My father, 76 years old with early onset Alzheimer's, was a passenger in a car accident. He fractured two ribs and his sternum and feels very little pain from the injuries. He does remember the accident. Can the same thing that causes Alzheimers' also affect one's pain threshold? Or, is he just lucky?
My 86 year old father had heart surgery in January and the day after surgery he was delirious and now has dementia as well. He is in a memory care facility. Before surgery he had to wear a knee brace every day and rubbed topcially ointments on his right knee every day. He has not complained once about that leg since surgery amd told us to take the brace home. He wore hearing for the last 20 years and without them he was unable to really communicate in our conversations. Since at the memory care unit, he never wears his hearing aids. I reminded his care givers to get him to wear them. In March he had a hearing test and ...his hearing is FINE. Go figure, the doctors can not explain it!! He has been on Aricept for 2 months.
Featuring Content From:
By using this service, you accept our Terms of Use. Please read them. The consumer health information on is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen. Copyright © 2012 Remedy Health Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
This question is one for a doctor, but my guess as a layperson is that, since the body tends to "forget" to do certain things and isn't functioning properly (with Alzheimer's), you dad's brain may not be interpreting his pain the way it would without the disease, or else his body may not be sending the pain signals properly. Perhaps there is some nerve damage, as well? It certainly, in this case, is a blessing that he isn't in pain. If you learn more about this from a medical professional, please share with us. We are all interested in learning, and this is a very interesting situation.
Take care,
Carol