ptsd Ptsd Or Alzheimer's

[jessie0054]

OK, I have written several times in the last year about different member's of my family i am trying to help. Now it is my husband, He's doing some really out of charater things for him. Usually he is more in control, But lately i am seeing things in him that are starting to worry me.

First i'll tell you he is 30% service connected for PTSD. He ususally fuctions pretty well and these things have been coming on over the last 10-12 months and the lid blew off the pot so to speak today.

I collect coins as a hobby and in the last 4 months he has brought home a roll of the Washington quarters 4 times. I didn't have the heart to tell him i already have them so i just took them and put them away.

I keep his PM medications in the bathroom so he will not forget to take them as he go's through his bedtime routine. I have caught him twice in the last week taking them in the morning!!

A few times even though i have watched him take them he gets up 30 mins later " Oh i forgot to take my pills" So i have to remind him he's already taken them.

Twice in the last month or two he wakes me up out of a very peacefull sleep and ask me if i can't go take a sleeping pill so i can go to sleep. Duh!! I'm already sleeping!!

Somedays he will call me or our son half a dozen times a day and gets upset because we don't answer our cell phone saying ' I'm going to throw that SOB cell phone out the door because you won't answer it" Well i check it to see if i have missed any calls because sometime if i'm in another room and the TV is on i can't hear it ring and ususally no i haven't any missed calls from him.

Last Saturday he got up at 5:30 Am and got dressed and ready to head off to work. I woke up and ask him what he was doing, You don't work on Saturadys.!!

This morning he called me from work very upset, Said he had hid some money in the gargage and some of it was missing and accused me of taking it. [And no, I didn't know he was hidding money and no i didn't take his money!!]

He got even more upset when i ask why he was hidding money and could he maybe have put some of it in a different area and forgot where he hid it?? Boy that was the wrong thing to say!! I'm sure i haven't heard the end of it yet!!

Like i said he usually is in pretty good control and i'm hoping that in the next few hours before he gets off work that he may take sometime and think about the things he said. So maybe he will have cooled off before he gets home. I have never had a reason to fear him, But!!! He loves his money and if he really believes i took any from him i don't know what he might do.

So could be his PTSD getting worse or is he getting Alzhemer's disease??

Jessie

[Wings]

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Jesse, You might want to Google "PTSD and memory loss" : cognative losses are common with PTSD.

Don't let the VA Clinic write it all off as the meds (though that may play a significant role) ...

SAVE your documentations/observations; keep journaling and note taking. Your observations are important.

Consider filing for an Increase/worsening of his SC PTSD!

Hang in there good woman ;-)

~Wings

[jessie0054]

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Jesse, You might want to Google "PTSD and memory loss" : cognative losses are common with PTSD.

Don't let the VA Clinic write it all off as the meds (though that may play a significant role) ...

SAVE your documentations/observations; keep journaling and note taking. Your observations are important.

Consider filing for an Increase/worsening of his SC PTSD!

Hang in there good woman ;-)

~Wings

Thanks Wings:

This were cool when hubby came home not a word about this morning fit throwing. Maybe because sonny was here.

But will still call the VA tomorrow for appointment.

Thanks again,

Jessie

[Jay Johnson]

There are some recent studies that have linked increased memory loss, with age, in people with PTSD (even if they have overcome it), but the studies weren't a cause/effect type of thing. It is *believed* that PTSD affects the hippocampus, which just happens to be associated with memory, but it's hard to say whether or not a smaller than normal hippocampus was preexisting and made the folks with PTSD more susceptible to its effects, or whether the PTSD caused the hippocampus to shrink (one would need MRIs BEFORE the traumatic event to determine this and we can't predict who will have traumatic experiences in life).

Typically, memory loss and cognitive issues are linked to acute PTSD episodes where the patient is suffering from a panic attack, increased depression, disassociation, psychosis, etc and not long term impairment.

With that said, this could still be a PTSD issue, but, imho, it's more likely to be something else....either way, it's worth pursuing as a PTSD issue for the sake of SC.

[Wings]

There are some recent studies that have linked increased memory loss, with age, in people with PTSD (even if they have overcome it ), but the studies weren't a cause/effect type of thing.

It is *believed* that PTSD affects the hippocampus, which just happens to be associated with memory, but it's hard to say whether or not a smaller than normal hippocampus was preexisting and made the folks with PTSD more susceptible to its effects, or whether the PTSD caused the hippocampus to shrink (one would need MRIs BEFORE the traumatic event to determine this and we can't predict who will have traumatic experiences in life).

Typically, memory loss and cognitive issues are linked to acute PTSD episodes where the patient is suffering from a panic attack, increased depression, disassociation, psychosis, etc and not long term impairment.

With that said, this could still be a PTSD issue, but, imho, it's more likely to be something else....either way, it's worth pursuing as a PTSD issue for the sake of SC.

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Jay, Are you an M.D.?

If not, I really like to see *some* research citations/ data/links with your asessment of PTSD and memory loss.

Thanks ;-)

[Jay Johnson]

Longitudinal Assessment of Cognitive Performance in Holocaust Survivors with and without PTSD

Rachel Yehudaa, , , Lisa Tischlera, Julia A. Goliera, Robert Grossmana, Sarah R. Branda, Shira Kaufmana and Philip D. Harveyb, c

aThe Traumatic Stress Studies Program, Psychiatry Department, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Bronx Veterans Affairs, New York

bDivision of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Mt Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York

cVISN 3 Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, New York.

Received 15 May 2005; revised 17 January 2006; accepted 26 March 2006. Available online 26 September 2006.

Background

There are currently no longitudinal studies of cognitive performance in older patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is therefore unclear whether relationships between memory and symptoms differ over time among older persons with and without PTSD.

Methods

Twenty-eight Holocaust survivors and nineteen comparison subjects were evaluated 5 years after they had received a memory assessment including paired-associates learning and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT).

Results

While Holocaust survivors with PTSD showed a diminution in symptom severity (t = 2.99, df = 12, p = .011), they still manifested a decline in paired associates learning, suggesting an acceleration in age-related memory impairment (related word pairs: t = 2.87, df = 13, p = .013; unrelated word pairs: t = 2.06, df = 13, p = .060). The survivors with PTSD showed improvements on several CVLT measures over time. These improvements correlated with symptom improvements, such that group differences at the follow-up were no longer detected.

Conclusions

The discrepancy in the pattern of performance on these two tests of memory following symptom improvement suggests possible differentiation between of aspects of memory functions associated with aging and trauma exposure and those associated with the severity of PTSD symptoms. Performance on the CVLT appeared related to clinical symptom severity while paired associate learning worsened over time in Holocaust survivors with PTSD, consistent with earlier cross-sectional findings.

Here is the Link .

Just because you can google PTSD and memory loss does not make those findings scientific and/or peer reviewed. The fact is that people suffer forms of memory loss with age regardless of PTSD and there is VERY little information available (in terms of longitudinal studies...IE - studies over time that would accurately account for differences in memory loss). Also, there's a HUGE difference between memory loss surrounding the traumatic event (very common even in mild PTSD) and generalized memory impairment on a regular and progressive basis, especially on a level described by this veteran's wife.

My wife is a 100% PTSD vet that has even had A&A and a GAF of 10 and when she's highly anxious she can barely remember her own name; however, when she is calm she has a memory that far surpasses mine (she can remember social security numbers from people in the military from several years ago). The same can be said for her cognitive skills....when she is calm her IQ is higher than the average person, but when she is anxious she can't even walk straight. This is what people refer to when they talk about memory and cognitive problems in PTSD patients.

Now, this isn't to say that PTSD cannot cause permanent and/or long term impairment in memory and cognitive functions, but there is relatively little research to prove such a theory and what research there is seems to tie a decrease in functioning with the level of disability and/or acuteness of symptoms.

BTW, I'm not an MD, nor a PsyD, but I bet I know as much, or more, than most of them on this subject (as do most PTSD spouses imo; especially those like me who are studying the field....):-)

Edited August 21, 2007 by Jay Johnson

[Pete53]

Don't mess with Wings.

She pointed out that when making Medical Opinions and offering advice it should be annotated or linked.

The fact is that PTSD is a subject that sometimes the people who have it understand it better than the so called experts.

So back off to neutral corners and try not to be so combative when someone asks you to show where you came up with an opinion