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My mother has been very slowly mentally declining over the last 2 years. In the past 10 days there has been a huge decline. Not knowing who people are, insisting that she is not in her condo, believing people are trying to poison her, etc. I’ve had a full set of blood and urine tests. We checked if she had a stroke. All negative for a problem. She is refusing to eat/drink or take her meds. She has round the clock nursing care.
I just have never heard of a decline this fast.

It felt like the switch was flipped.
one day he seemed to be ok.. the next day he definitely was not..
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Reply to MAYDAY
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My SIL is an RN and as soon as the memory problems started, she went to a geriatrician and was diagnosed with vascular dementia. This was about three years ago, and she is 85. She was told that as her disease progressed, she would have sudden declines, then stay on that plateau for a while. She'd eventually have another sudden decline, and so on. This has proved to be true.

So, it does happen.
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Reply to Fawnby
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A rapid decline can happen particularly if there is Vascular Dementia.
I think at this point if you wish contacting Hospice would be a good idea.
Stopping eating and drinking is one of the things a person will do at End of Life.
Her body no longer needs food as fuel her body will use what is stored to maintain the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys. As the fuel runs out each will stop functioning.
She does not feel hunger or thirst like you or I would. And there are no hunger pains like we would have.
Please resist the urge to do tube feeding or IV's for fluid.

the goal now would be to keep her comfortable.
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Reply to Grandma1954
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We never had a clear diagnosis of the causes or type of dementia that my mom had, but I think it might have been vascular dementia. I don't think vascular dementia is detectable with imaging. Here's what one website says about the symptoms:
"The symptoms often continue to get worse over time. This may happen slowly, or in sudden steps every few months or years.

The symptoms depend on the part of the brain that's affected, but can include:

significant slowness of thought
feeling disorientated and confused
memory loss (amnesia) and difficulty concentrating
difficulty finding the right words
severe personality changes, such as becoming aggressive
depression, mood swings and lack of interest or enthusiasm
finding it difficult to walk and keep balance, with frequent falls
loss of bladder control (incontinence)
increasing difficulty with daily activities."
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Reply to Rosered6
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vannysgram2 11 hours ago
My 86 year old friend for whom I am responsible, had an MRI of the brain 3 years ago which showed severe microvascular white matter ischemic changes and diffuse cerebral volume loss, meaning the tiny blood vessels deep inside the brain are damaged, narrowed or blocked which reduces the blood supply to the brain's deep tissue which supports a dx of vascular dementia (plus all the symptoms and behaviors). She also had an "eye stroke" or a retinal artery occlusion around the same time. Eye stroke, vascular dementia and atherosclerosis are interconnected. She has no short term memory now and is in memory care.
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Retest for UTI

Dehydration alone (refusing to drink) will cause confusion.

If she has round the clock CNA's what do the CNA's say or suggest? In my experience they were pretty good with suggestions and they had seen it all before.
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Reply to brandee
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I agree she should be checked for a UTI, which are very common in elderly women and can be caused by changes in physiology, pH, hormones, hygiene and other factors. If she does have a UTI, it may not be her last so consider a preemptive strategy like giving her d-mannose, a simple and safe supplement that actually has clinical study proof of its effectiveness. My MIL was getting UTIs in her LTC facility almost every other month and once on the supplement they were cut down greatly.
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Reply to Geaton777
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I would retest for UTI to make sure it wasn't a false negative.

Rapid declines are common amd this may be a transition to a new stage of dementia. Is she on anxiety meds? My mother suffered with high anxiety in the later stages of dementia. Meds helped calm the confusion and hallucinations. My mother had three steep declines that would level to next stage of dementia. It was very sudden and very painful to watch.

Wishing you strength during this difficult and challenging time.
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Reply to AMZebbC
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