Expert: Mary Gordon - 9/22/2008

Question
I have an aunt that is 60 and her husband is saying his doctor says she has Alzheimer's.  Let me explain.... When she was in her twenties she was in a car accident and it damaged her spine.  Since then she has taken pain medications. Her husband has always been abusive physically and emotionally to her for many many years.  About two years ago my mother, her sister, called her to check on her and her husband told my mom she was about dead.  We all went to her house to see her and she was vomiting, and seemed to be in pain, but was mentally there.  She seemed very lethargic but could answer questions.  The husband said she had been vomiting for days and he couldn't get it to stop.  My other aunt gave her over the counter anitnausea meds and it stopped.  This was a clue to us that something was up.  Maybe he is doing something to her to make her sick.  After that she got much better and started coming around, which she hadn't done before.  She started telling my mom that she thought he might be trying to kill her via poisening.  She came down to where my mom works and told her she had got all her stuff and was leaving him.  She was supossed to call mom but didn't.  The next thing we know someone called to check on her and he said she was about gone again.  We went to see her and he said his doctor says she has Alzheimer's from all the pain meds she has taken for years.  He said late stages.  He done all the talking.  Do we need to have someone look into this further?

Answer
Leslie, I think you do have major reasons for concern.

For starters, you don't get Alzheimer's from taking painkillers, and no doctor would ever say that. You might give yourself some brain damage from abusing drugs. However Alzheimer's is a specific neurological disease that is progressive, incurable, and IS NOT something you get from anything related to drug abuse - and no real doctor would say that. He might say she had dementia from drug use, but not Alzheimer's. Later stage AD is very rare in 60 year olds.

If I were  you, I would first try seeing if you can get your aunt away from him for a few weeks. Could you go get her for a visit when he's not around, throw some things in a bag and take her elsewhere for a while. At least then, you can see if she comes around (he may be drugging her), or if there maybe is something wrong with her and she needs to see a proper doctor for an assessment.

Failing that, if you can't get her out of there to stay with family long enough to figure out what is going on, I'd call social services and tell them you suspect abuse. If nothing else, they would have to investigate the complaint, and with any luck,  they'd insist she be seen by a doctor for an independent assessment and you can find out a more accurate, unbiasd opinion of what is wrong.  If he isn't doing anything to cause her symptoms, I'd be worried that he is at the very least not looking after her adequately. The worst that could happen in calling social services is that you get someone neutral to check out the situation and make sure there is no abuse or neglect.

This is not to say that she might not be genuinely ill from some physical problem that might affect her mind, or that she might not be taking too many pills. However, Alzheimer's does not cause the physical illness you are describing (the throwing up etc.). If the alarm bells are going off in your gut, I'd listen to them.

Hope this helps.