Mom forgot who I was briefly. Any advice?

It is time for a full medical with this incident the REASON you are seeking it. I hope you are on advanced directive and have POA with Mom. If not this is the time to do it when she can pass competency tests. Your Mom needs referral by her MD for a neurological workup. You should discuss this with her, telling her what happened, telling her gently but certainly that this is not normal, and telling her that you and she need to support one another to find out what is happening here. I am so sorry. This IS of concern.

Mini stroke? Can you have her seen right now without alarming her?

Or contact HER doctor and ask for advice.

Time for you to be proactive. Hoping for you and mom.

I'm assuming she still lives alone. When that's the case, no one is there to observe the downward day-to-day spiral, and dementia patients are good at covering up. I had a friend who talked to his sister in another state on the phone every weekend, and he had other friends and drove often. One day he went to buy a new car and drove it off the lot, stopping at a restaurant on the way home. When he came out, he couldn't find his car. He'd apparently forgotten what it looked like. Someone at the restaurant drove him to his nice neighborhood and dropped him off, but he couldn't remember his townhouse and asked for help from a policeman who lived across the street. Policeman took him home and saw him safely in - only to observe huge piles of trash in the gated courtyard, old appliances sitting around, toilets not working, ceiling vents pulled out and hanging. Friend had been living like that for some time, and his sister and friends hadn't been inside his gate so never suspected anything was wrong. They were horrified because he had acted completely normal with conversation and activities all along. Friend went to memory care after that. I'd suspect that your mom has been having more issues than you know. You'd better check her bills and financial accounts ASAP.

I'd get the car keys away from mom stat. No joke. Until she gets a formal diagnosis going here, mom needs to stop driving b/c something is definitely wrong, and you do NOT want to get The Phone Call (God forbid) that she's wrecked the car and killed herself and/or an innocent person on the road. Which happens often when dementia/Alzheimer's is at play and an elder is driving a motor vehicle.

That said, before my mother was officially 'diagnosed' with dementia, she started introducing me as her 'mother'. I thought she was joking at first, expecting to see her laughing, but she wasn't. That was the pivotal moment in time I KNEW something was wrong, and had her medically evaluated. Your mother forgetting your face is a huge red flag that she is having some cognitive issues herself, and is a lot further along than you suspect.

Best of luck and my condolences on a difficult situation.

My mom lives with me. She thinks I am the hired help sometimes. It made me sad to start with but I keep it light. She may say are you going to be here tomorrow. I say yes I live here. she said, Oh I forgot.

Sorry to say that this is just the beginning and now is the time to make certain that all of legals are in place, while she's still competent.

Keep her active and engaged for as long as possible, but put more safety nets in place around her and it's time to put up the car keys.

This is the start of a long process and my heart goes out to you.

Get a neurologist quickly. It sounds like a stroke

Your moms needs to be seen by a physician who can test her and see what is going on. She should not be driving or managing the care of children, etc.

Check for UTIs and low sodium.
Happened to my mom. She doesn't have dementia.

My Daddy started off not remembering events like his wedding. He was married to my Mama for 49 years until she passed. Then, he started not remembering what streets to take to the store (took those keys away that day). So I had him tested for ALZ. And not the three word test either. I insisted on the 30 question test. Turns out he failed it and did have ALZ. He forgot my name one day. Another day he forgot who I was. But I read everything I could on ALZ and knew what was coming. The week he passed away he knew who I was and he was quite with it. I would suggest to have her tested oh and another thing... UTI check for it and check for it often. When my Daddy was in a care home I noticed something was off and I told the caregivers that he was not making sense that he needed to be tested for a UTI. This home had the best caregivers, anyway, they immediately called and had a sample taken and sure enough he did have a UTI was given medication and bam! he was better the next day. Keep and eye on her and if you notice something that is not right insist on testing!