Sudden decline. How quickly can this happen?

One must keep in mind that in a facility, sometimes elderly people are over-drugged, so they create less work for staff (especially at night before going to sleep). It depends on the facility. But seriously, this does happen sometimes.

Those drugs of course affect the mind, memory, and can result in rapid decline.

i was looking at old videos I took of my husband last summer, june , july and august2021 and he was still walking around, no cane, eating non stop, watching tv for short periods of time but I did have a caregiver just to stay with him about 4 hours a day so I could do errands, my medical appointments, pay bills ect.I was doing all his personal care and grooming, helping him to the bathroom and cleaning up accidents. Fast forward 4 months… still eating and snacking, but falling, trying to leave the house, trying to jump from the car while I was taking him for a ride to see the ocean, incontinent of both urine and stool. Insisting someone was trying to hurt us, insisting I was holding him hostage and wasn’t his wife and thought he’d abandoned his kids, which led to severe depression. I had no choice but to place him In LTC after I ruptured a disc In my back and was unable to even lift a half gallon milk jug.His admission date was December 15,2021 and I was heartbroken. Now 6 months later on June 27,2022 my wonderful husband who ive been with since we were 16 years old, passed away. He had a fall, thru no ones fault but him climbing out of bed over the half rails, ended up in the hospital via ambulance for a cat scan of the head which showed NO head Injury, I knew he was on a downward spiral , he was a DNR/DNI and I had him sent back to be with staff who adored and took good care of him.( I’m a retired nurse and I can honestly say he was NOT treated very nicely at the hospital ER… apparently the nurses feel the way to calm someone with dementia these days is to scold and verbally antagonize them while trying to insert a catheter which resulted in trauma and bloody urine the remainder of his life).I’m thankful that I placed him on comfort care with the staff who loved him and gave my VietNam Veteran the respect and dignity he deserved and he died peacefully 12 days after he was discharged from the hospital. I’m sad and grieving but also feel proud of the life we had together .we both kept all of our promises right to the end. If I can say anything, I’d say “ make the very most of the time you have left with your love ones. Be kind to the staff, especially the CNA because they are the angels who make a difference .advocate for your loved one In a respectful way. This is a difficult job for EVERYONE. Never stop telling your loved one how much they are loved”. Love and hugs to everyone💔💔🇺🇸

Usually sudden changes are a sign of a health challenge: an infection, low level of oxygenation, a minor stroke, a blood chemistry imbalance... Please take her to an urgent care center to rule out a medical problem.

As a caregiver for the elderly for many years, I cannot stress enough how many elderly people get UTIs and /or low sodium which can make them go from seeming like very low-grade Dementia or even having no dementia to appearing to having alzheimers with a snap of a finger. So I always tell people if your loved one seems to have dramatically changed, please get them tested for a UTI and a blood test for electrolytes/sodium/magnesium.
If they continue to be very dramatically different, they could have low sodium which can even cause delirium. A bad UTI can also cause delirium.

A husband of a patient of mine- he was relatively healthy, 80 years old- woke up one morning and did not recognize his wife, his home, his bedroom... He knew nothing. He had complete memory loss. His daughters came over and were in complete shock and called an ambulance. The hospital said he had low sodium and that is what caused the complete memory loss. He had no Dementia or Alzheimer's, but the low sodium brought on those symptoms.
So even though your loved one may have what you think is dementia, the starting of dementia, or full-blown dementia, please, please get them checked often for UTIs and get them a blood test to check for low sodium and low magnesium. I can't tell you how many elderly people have suffered and are even branded as having Dementia but it's really a chronic UTI. Or it's untreated low sodium and delirium. And, if the delirium isn't treated, then it can cause damage to the brain. It's really sad. Elderly people are not treated the way they should be in this country.
We have to be their voice, their advocate.