & syndromes.They are often medical doctors who use the treatment & your mum may get an alternative diagnosis to work with.

I'm with Proud Walker in thinking that the fireworks described are symptoms of Migraine, where flashing lights and other visual disturbances (aura) are signs of an impending attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine

Your mothers anxiety, possible adverse reaction to the change of life, other health issues, could all be contributing to her forgetfulness and confusion. It could be the result of depression.

My mother had a series of "mini-strokes" that caused a number of odd symptoms. The issue here is that it finally led to a major episode causing serious damage to her health

As for the parking incident, I have to say that more than once I have tried to open the security door to my Apartment block using my "Oyster" Travel Card (it works on Subway barriers!?) and I'm barely 50. Its all about mis-association.

my mother has severe dementia now but has never complained of any fireworks or other feelings in her head. she had brain scan which did not show dementia but consultant said she has known people whos brain scan shows dementia so bad they shouldnt be able to walk/talk but they are fine and u dont know anything wrong, or like my mum where it doesnt show anything but they are like my mum totally out of it. im sure there are other brain problems that could cause her to forget things, other than dementia, also if shes worrying theres something wrong, if i forget something i worry that im getting it. hope this helps and best wishes to your mum, hope they manage to solve the problem for her.

I think the fact that your mum can come up with the brilliant expression 'varicous brains' is a sign that she still has her marbles intact! I'm no expert, but could the physical pain be migraine? My mother infrequently has migraine attacks which she has always said is like a firework going off in her head!
There are some stories on early onset Alzheimers at Helium.com, and at the risk of being called a spammer I will give you a url if you are interested - There are other items, too. Its at:
http://www.helium.com/tm/575632/older-am...

have your doctor recommend a specialist. if your doc is a specialist get a second or third opinion. if you are afraid to ask your doc call your insurance company, they can tell you who is in the network or who they approve.

i used to work on the dementia units in nursing home and i know that some of them had pain but there were other reasons than Alzheimer's for the pain.