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mamaperiod Asked April 2015
Is repetition of a phrase a symptom of dementia?
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The doctor's said it was due to seizure, ruled that out, the said it is a dementia spell. Very frustrated with medical profession, "practicing medicine "
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cattycrz Apr 2015
Could you be more specific, please? Repeating the same phrase over and over could be caused by several things.
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JessieBelle Apr 2015
Repetition of the final words said by others is fairly common in very late stage dementia. For example, you might say, "Sam and I took the dog walking," and the response would be "the dog walking." It is just a echoing of the phrase with no meaning. However, if a person is at this stage of dementia, it would be well known already from other symptoms -- almost total loss of memory and ability to speak their own words, among other things. IMO, the main symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia to look for are losses of short-term memory and reasoning ability. Other symptoms that happen will depend on what parts of the brain are damaged. Repetition by itself would not be sufficient to suspect dementia. I am not sure if you mean repeating what they themselves said or echoing what someone else said. I would not suspect dementia unless there were other symptoms.
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JessieBelle Apr 2015
I just found the terms for repeating. It is called echolalia if repeating what someone else said or palilalia if repeating what they said themselves. There are a few conditions that this can occur. If you'll google the term you're interested in, you may get the information you need. I don't know much about either, so I would just be repeating what I read elsewhere.
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jeannegibbs Apr 2015
What is a "a dementia spell"? What kind of a doctor said this?
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gladimhere Apr 2015
Dementia spell never heard a term like that used. It seems to imply that there is some sort of an issue with the way the brain is functioning and it will be temporary. But, what sort of testing was done to determine the repetition will dissipate? Does the doc have her on any medication? Has she been checked for a urinary tract infection which can cause havoc on an elder's ability to function. Has she been referred to another type of doc? Maybe that a neurologist that specializes in dementia is in order.
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JessieBelle Apr 2015
I read about echolalia and palilalia last night. What could be wrong depends on which it is.
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mamaperiod Apr 2015
Though my family informed the Doctor's that my loved one is in the beginning stage of dementia, that was ignored. Instead they tested twice for seizures only to rule seizures out, because no seizure activity was seen on the EEG scan. Kept loved one in hospital for 6 days to finally be told that, our loved one may have on sit dementia and this is why they are repeating a single phrase over and over.
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JessieBelle Apr 2015
Repeating phrases can occur in several things, including Tourette's, Parkinson's, progressive supranuclear palsy, Alzheimer's, and autism. There would be other symptoms or history to go along with most of these things, which is probably what made the doctors believe it was the onset of dementia, perhaps of the Alzheimer's variety. I imagine it was a diagnosis made by the process of elimination. It sounds like they were doing their job in seeing if it could be something else before saying it was probably dementia.
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