She has started to add more and more false memories to a piece of truth so the whole story is changed. This is mainly around very recent things but recently has been fully made up stories.
I'm worried that she is slipping into a completely made up world and will forget me. This is what frightens me the most 🙁.
She is also falling asleep when sat quietly
Do a little research on confabulation to better understand what your mom might be experiencing. You can find quiet a bit online.
In my experience with family members it seemed to me confabulation was near the beginning or just some of the first symptoms noticed. As the memory continues to fade it seems the subconscious need to fill in the gaps seems to also fade.
Usually, again…just my experience, forgetting others happens slowly and they generally know those they see often. Others, not so much, as time goes by.
There are many types of dementia and other issues that can cause confabulation.
Has your mom been tested by a neurologist? That might be helpful for you.
Its difficult to watch mum disappear.
She's been going downhill for a while, her short term memory has been dwindling away. Since Christmas Mum's decline has been quite rapid tho. Haven't had the confabulation so completely until now. Mum has been doing so on and off but there was a lot of truth and recognition until this week. I can only explain it as mums living with no reality except hers.
It all of a sudden feels really real.
Mum was diagnosed 12 months ago but was showing signs for about 5 years. The clinic had said that the most recent fall in June, which led to mum coming to live with me, had caused another bleed so it couldn't be medicated.
Mum and I laugh everyday and everyday is definitely an adventure 🥰
Old people fall asleep in chairs a lot, this is not only a dementia thing.
There is no reason to start the what if's, that will not change anything and only add more stress, each case is different and can proceed at a different pace.
My step-mother use to know my and my brother's names, now he is "What's His Name" and I am "Elaine", which is not my name. We both just shrugged it off and went forward. She does recognize us, for now, who knows what tomorrow will bring? Whatever, it is we will deal with it.
Good Luck!
Some day she may forget you but I bet that is a long way down the road. I wouldn't bother being scared about it as it may or may not happen. And if/when it does, just accept it as another part of her decline.
My mom nods off a lot. She doesn't get good sleep due to untreatable sleep apnea. I think it's very common and probably nothing to worry about.
Best of luck.
As he had been her real boyfriend when she was 16, eventually they went backward (in her mind) from being two elderly people who got together again after 75 years to two 16-year-olds in school. Because she didn't have a daughter at 16 -- and certainly not a 60-year-old one! -- I was forgotten as far as our relationship to one another, but she always knew my name and that I was a friendly face who treated her like a very close relative.
So, yes, in one way she forgot me, but only because I didn't fit into her imaginary world quite properly. It was OK, and honestly, I wasn't as upset by it as I thought I'd be. I knew she loved me, whoever I was.
As my mom used to joke long before dementia was a part of her life, "I'll never forget Ol' Whatshername!"
My mother started seeing a young girl in her dreams. I have no clue as to who this little girl was.
Then mom said that she saw this child when she was awake. She had conversations with her. She wasn’t frightened by her at all. In fact, she seemed comforted by her. I just listened as she spoke at length about this child.
Mom’s hospice caregivers said that instances like my mom was having happened very often.
Wishing you peace as you continue on in your caregiving journey.
My mother too saw a little girl. I would here her say the little girl had to be good or I would holler at her. She always disappeared when I entered the room. Dr said if she does not get upset don't worry about it.
You cant point to any one thing that defines "last stage dementia." Dementia and AD does not kill a person, per se, but can create a scenario where it's ripe for mom to aspirate liquid into her lungs and die that way, because her brain has forgotten how to swallow. So your mom needs to have health issues going on along with progressing dementia in order to reckon last stage is at play. Mom would either be bedbound now, or seriously in need of help with ALL activities of daily life.
Here is an article on the subject:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/symptoms-and-diagnosis/how-dementia-progresses/later-stages-dementia
You can also get mom a hospice evaluation if you think it would be helpful.
Best of luck to you
Enjoy her where she’s at as much as you can.
if this bothers and hurts you, try to fill your time together with activities that require mental distraction so she won’t slip into the storytelling.
i know you are wishing for the past, but in the future you will wish for this past and you may even remember this as endearing.
you have to slip into their world !
Hallucinatons, delusions, agitation, sundowning, and many other symptoms are all part of the disease. She will forget you, so prepare for that now.
However, this does not necessarily mean that it is the end stage. Many Dementia patients live for twenty years after diagnosis. So, be prepared.
For support, you should join the Alzheimer's Dementia Caregiver's FB Support Group. You can vent there without any judgment. You can also read about caregiver's real-life experiences with the disease:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dementiacaregiversupportgroup/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
My mother took care of my grandmother who did have dementia for years. She gradually forgot everyone and feared the day she would forget my mother because I knew it would be so upsetting for my mom. She didn't totally forget her until the very end.
Every person is different. This is so very difficult for you, but as long as you can make her comfortable and cared for to the extent possible that is all that you can do.
.
She is one of the country's leading experts on dementia.
They / staff will offer support / answer your questions.
Gena / Touch Matters
Short-term memory is how your brain stores small amounts of information it’s just taken in. To scientists, short-term memory is often divided between working memory and short-term memory. People typically talk about short-term memory without making such distinctions.
Matilda
Confabulation: to fill in gaps in memory by fabrication.