My mom has vascular dementia and has episodes of forgetting how to walk. Anyone familiar with this?

This is so fresh in my mind. Yesterday I was talking with a couple. The woman has advanced Parkinson's and her husband cares for her. She had forgotten how to stand up. She had the strength to stand, but she couldn't put things together and actually do it. In her case she was able to follow his instructions on what to do and she finally rose. What seems to a normal person as something so simple can be complex to someone with neurological damage. My heart went out to both of them working through the advanced stage of this disease. I don't think one could have wished for a better husband.

Thank you both so much as both answers make sense to me. She had a complete physical today but during her exam her afib acted up with dr present. When I got her back to her residence she had another episode with the walking. I'm thinking she's having TIA's and it's affecting this area of her brain. The unknown can be unnerving at times. Again, thank you!

Linda, this sounds like what is known as gait apraxia. It is caused by damage to a certain region of the brain involved in walking. There are different types of apraxia. Sometimes things can be fine, but someone just can't figure out how it works. People normally walk inherently, but when the brain is damaged, the pathways are not working right. Sometimes the brain can repair itself enough to walk again. I hope that is what happens. If it comes on all at once, I suspect something happened in that area of the brain. Cross fingers that she can put things back together again. I would talk to her doctor about this. I don't know if there is a lot that he/she can do, but may have some ideas.

My mom's TIAs seemed to be centred in the area of the brain that caused her to have speech difficulties so when she stuttered I knew she had had another episode, it would make sense that something similar could be happening to your mom in relation to her mobility. Is she still seeing a neurologist who is a stroke specialist?

Sorry, I'm not experienced enough to have heard of this, must be quite scary.