“Should 90 year old mother with dementia travel abroad for 6 weeks?”
I'm thinking of taking my mother to Spain for 6 weeks on holiday. She had crescendo TIAs 10 months ago, all on the same day. She is 90 years old and was diagnosed at the time with vascular dementia and small vessel disease. Obviously Spain can be very hot, and although I have been told by Drs that they encourage people who have suffered mini strokes to live life as normal, I wondered if I was doing the right thing by taking her away for that period of time? I might add, she wants to go, it's me that's having the problem! Thank you in advance.
Female | 90 years old
Complaint duration: 10 months
Medications: Ramipiril, Clopidogrel, Amlodipine, Atorvastatin.
Conditions: Vascular dementia
3 Answers
That's a personal decision. Just be prepared to in case she needs to be hospitalized in Spain. Can you deal with that?
Travelling will not increase her risk of stroke, as long as her blood pressure and other risk factors are well controlled with medications, any more than it would staying at home. Having said that, there is no reason she should not be able to fully live and enjoy her life!
Traveling depends on the severity of dementia. Mostly demented patients when moved away from the regular home environment tend to be confused and show exacerbation of symptoms like memory loss, inability to perform tasks that they would normally be able to perform. In case of mild dementia where the functional impairment is minimal, traveling should be ok. A bigger concern in that case would be a recurrence of TIA / stroke or other medical issues. Patients with chronic medical conditions should always have arrangements (like medical insurence and /or enough finances) to get medical help abroad if needed.
