My Mom went thru a very combative stage. I can recommend the book 'The 36-Hour Day' by Nancy Mace M.A. and Peter Rabins, M.D.,M.P.H. It is an excellent road map as to the stages to expect.

Mother began hitting complete strangers in the grocery store - which was so NOT my mother. She would lash out at the caregivers and even me, but after she had the stroke, she became very docile again. Thank God for that - I had fears that the caregivers would not put up with the abuse and quit - they were troupers and knew about the disease. They knew it was just another stage.