No more 'stages'?

I've posted before about the alleged 'stages of dementia' and how dubious they are:

http://adventureswithdementia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-stages-of-dementia.html

I've just read online a carer's report that when she asked a medic what stage her mum had reached he told her that they didn't do stages anymore 'because everyone's different'.

Perhaps the message is finally getting through.  Not before time.

The stages of dementia

I'm increasingly dubious about the 'Stages of Dementia'.  The idea is that the condition can be broken down into stages.  Typically each stage is allocated a list of symptoms.  You check your cared for person's symptoms against a stage and then you know what stage they are at. Simples!

Except that when you speak to other carers or read what they have written you find that often people have a cluster of symptoms which might well include a few from each stage.  If you raise this with a 'true believer' in the stages, they will tell you that you should only view the stages as a rough guide.

It's actually very, very rough.  It seems to take no account of the fact that there are so many different kinds of  dementia  -  possibly as many as there are people with dementia.

And I worry that if a carer is led to believe that the person cared for is in the 'late stages', they will treat them accordingly and this may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's also interesting to me that there are a number of different versions of the stages floating about.  And that they all seem to be based around odd numbers  -  3 stages, 5 stages, 7 stages, never, you notice, around even numbers.  It reminds me of the magical numbers of myths and fairy stories.