Something happened the other day that has me a little concerned. It may be just normal age-related decline, but I don't know.
First of all, my mother has not been diagnosed with dementia and I would not presume that she suffers from any form of it. She took a MMS exam last October and aced it. She can balance her check book, handle her finances, cook, including new recipes. She does have trouble remembering names of people, places and things. Her vocabulary seems to be shrinking, and she sometimes has trouble expressing herself.
The other day she was very upset about something she saw on TV. She said it was an ad featuring a man who had no legs, and his lower half was attached to a motorcycle. I said it sounded like some kind of funny or satirical ad, but she said no, this man really existed and it upset her to think about how he could live that way.
Well, I did some research and found that this was a series of ads by an national insurance chain that featured a character called "Motaur." The idea is he's like a centaur, but instead of being half man-half horse, he's half man-half motorcycle. I watched a couple of the ads on Youtube and they are clearly supposed to be farcical. I explained it to Mom and she seemed to get it. But I'm concerned that she could have thought something so preposterous and fantastic could have been real. Is this a bad sign?
I would start writing down what you are seeing. If Mom has a DRs. visit in near future, I would bring it to his/her attention. She will need a neurologist to give a diagnosis. I don't feel a PCP has that ability.
The surgery was a miracle, and I cope most of the time pretty easily with what I’m looking at, but that PARTICULAR commercial absolutely confounded me when I first saw it. I simply couldn’t make visual sense of the image at all, and initially I couldn’t figure out whether he was real or not.
She’s 90 and you are blessed that she is in possession of so many life skills. If you see any frustration or anxiety in her typical behavior, I’d be a little more suspicious of potential problems.
For now, enjoy the Heck out of your time together. She sounds like a PIP!
A car manufacturer ran an advertisement which featured a Jack Russell terrier as its hero. When not in his car, the dog was a whimpering, cringing yellow-belly. Once safely back in his car, the dog was king of the road, singing along to the radio and ready to take on all comers.
The advertisers and the Advertising Standards Authority received many complaints from outraged members of the public. The gist of them was: how dare these people subject the poor little actor dog to whatever they must have done to him to make him so frightened in the out-of-car scenes!
A spokesman wondered aloud in interview: "did they also think the dog was really singing?"
A female celebrity of a certain age - admittedly known more for her ebullient personality and glamorous looks than razor sharp intellect - emerged from the premier of Jurassic Park and was asked what she'd thought of it. "Amazing!" she gushed, "just incredible! You just couldn't tell where the special effects ended and the real dinosaurs began."
See also "Spaghetti Harvest." I can vouch for the fact that nineteen years after this was broadcast it was still believed to be simple truth by at least one family whose daughter was in my geography class.
So about the not getting a t.v. concept, no I wouldn't worry.
But the language difficulties, the nominal aphasia, are different. Is it troubling your mother?
Memory loss. ...
Difficulty planning or solving problems. ...
Difficulty doing familiar tasks. ...
Being confused about time or place. ...
Challenges understanding visual information. ...
Problems speaking or writing. ...
Misplacing things. ...
Poor judgment or decision-making.
It's not 'just' the TV ad you're worried about, I don't think......it's a combination of that AND the other signs you're witnessing. A cognitive evaluation is in order, I'd think, although there isn't much to be done in any event. My mother was diagnosed with progressive dementia in 2016 and still takes no medication specifically for it. She now has zero short term memory, forgetting mostly everything that immediately happens. Her long term memory is spot on, however, which makes her able to hold a conversation as long as it's about the past. She can also make small talk like a pro, confusing everyone into thinking she's 100% fine. So.......everyone is different. My mother's main thing is that she has no idea what day of the week it is, even WITH an Alzheimer's clock in her room!
Wishing you the best of luck.
I should get together a few information leaflets, very carefully selected. Actually scrub that! - first just go straight to
https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/memory-loss-concerns
where there are separate sections for concerned family members (e.g. you) and individuals who have concerns about themselves (e.g. your mother).
Have a read through those and see if they're helpful.