so My mom lives with me .her memory is horrible just the short term. What I don’t understand is how she can forget when she ate or what she ate . But then remember a blackout we had yesterday. Just curious if anybody else is seeing this in there loved one .
Get all the education you can.
Start with Teepa Snow videos.
The internet is just packed full of stuff for you.
Oliver Sacks said of dementia that "they have an entire world; it just isn't YOUR world" and that's exactly it. You are looking at an alien at this point. And your goal is to be as understanding as you are able of "her world", which makes no sense whatsoever in your own.
That does not mean they remember those events in the same way we do. The emotional part might stick in their brain, like having to stop driving, but they will forget or not be able to comprehend why they can no longer drive, so they will continually bring it up.
I would recommend that you start educating yourself about this horrible disease, as your mom will only continue to get worse and you want to be prepared best you can.
You can start with reading the book The 36 Hour Day, and then look up Teepa Snow(a dementia expert)on YouTube, as she has many great videos there, plus she's written many great books about dementia as well.
You are in for quite the journey with your mom, so hang on tight and get your patience ready as it will be tested over and over and over.
My mother could not remember to change her clothes , wash up or eat , but she could still come up with manipulative plan such as calling 911 and telling the police I was stealing her money because she was angry that I put her in assisted living . She could remember she did that and admitted to me that she did that because she was angry with me for placing her in assisted living .
Before I placed Mom in AL when I was trying to get her to eat, wash up and change her clothes , she got angry and was hitting me and pushing me . I told her I was going to call the police . Without missing a beat she said “ Go ahead , call , I’ll tell them you hit me . Who are they going to believe you or the old lady ?”
Another time ( again before she was in assisted living ) she tried to push me , when she did she lost her balance and fell . She told my siblings that I knocked her down . She remembered she lied .
She could do all this but insisted she washed , changed her clothes and ate the meals I made . I was finding the meals uneaten in the trash . She stunk, was in the same pajamas . She was living on cookies . She wouldn’t do anything I asked , nor would she let hired help in . So she had to go to assisted living .
So, the blackout could have been a bit scary or uncertain for her.
Yep. That's how it goes with my mother, for sure.