Could This Be a Sign of Alzheimers or Something Else ???

It could also be a sign of a stroke. My grandmother had a stroke and while she was in the hospital, she was fully convinced that she had a baby. She thought the medical staff had taken her baby away from her and would not give the baby to her. We just went with it and told her that it was okay and they would eventually give her the baby back. She also started cussing and was very angry. My family members were totally shocked because we had never heard her cuss our entire lives so this was a total personality change for us.

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Yes, unfortunately. She should be seen by her physician.

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I am so sorry this is happening to your family. Really and truly, there IS something wrong with her thought processes, and I wouldn't worry one bit about the subject of what she has accused your mom of, since it's, well, preposterous. You are totally right to be concerned about your aunt.

She needs a physical to rule out drug interactions as well as multi-infarct and vascular dementia, and possibly a brain scan as well to rule out a brain abnormality. Not every dementia is Alzheimers. Her primary care doctor can set this up.

Then she needs to see a geriatric neurologist to assess her for Alzheimer's. The faster you all get this set up, the faster she can get some help.

Make sure you talk to the doctors involved - they don't have to talk to you about her, mind you, but you have every right to tell them what is going on so that they can make the right decisions on how to assess her.

I hope that there is a power of attorney for her health care on file. She sure will need it...

Hugs,
D.

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I'm not a doctor but I've worked in a few nursing homes as an Activities Director where I witnessed all types of behaviors from residents who suffered from alzheimer's or dementia. It could very well be. She could be reliving a memory and just confused your mom with someone else. They tend to behave in manners that are so unlike them as well. I remember a little lady you was a preacher's wife who never uttered an unkind word in her whole life. She became a different person due to the alzheimers. Cussed like a sailor. Again, I am not a doctor or anything but I would say that yes these could be signs. If I were you I would see if she can get evaluated by a doctor. It needs to be caught early so preparations can be made. Sorry your parents are having to go through this. Please tell your mom to not take it personally. Good luck!

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ABSOLUTELY! Your should talk to your Aunt's caregiver or doctor about this and have a checked out. Outbursts like that are a concern in the elderly, especially if it is untypical behavior for them. There could be a host of underlying issues: from the onset of dementia or Alzheimers to possibly mini strokes.
Please remind your mom of your Aunt's age and that there is a pretty high likelihood that she isn't fully aware of what she did.

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Very definitely an indication that she needs a complete medical work up....

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It absolutely could be a sign of some kind of medical problem - Alzheimer's or a number of things. Especially if this is completely out of the blue. She should be evaluated by her doctor.

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It does have red flags of dementia and/or Alzheimers...
Anger is my grandpa's worst part of Alzheimers. It can be very rough and when they take that anger out on those they love the most it is even more difficult.

Only her doctor can diagnose her though...Does she have children? Anyone that can convince her to go to the doctor? I would take her immediately to have her looked at. It could be a number of things. Are there any other symptons.

Go to http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_know_the_10_signs.asp

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That could absolutely be a sign of Alzheimers or dementia or any number of age related illnesses. Is there any way you can get your Aunt to a doctor to get checked out? Or talk with her children or anyone close to her to see if they've noted similar problems?

My husband's 90 year old grandmother has Alzheimers and started showing symptoms about 8 years ago. No one wanted to admit she had a problem, but one of the first things that really made them sit up and take notice was her attitude changed from the super sweet and caring person she'd always been to hostile and suspicious. It sounds like something similar could be happening with your Aunt.

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Chattyone is right, unprovoked anger can be the sign of a stroke. My grandfather had a series of small strokes; nobody knew about this until much later when he had a big stroke and they did a CT scan of his brain. Anyhow, for YEARS, he had this type of angry, irrational behavior off and on. One time, he tried to choke his co-worker (!). We thought it was kind of crazy, but we had no idea it could have been caused by a stroke. Please make sure your aunt goes to see her doctor, and make sure to bring up that she could have had a stroke - it's important that they check to be sure, because smaller strokes can lead to big, debilitating (and even fatal) strokes. If she did have a stroke, your aunt can go into physical/occupational therapy to help her recover, and they can put her on medication to reduce the chances that it will happen again.

Best of luck. It is so hard to see our loved ones age like this.

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I would definitely get her to see a doctor. My Mother acted the same way when she first showed signs of dementia. I sure hope your Aunt doesn't have it, but it would be peace of mind for you and your family to find out what is wrong. The best of luck to you.

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J., this could be evidence of a TIA(transient ischemic attack) or what is called a mini-stroke where there is an interruption of blood flow in an area of the brain. Mild to extreme evidence of paranoia and personality changes can happen, these can be temporary or permanent. Talking with your aunt's doc sooner than later is important because her symptoms could be an indicator of impending major stroke or other neurological impairment such as dementia or alzheimer's.

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There are a mess of issues that could have caused that. A coworker and I were just discussing this because her mother in law is acting strange.

My mom used to do things like that but it had more to do with her bi polar than her Altzheimers. Thing with Altzheimers is you lose control of your thoughts so things you wouldn't say before, but thought, you would now say.

Having said that it would not come on so suddenly as you described. My mom had Altzheimers for over five, maybe ten years before she started with that stuff.

Clearly something is wrong but only a doctor can figure it out.

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Absolutely! It could be dementia or Alzheimers.
Certain prescription drugs definitely have side effects of paranoia and nastiness--especially pain pills like Darvon/Darvocet and Percodan/Percocette, etc.

Does this aunt have any children? Have you talked to them about her nasty, aggressive behavior?

Your mom certainly shouldn't take it personally. She knows she didn't do anything wrong. :(

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My mother is 87 now but 2 yrs ago we noticed she was repeating questions and unable to remember things from years ago but not recent , so make up 4 different words like red, american,bed, thing, say these to her then make conversation for about 3 to 4 mins then ask her what was those 4 words I mentioned to you before we started the conversation, if she cant remember those 4 words then alzheimer's is starting up and you can get her to a doctor to give her a pill to help the onset of alzheimer's my mother has been on it for 2 yrs now , that is what the dr. did. before he would give her the medication. and tell her you are going to give here 4 words and then ask her later in your conversation to remember those 4 words okay...I hope it helps

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Alzheimers, dementia, yes it sounds like something of the sort, perhaps in it's early stages if she isn't yet having major memory problems. She really needs to be evaluated by a medical professional.

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/7-alzheimers-warnin...

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Yes, this could be dementia. Can you inform her doctor of this incident? Her doctor of course could not share any medical information about your Aunt with you, but sometimes doctors are willing to listen to input that could be important in caring for their patient.

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I know that you've already gotten some great answers (I didn't read all of them) but one thing that you might want to consider is that she may have a urinary tract infection.
My grandmother had one not too long ago and before it was diagnosed, we thought she was going crazy as well. She came up with some wild ideas, such as my father (her only child) had hired someone to cause her to fall. And that was one of the tamer ones! The UTI was treated, and her behavior went back to normal.
We found out that is was not uncommon for UTI's to have a negative influence on the mental state of the elderly.

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Paranoia and the anger were some of the first symptoms that my husband's grandmother had when the Alzheimer's started kicking in. She paranoid that the family (very nice people) who lived above her were out to get her. Every time she heard a sound from them or if they walked by she thought that they were doing something to her apartment or spying on her. Her anger was most targeted at my MIL. She would call her and cuss her out for all sorts of things that came out of nowhere. It was very upsetting to my MIL who didn't know what was going on for quiet a while.

It sounds like something needs to be done to check her out. Hope y'all get the help you need!

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If you find out what is wrong, I'd like to know. My stepmother did stuff like your aunt, except she just accused various members of our family of stealing her stuff. She was left a house by a cousin, and my sister and brother-in-law helped her sell it, since he was in real estate business. He didn't take any commission, though. He just made sure all the t's were crossed and i's were dotted. The day of the closing, my sister took our stepmother to the bank to deposit the check into her account. She later used the money to build a new garage. A couple of years later, she claimed my sister kept that money! Where that came from, nobody knows. She also said we stole her tablecloths. It made no sense. After our dad died, she moved back where her family originated and we never saw her again---after 24 years of marriage to our dad. We've never figured out what happened. We loved her, but apparently it wasn't enough.