It's called confabulation, Mary. This filling in memory blanks with either out of place memories or complete fabrication.
My husband's consultant explained it this way: as we rack up experiences, study new things, read, keep socially and physically active- all these things, particularly if we keep our brains active by continuing to study and learn all our lives, mean our brains are building neural pathways. When Alzheimer's or dementia strikes, and the brain, as it works, starts running into damaged areas, (like roadblocks on the neural pathways), the more neural pathways there are, the longer the brain can continue finding"diversions". Eventually though, there comes a point where there are too many"roadblocks". The Alzheimer's disease has been working away in the background, destroying parts of the brain. No more diversions can be made, so it looks as if there's been a very sudden deterioration.
Once I understood this, I could see it happening in my husband. I could see how sometimes, he would, when talking about something, hesitate momentarily and then continue, but he would use an odd word or phrase to say what he had started saying. Like once, he was feeling cold from being outside and was trying to say his hands were cold. There was that slight pause, and he said "my gloves are freezing."
Sent from my Moto G Play using Talking Point mobile app
My husband's consultant explained it this way: as we rack up experiences, study new things, read, keep socially and physically active- all these things, particularly if we keep our brains active by continuing to study and learn all our lives, mean our brains are building neural pathways. When Alzheimer's or dementia strikes, and the brain, as it works, starts running into damaged areas, (like roadblocks on the neural pathways), the more neural pathways there are, the longer the brain can continue finding"diversions". Eventually though, there comes a point where there are too many"roadblocks". The Alzheimer's disease has been working away in the background, destroying parts of the brain. No more diversions can be made, so it looks as if there's been a very sudden deterioration.
Once I understood this, I could see it happening in my husband. I could see how sometimes, he would, when talking about something, hesitate momentarily and then continue, but he would use an odd word or phrase to say what he had started saying. Like once, he was feeling cold from being outside and was trying to say his hands were cold. There was that slight pause, and he said "my gloves are freezing."
Sent from my Moto G Play using Talking Point mobile app
