Sudden onset of dementia?

my dad is sick in hospital, and at present they r looking as to whether it is a kidney infection, he is 84 had aheart attack 2 yrs ago, but the most worrying thing is his sudden loss of mental capacity, before he was getting a bit muddled now and then but over the course of the last week there has been a dramatic decline and his head is all over the place, i dont think he can even be safely left he can hardly string a sane sentance together, is it possible that dementia of this type can be sudden or can possible dementia be exagerated by an infection

A UTI will often present as sudden onset dementia - once he's put on a simple antibiotic, you may see a dramatic improvement.

Good luck, I hope he improves.

Dementia is common amongst the elderly so they will probably do some mental tests first then if need be an mri scan to confirm it.

Hopefully it is just old age, if dementia is found, it will be pretty awful for all concerned. My sons grandfather has it and its slowly destroying him and the family.

yes it is possible an infection can cause his confusion, high fever, pain medication, anything that will sedate him, can cause this.., check to see what meds he is getting and what it is for, and how often he is getting it.

its not really dementia he is experiencing...but confusion...i worked in nursing homes for years..and many times this happened when they got very sick, or even going in a different enviroment can cause this..but mainly watch that there not giving him meds to sedate him, sleeping pills, nerve pills, these kind of things, he is older and his body can not filter medication as well as you or i and it take a while longer to run its course...i hope he is ok..and comes home soon...

Dementia may be one cause of his problems, but I would wait till the infection is cleared up before getting too worried.
A nasty infection can cause all sorts.

It may be that your father is reacting to the infection. This can cause dementia like symptoms in the elderly - confusion and disorientation. The infection may cause the signs of dementia to be magnified. Speak to the hospitial staff and express your concerns about his apparent altered mental state, hopefully they can reassure you but will be able to give you more information as to what is happening to your father.
Thinking about you, your family and your dad.

Im not a Doctor but this summer i honestly thought that i would not even remember my name at the rate i was forgetting everything and this got worse for a few weeks then i suddenly was ok.I wasent has old has your dad or even ill as such maybe a bit run down and over tired.Well i hope he is ok just be there for him and yourself.

This happened to my mother two years ago when she was 78 and it was very scary. However, my brother is a surgeon and he called in some expert colleagues. It turned out to be an infection and they put her on a course of medication. Took a few weeks but she recovered. Not as sharp as she used to be, but not bad!

Don't worry too much if you can help it.

A sudden onset of confusion or dementia makes me think that the problem is probably medical. An elderly person can become confused by having something as simple as a urinary infection.

The other thing that can cause a sudden onset of confusion is depression. Because of your dad's age and the fact that he had a heart attack 2 years ago make me think of this as a possibility. Sometimes a person will have depression wth no outward signs that gets steadily worse and worse. Then when it is bad enough, the person may become either psychotic or become confused. Both of these conditions can be reversed with medication.

Doctors have known for 20 years that a person does not get confused or have dementia just because of getting older. It is always due to some disease process.

If your dad's confusion is due to his kidney infection, the confusion will go away when the infection gets cleared up. God bless you and your dad.

that's a good question, it could be alzheimers but you would have noticed that before this. the heart attack could affect blood supply to the brain. the dramactic decline makes me think of cerebral damage and it can happen with or without these other issues. A mini stroke? any way my prayers are with you and your family. God bless you and if you feel you need to talk about this, I've been thru similar circumstances recently. e-mail me if you want to. jeff

There are many possible reasons for what is perceived as "sudden" dementia.
He may have had a small stroke in his sleep which only became noticeable when he spoke.
He may have been slowly building up to dementia and the sudden spell in hospital- away from his accustomed surroundings -- has brought on more symptoms.
It may be a temporary thing, due to medication and unfamiliar surroundings.
I hope he recovers his powers and wish him the very best of health and luck.

My father is about the same age as yours and a few years back he had two mild strokes in the brain within one year apart. The last one was a bit severe and he developed symptoms similar to what you have stated for a few days. After clinical treatment of about two weeks he is cured now from 'dementia' like symptoms, but frail from the stroke and old age illnesses.

It is difficult to say if your father's case is similar or not, but keep on taking good care of him and hopefully things would also turn better for him.

I had a UTI that led to a bad kidney infection. I was fine at first but the infection hit me hard one day when I was at work. I was dealing with a customer and I suddenly didn't know where I was or why I was holding money. I would start talking and forget the words as soon as I spoke them. I was delirious and it came in waves, about every 15 minutes. It went along with an on/off fever from the infection. Serious infection is known to cause delirium, especially in the elderly as can surgery, fever, toxic drug reactions, etc..

My grandmother slowly developed dementia (not Alzheimer's) in her mid-80s. She was living alone and was getting into dangerous situations. We had to move her into a nursing home when she was about 90. For some reason, the move into the home seemed to push her over the edge. It was sudden delirium on top of her already present dementia. If your dad was recently placed in the hospital that may have something to do with it suddenly being much worse.

Dementia's can present with a gradual insidious decline (Alzheimer's type) or step-wise drop offs with episodes of crisis (Vascular type). Or a mixture of the two.
The history of heart disease might point to a Vascular explanation.
However the suddeness of events makes me think of a delirium. This is a short term episode of mental dysfunction, very often due to infection, which can profoundly derange the mental functions of the elderly. It is reversible as soon as the physical cause is found and treated (if it can be).
The kidney infection pushes me towards delirium as my preferred explanation. Although an existing mild dementia may have been there before.

He has perhaps been suffering with dementia for a little while but being so ill has perhaps made it worse, as his health improves his head should become a little clearer and lets hope you get your dad back again. Good luck - I know what it is like I have a mother in the same condition, very stressful

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I think dehydration and certain vitamin deficiencies can cause sudden memory loss. Also high fevers can do this as well.