Why does my mother in-law remember new names and faces yet cannot undertake daily living tasks?

yvonneb0_0

New member
Mar 3, 2019
1
0
My mother in law has recently been sectioned and is now in a wonderful small dementia unit. We were so lucky as this was an emergency placement but it could not be more perfect for her. Can anyone answer this? She can remember new names and faces and holds onto these in an obsessive way yet when at home she was unable to tackle even the basic aspects of daily living, washing, dressing, cooking etc. If someone new was to meet her they would think she was perfectly capable. We had a massive problem when we were trying to obtain guardianship in that she objected and was given an independent advocacy to help her and he got a lawyer to fight this through the courts. In the end it became so distressing we gave guardianship to social services and they had her placed in the care home under a court order. The lawyer believes that she was of sound mind to instruct her as she could remember her name and her job. She can also remember all the staff in the unit yet an hour into a visit with her last week she had forgotten my daughter, she remembered her when we arrived but then had no idea as to who she was. I used to be a district nurse and worked with dementia patients and know that they can have periods of lucidity but this retention of names and faces seems at odds with her diagnosis.
 

karaokePete

Registered User
Jul 23, 2017
6,534
0
N Ireland
Hello @yvonneb0_0, you are welcome here and I hope you find the forum to be a friendly and supportive place.

It is often said that every person with dementia is different and I suppose that is down to the extent of brain pathology and the underlying disease causing that pathology and the dementia type. Your MiL seems to be a case in point

I hope you have time to take a good look around the site as it is a goldmine for information. When I first joined I read old threads for information but then found the AS Publications list. If you are interested in this, clicking the following links will take you there

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-factsheets-full-list

You will see that there are Factsheets on just about every aspect of dementia.

Now that you have found us I hope you will keep posting as the membership has vast collective knowledge and experience.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Some forms of dementia - notably Fronto Temporal Dementia (FTD) - dont have the same memory problems as those considered typical of dementia. The difficulty in initiating tasks and/or knowing how to do them (which could be a sequencing problem) are typical of frontal lobe damage, as is the obessive nature of FTD, so it sounds like it is your MILs frontal lobes that have been affected

My OH can remember things if he memorises them, but ordinary every day things (conversations he has had, people he has met, things he has done) get forgotten and the memory starts to fade after only a few hours.

Because FTD and other unusual forms of dementia can look so very different from things like Alzheimers, it can confuse many people (even doctors) into thinking that there is nothing wrong and it can sometimes take a while to get a diagnosis.

Im glad your MIL is in a dementia unit that is perfect for her and I do hope that she settles there.
 

Linbrusco

Registered User
Mar 4, 2013
1,694
0
Auckland...... New Zealand
My Mum 78 has Alzheimers.
By the time she went into her care home 2.5yrs ago she was always in a constant state of confusion, remembered names of people & family she knew well, but very poor short term memory, but could still toilet and dress herself with a little prompting. Needed help with showering, brushing teeth etc. She was at high risk of wandering.

My Dad 81 has mild mixed dementia but I still feel its more frontal lobe.
Dad lives behind me.
Apart from immediate family he is very poor at remembering people, names & places... unless you are talking about his childhood.
He has many behavioural & cognitive issues, but doesnt present confused like Mum did.
He can remember more short term than long term.
For example he can remember thatI borrowed 2 eggs last week but has little recognition of his time in the army and when him & Mum were stationed in Kenya. My sister was born there but yet he asked my sister where she was born!
He still baths, dresses & cooks, but I do everything else for him.
I had to take him to see his GP last week , as I want an assesment for Respite. It was declined as his GP said Dad was independant.
I had to state my case... Carers burnout etc. Dads being assesed this week.
 

Lawson58

Registered User
Aug 1, 2014
4,333
0
Victoria, Australia
My husband
My mother in law has recently been sectioned and is now in a wonderful small dementia unit. We were so lucky as this was an emergency placement but it could not be more perfect for her. Can anyone answer this? She can remember new names and faces and holds onto these in an obsessive way yet when at home she was unable to tackle even the basic aspects of daily living, washing, dressing, cooking etc. If someone new was to meet her they would think she was perfectly capable. We had a massive problem when we were trying to obtain guardianship in that she objected and was given an independent advocacy to help her and he got a lawyer to fight this through the courts. In the end it became so distressing we gave guardianship to social services and they had her placed in the care home under a court order. The lawyer believes that she was of sound mind to instruct her as she could remember her name and her job. She can also remember all the staff in the unit yet an hour into a visit with her last week she had forgotten my daughter, she remembered her when we arrived but then had no idea as to who she was. I used to be a district nurse and worked with dementia patients and know that they can have periods of lucidity but this retention of names and faces seems at odds with her diagnosis.
My husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's almost five years ago and the basic diagnosis hasn't changed but he has had four different 'types'. Initially, he was described as 'atypical' but then it was frontovariant. A bit later it was 'nonamnesiac' but now ithe geriatrician says that my husband is 'nonclassical'.

My husband is so unlike most other people cared for by other TPers which probably accounts for this situation. He has little recollection of his childhood, never talks about things and events from the first twenty-two years of his life. He worked in several different countries and knows where he worked but hasn't a clue about when he was there. He forgets things from a few years ago but his short term memory has stayed in tact until the last few months.

He has always enjoyed playing bridge and last year he won his club individual championship which sounds a bit odd for a person with Alzheimer's. But he can no longer drive, use a mobile phone, having trouble with the microwave, can have trouble following conversations in a group of people, etc and can be very paranoid. He is still quite capable of looking after his personal hygiene and doesn't mind preparing food for himself.

So I have given up worrying about what is happening with his memory. He just doesn't fit any of the usual dementias and nobody can give me answers.
 

jugglingmum

Registered User
Jan 5, 2014
7,085
0
Chester
My mum was diagnosed with Alz, however when she was initially diagnosed her memory wasn't so bad, and the 'processing' issues which meant she couldn't cook and deal with daily life were more of a problem.

It was in some ways as if her logic had gone but not her memory, if that makes sense.

My son (and probably my OH and dau) has dyslexia and much of dyslexia is a sequencing issues a lot of the time so my mum's behaviour had lots of similarities which I found very odd until I realised it was a frontal lobe issue with my mum, based on @canary's posts (no idea if dyslexia is frontal lobe)

Given that she was 84 at diagnosis and is now nearly 89, and over time her memory has declined to more of a 'classic' Alz pattern I have just got on with things as it hasn't caused any issues.

I have certainly found many of Canary's posts useful in the early stages as there were definitely strong frontal lobe issues that didn't tie in with what seems more normal Alz behaviours.

For instance when I bought my mum a paper in late 2014 and there had been the 3rd large plane crash that year, she commented oh know not another air disaster - so clearly knew about the earlier ones, but couldn't work out how to take tablets, cook any food or to change her clothes etc at that stage.

She has declined considerably since, but still makes appropriate comments on my children's height as they grow ie she is aware of how much my son has grown when she sees him, ie she knew he was taller than me, and same height as dau, so when he then grew taller than dau she specifically commented on it.

I have always said to people that memory loss is the least of the issues when asked about things and think society, especially Drs and other professionals, do not have sufficient understanding of the full range of dementia behaviours including host/hostess mode, and it is often perceived as 'just' memory loss.