Is there correlation between grief and heightened confusion?

freqflyer, that may be part of the problem too. Sometimes, if I ask her a question, she will reply with something completely unrelated. She usually doesn't have the TV loud and if I laugh or talk too loud in your presence she criticizes me. I think it may be how she's processing information though. Unfortunately, I think her dementia is probably progressing to a constant state of delirium.

NYC, about your Mom thinking her friend had passed, I wonder if your Mom's hearing is adding to the problem where the brain is mishearing what someone is saying. My Dad does that every now and then as his hearing isn't as sharp as it once was [thus the LOUD tv].

Thank you both for your feedback. My mom became so confused that she believed she was told that her one of her lifelong friends had also passed away and was already buried. She told me that her friends daughter called her and told her this. I spoke to this friend yesterday, and she is alive and doing well. When I told my mom that her friend Joan didn't pass away and that I spoke with her, she vowed that her niece called her and told her this. Her niece does not know her friend Joan.

I think any type of change in an elder's life will create confusion. The same thing happens when an elder moves to a new residence.

My Dad had both, a few months ago my Mom had passed [70+ years of marriage] and Dad decided it was time to kick that big house to the curb and move into Independent Living where everything was on one level. I noticed Dad's short term memory started to slip.

Oh my goodness! YES! And it happens to folks who don't even have dementia. In fact, according to my therapists, a minority of people grieve primarily cognitively.

My best friend lost her husband to cancer two weeks ago. One morning since then she used wine instead of water to make coffee! I remember offering the grocery clerk my library card to pay for my food. Deeper confusion is to be expected during mourning.

Of course, dementia does progress and your mom's could be going into another stage now. But I'd bet on the mourning.