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By younger I mean in their 60's. My husband has been diagnosed with mild Vascular Dementia. Do they go downhill any faster than older people ? I just wanted to hear from caregivers or patients themselves about their experiences. Thank you.

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Vascular dementia is the second most common cause of dementia and is caused by damage to the brain from cerebrovascular or cardiovascular problems (strokes) or other problems that inhibit vascular (blood vessel) function; the symptoms are similar to Alzheimer's Disease but the person's personality and emotions are usually effected only late in the disease.
Every person is different 'tarajane' but if your husband doesn't smoke, eats well, stays away from stress AND gets some exercise (ask Doctor for advise on types of exercise,... if he is sedentary).... he certainly improves his chances of living longer and in better shape. Stay positive and live well!! All the best!
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The decline with vascular can be slow or sudden. It is often described as coming in steps. I have read that it's important to treat things like hypertension, diabetes, etc. to help prevent further damage, but I'm not sure how that affects the progress.

My cousin, who was diagnosed at 63 has her her diabetes, hypertension, treated very well, but she has declined a lot in this last year, however, she is believed to have Vascular mixed with AD.

I think every case is so different. I can see how you might search to find cases of people with vascular who took care of their health and had a slow progression. I would keep looking. What does his doctor say about it?
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Your husband will progress at the rate his brain decides. No one can predict this disease, and my best wishes for you both!
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My husband just turned 65.
He suffers from solvent dementia,(was DX 16 years ago), brain tumor, bio-polar disease,just to mention a FEW.....) I have several medical degrees....It makes for good toilet paper when your sitting in the middle of it all!
Please feel free to contact me privately.
I am also a medical professional(with several degrees) but when your swirling in the mist of it all~We are all in a mass hallucination. I don't care how many degrees I have, we all go nuts together.
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Moondance - it is not "biopolar" disease. Any person who really has a medical degree would know that. It is referred to as "BIPOLAR" disorder formerly known as "manic-depression".
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ferris1 that was a little harsh and uncalled for. I have Bipolar, MPD/DID amongst other issues & I sometimes refer to diseases instead of disorders & vice versa.
Although I disagree that DID/MPD is a "disorder."
Everyone who comes to this site is in a place they would rather not be. Most are struggling lets try and be supportive and if we can't be then keep unkind remarks to ourselves.
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My mother's room mate just turned 65. She has been in same facility for 6 years as has my mother. Her husband told me that she showed symptoms in her late 40's to early 50's but didn't get bad enough to place her in facility until she was 58. He tried to take care of her for a year but needed to work to get care for her. In her case and my mom's it's been a slow progression. In my best friend's case, although he showed symptoms for a few years, his progressed quickly and passed within 5 years. As posted before, each person is so different so you just can't predict. Medications, chemistry, it's all different. Wish we all had better and more definite news for you. Good Luck and God Bless
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i've noticed that ferris1 is a harsh on a lot of posts! self appointed authority...
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Ferris1, are you caring for someone with AD or Dementia ? Maybe we can all help.
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The answer is yes. My daughter's father in law had a 7 centimeter hemorrhagic stroke after he was diagnosed with vascular dementia. He deceased.
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He was 66.
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My take on this is that we (medical science) just doesn't know enough yet to give meaningful answers to our questions. For example, at a seminar last year I heard a researcher explain that by the time someone 80 shows symptoms, Alzheimer's has been developing in the brain for 30 to 40 years!! So if someone shows symptoms at 60, does that mean it started when they were 20, or it started when they were 40 but for some reason had accelerated development? Until we understand more about how each kind of dementia develops over years and what triggers changes, it remains pretty unpredictable for any one individual. Even if we did have a good handle on what "most" patients experience, that still wouldn't mean that your husband is among "most" patients!

I understand very well the desire to know what to expect. Alas, there are no crystal balls.
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Just to clarify: Ferris1 has been on this site for a long time, having posted about 2,000 times. Moondance is fairly new here, having posted about 400 times. Both have worked as nurses. Ferris has training and experience in social work as well. Moondance's experience includes psychiatric nursing.

Each of these contributors is caring for a husband with dementia.

In my book, these are two women entitled to opinions about dementia care.

Of course "bio-polar" is not the name of a disease. This is most likely a simple typo or spelling error. Nothing to get riled up about.

As many have observed, we each have our own styles and web personalities. (We may seem a little different in person.) Some seem kind, others extremely optimistic, some come across as abrupt, some are very wordy, some seem arrogant, etc. Over the years here I've tried to see the value in contributions from a very wide range of styles.
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JG, I hadn't ever heard that Alz had started developing 30 or 40 years before diagnosis. Do they say how when it is very early the sorts of things that you will see? I have been wondering about this alot. My mom was diagnose ten years ago at the age of 78. So, in theory she started developing symptoms when she was 38? That's very frightening, and would explain why she was always misplacing something, her keys were often the culprit most often. But there were other things as well. This would also perhaps explain why my sis, now 59, would not cook shri!p before serving it, and why she did not know the difference in appearance of a gray colored shrimp vs a cooked pinkish one. Or why, now that we are having so many disagreements while sorting mom's things, after her move to memory care that sis just not remember? Or why behaviors can become so mean and vindictive? Interesting.
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As an example of age when symptoms develop I know someone who's son was diagnoses with FTD at the age of 16, he passed away at the age of 24 just last spring. Now this woman has a daughter, I believe she is 26, and has now been diagnosed with FTD. So yes it can become a health issue when people are very young, thank goodness it does not happen often.
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Glad, the researcher did not say symptoms started -- that the pathology was beginning to appear. That is, an autopsy would have shown some signs to someone who knew what to look for. (I do NOT know how they arrived at this conclusion.) His point was that in order to come up with ways to interfere with the progression of the disease we need to be able to identify it long before the symptoms begin. There is urgent research going on to try to identify some biomarkers that could be detected without autopsy!!

I imagine that many people who are forgetful in their forties never develop dementia. Some do. Why? Wouldn't it be awesome to find out!
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Glad, on that last online Dementia course that I mentioned to you about - they added some NEW info from the original one that we both attended. And yes, Jeanne is right. I didn't take as much notes as I did on this last course but they did mention about the pathology appearing much much sooner than thought. I don't feel like digging up my notes and trying to read my writing but I think the age of late 20's is when it starts. Due to popular demand, they have repeated the online course. I know, they sent me an email on it. I didn't feel like re-doing it the 3rd time. No time...
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JG, interesting. I find diseases of the brain fascinating while there is nothing more devastating. I think the fascination has something to do with why I was able to provide care for my mom for so long. I was always trying to figure out what was getting crosswired in her brain, how those thoughts became twisted, without asking her questions as she would not have been able to answer in any rational way. Kept my brain working and exercised, the things she came up with!
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As for the appearance of pathology, there are people out there with plaques and tangles that don't have dementia, so at this point I wonder if we really know as much about Alzheimer's as we think we do.
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My husband is now 87 & has been on hospice for over a year. His dementia developed after a quadruple bypass( & many other surgeries before that) @ age 69. He continued to work in a professional capacity, but mostly part time. It does become worse over time with more memory issues. He retired at 76. but it was very difficult as he felt so much despair at not being active in his work. He had been such a gifted, talented, & active person who loved to travel, It has bee a long and very sad road for him.
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tarajane: I gave you a real-life experience about my daughter's father-in-law. He had vascular dementia and prostate cancer. When the seed implantation was unsuccessful, he underwent hyperbaric chamber therapy, where it was there that he had a 7 centimeter (yes, centimeter) brain bleed. But another factor for this man was his sedentary lifestyle because he was running about 425# at the time of his death.
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My classmate from school in her 40's
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what is the seed implantation?
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It is believed that downhill is comparatively rapid in younger people, specially those with lobe dementia. It gets gradual with increasing age.
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"seed implantation" is a treatmejt for prostate cancer, in which radioactive "seeds" are implanted in the prostate gland, so that the cancer can be radiated without affecting the rest of the body.
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okay, that's right, had somewhat forgotten; my uncle had that, guess was successful, though was thinking he ended up having surgery, just no it at least was pretty rough, never heard of the hyperbaric for that - for MS - but guess what don't understand is my dad didn't have any of that, "just?" surgery and everything was fine, so why do they even bother with all the other and not just take it out and be done with it
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debdaughter: My daughter's father-in-law had prostate cancer and had radioactive seed implantation to cureI it
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To CURE it. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful.
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However, this man was also VERY immobile and weighing about 425# when he deceased.
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llamalover, I just wonder how successful it is - but do somehow think this man I know may have it and it was, but maybe it is either an age and/or weight thing - my uncle was older but certainly didn't weigh near that much and had been very active; still raised cattle and had a big garden, why hated having all that during the summer when couldn't get out and do any of that but also why think ended up having surgery but either way seemed like it was a much longer drawn out process than my dad, who was even older, at least the 2nd time, so maybe why they didn't go through all that and the first time when he was younger I just think they hadn't started all that then, but either way surgery was quicker, both the actual and recovery
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