My mother was diagnosed with alzheimer two years ago. Many times she can have talks with logic, even remembering things from the past, but at the same time she does things that doesn't make sense. I'm so confused. Can someone explain how that works??
Different parts of the brain control different functions. Here is an example I heard yesterday: If you tell someone with Lewy Body to lean forward, he has to use the part of the brain that controls movement through thought. If that part of the part is damaged, instead of leaning forward for you, he'll lean back. (I know this from experience!) But if you appeal to the part of the brain that controls learned behavior that has become automatic (and doesn't require thinking) he may be able to do the action. (When I told my husband to "come on and give me a hug" he could move forward just fine.) It seems amazing and confusing that someones he could move forward when asked and others times he could not. But different parts of the brain were involved.
Similarly, the part of the brain that stores old memories can be working but the part that controls processes could be way out of whack.
Once after a head injury my husband called me and said he was coming home.
DH: Where is my car?
Me: Your car is home. It is not at the hospital.
DH: Oh. Then I will call a cab.
Me: Do you know what address to tell him?
DH: Um. No. I don't remember our address, but I can look it up in the phone book.
I talked him out of trying to come home, and later I asked the hospital psychiatrist how a person who couldn't even remember where he lived could remember that you can look addresses up in the phone book! The doctor told me that different parts of the brain were involved in those two activities. One had been injured and the other wasn't.
It can be frustrating and confusing for us caregivers. But it is the way it is, and it helps if we understand it at least a little and remind ourselves that our loved one is not choosing which cognitive functions will work at any given time.
Now she some rash that she swears up and down that a doctor caused 5 months ago. I can't convince her otherwise.
She still plays bridge though. Somehow she works through the daily activities of getting up and dressed, but doesn't always know what day it is. I'm not sure what she thinks. I wish I knew.
Anyway, I thought ALZ was just memory issues. It's comforting to know someone else is seeing similar things.
Dawn, I had to chuckle about your mother's rash (but not the razors!). My mother and I have a skit we go through often. She has a rash on her arm that only she can see. She swears it is caused by a tree near our yard. She says she is going to cut down the tree. I tell her that it is in a neighbor's yard and I don't think they would approve. I tell her I don't think it is the tree, but it's the mailbox causing the problem. We can cut down the mailbox. She tells me that is silly because they've had the mailbox a long time. I tell her the tree has been there even longer. About that time she starts getting irritated. (I just can't help myself sometimes.)