MovieChat Forums > Away from Her (2007) Discussion > Didn't this unrealistically depict progr...

Didn't this unrealistically depict progression of Alzheimer's?

posted 10 years ago by fiatlux-1
4 replies | jump to latest

I've personally known 4 people with dementia, and I've not seen the progression go like this did.
I do understand that Fiona's disease was already well on its way when she went in, but didn't she forget her husband REALLY quick?!
In 30 days??

Surely her husband is a very old memory. My dad's gf passed away recently of this, having had it for years & years... and she remembered him up until about 2 years ago.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

In 30 days??

I haven't had any first-hand experiences with the disease in my family thankfully, but from my reading about it, I tend to take your point. It did seem an extraordinarily rapid decline and metamorphosis. I have heard that Alzheimer's does affect lots of people in different ways however.

[–] tywescoat 9 years ago

It doesn't affect everyone the same. There is no set path, only stages, and some people skip stages altogether. People could be in stage one for years before anyone takes serious notice of the symptoms. My grandfather was "diagnosed" in 1999. By 2001, he forgot who my grandma was (completely) after 60 years of marriage, and died in 2003 unable to walk, talk, or even swallow. 3 months before, he could do all three. I've seen people babble absolute nonsense for a year straight, then one day sing an aria in Italian. I've seen people who have no idea who they are talking to and five minutes later will address them by name. Then, two minutes later, they forget again.

[–] Katiedidd 8 years ago

You're right that it does seem to be an unusual presentation. Fiona never seems to really remember her husband again, and fading in and out of "long-term" memory is stage four out of fve of Alzheimer's. (It's categorizations vary, but I know it best by "five stages.") Fiona seemed to enter the facility before stage four. Even if she did progress rather quickly, the fact that she never seemed to have a moment of lucidity again where she'd recall her husband is very strange.

However, I shouldn't get bogged down with "staging" or some universal pattern. Dementias are a crapshoot, and Alzheimer's can be terribly unpredictable. I do agree, those thirty days sending Fiona on such a devestating course, where she is consistently distant and forgetful of Grant seems unusual.

[–] Katiedidd 8 years ago

I should add (I can't edit on the app, otherwise I'd also fix my spelling error above!), Fiona will seem to have some moments of familiarity with Grant, but there is never regarding him as her husband, even briefly once she goes to that facility. I wonder if part of that may stem from her resentment toward Grant. Not "a charade," as Grant thought, but perhaps more subconscious feelings coming out.

I've seen a case where one with dementia expressed strong feelings of past wrongs that they never expressed before. The feelings were related to an actual event, but they were in the wrong time period, directed toward the wrong person. Fiona certainly didn't have that reaction, but maybe her way to react was to ignore; subconscious resentment toward Grant along with how jumbled things get in late-stage Alzheimers led to her treating Grant as she did. This is purely conjecture though. Ultimately, it was still Alzheimers at work, but maybe she was less likely to "remember him" because of their past and how she dealt with it.