She has been diagnosed as having MCI but it seems so much worse than that. She is 74 years old and her long term is fine, considering her age; she forgets some things here and there, but knows who everyone is etc. just gets dates wrong. but her short-term memory is completely gone. as in she can ask me a question and then ask it again in the same conversation. she doesn't remember any meals, any visits, having gone to church, nothing -- almost immediately after these events take place. Mild Cognitive Impairment is describes as losing a bit of memory but being able to cope on your own. there is no way my mother could cope on her own; i take care of all her banking/bill payments/etc, as well as all her grocery shopping (it could take her up to 10 min to choose a single item from her list; she would leave with a massive headache overtime); she of course lost her drivers licence so i drive her everywhere too.
we see her GP on a regular basis (and she's great); she has also seen a geriatric doctor (who diagnosed her with the MCI) who said we didn't need to come back because she doesn't have Alzheimer's (altho she did prescribe Aricept for her), and i don't think she does either based on everything I've read; it's really just her 100% complete loss of short term memory. it's almost like the movie Memento except without the paranoid bits.
any search i do online for "complete memory loss" just pops up alzheimer's related websites (which luckily & thankfully brought me to this very site) but nothing more than that. I will of course bring this up with her doctors but wondering if anyone was in the same boat.
Good luck on your journey.
She is in AL and also on Aricept .
We just take it one day at a time. I visit frequently, about every day but i keep the visits very short. 30-60 minutes. It is all I can stand to be asked "what's new" over and over.
I am not sure there is anything to DO as such except to make decisions that will keep her safe. Safe and comfortable.
She is on anti-anxiety meds and without those life would not be worth living (mine and hers!) But the meds keep her pleasant and content.
Things change. Being "happy" seems like less of a priority. Having things work out and being safe seems to be the goal.
My mom has atrial fib (heart condition) and I believe her heart meds (which act to slow her heart) have impacted her brain. And she was on Lipitor for quite a while until I took her off. Loss of memory has been reported as a side effect of that med. Her sister was much worse before she passed away at 92, so there may be a hereditary component as well.
I asked my mom what month it was when I showered her on Tuesday and she started with April. Then she just starts going through months, guessing. So she doesn't even know what season it is. She can't remember how old she is. Or how old I am. But she knows my birthday is this month and can sometimes say the right day and sometimes not. She still knows everyone and lives on her own, a mile and a half from me. She has a very set routine and she's OK as long as she's in that routine. She makes her own breakfast and reads the paper and still reads novels I bring her. How (or whether) she remembers anything I don't know. She can still work crossword puzzles, which she does daily. But if you ask her something about what she just read, she can't remember. My brother calls her every Sunday, but she can't remember what they talked about the next day. Or even 30 minutes later. She'll ask me the same thing 4X in 10 minutes. She knows her memory is bad, but will say, "Oh I'll remember that". But she won't and she doesn't remember that she won't. Sigh. It's hard...but I'm fortunate because she's still able to be independent, which she wants, with a lot of help from me. But my mom is 95, so she's got a lot of years on your mom.
Same one 1 min later again and again
She forgets her meal as soon as she has eaten it .and where ever she goes . As soon as we home it's gone
I wonder if this is classed as no capacity
Can the doctor do anything should I go see him
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