Quiet in her own little world

[EmmaPoole33]

Hi everyone, i have been reading through and noticed a lot of people comment about the person they care for constantly chatting, but my nan never seems to have much to say at all.......... she does repeat things but they are usually questions like " when are we going out " or what times your mother coming " those types of things but most of the time she just looks at you with a little smile like shes not quite sure.... Any one else have that experience?? xx ty

 

[virg]

I think everyone is different and it may also depend on the stage they're at. My Mum, previously a very chatty person, now says very little.

 

[EmmaPoole33]

we believe from online research nan is at stage 2, although this hasnt been confirmed by gp just what we have read...... x

 

[steffie60]

My Mum has always been a quiet person and our conversation mostly revolves around me taking her shopping or she will take my husband and I out for lunch, I know none of this will happen because when I go into her at 9 in the morning all she wants to do is sleep. We will talk a little of my grandchildren but that is instigated by me. Or if there is something on the TV like insurance my mother will ask has she got or does she need insurance. She is always polite if she has a visitor and will offer them a drink which I make as she is unsteady on her feet.

Conversation is difficult and as my mother progresses through this horrible disease she begins to lose words and this adds to the look of hurt and confusion on her face.

hope this helps

 

[lizzybean]

My MIL talks incessantly & is lucid in that what she says makes perfect sense, it's just that you are on a loop. If she gets a bee in her bonnet about something (usually money or a trip out) she goes on non stop. Face to face I can distract her but on the phone I can't. Last night she got it in her head that we were meeting to go out somewhere today. We weren't as I was working today, she kept ringing to ask me what we were doing/telling me she didn't feel like it. She was also ringing her sister as well. Don't know where she got the idea from?

My point being that we are not chatting as much as she can't seem to bear quiet, I get that she is lonely & bored in the evenings.

Your Nan might be processing things when she is being quiet or maybe just comfortable in your company. Everybody reacts differently to things and it is just the same in the dementia world.

 

[retiredcopper]

MIL used to be quiet & when she spoke she would say the same things over again (about her childhood). I think she was quiet because she couldn't form the words quickly enough to say them. The one thing she could do though is to sing along to her favourite songs. She is word perfect at all the Frank Sinatra etc songs & still loves listening to them, even though she is now in the last stage - she can't talk or sing but she lays with her eyes shut & mouths the words.

 

[babystar]

My Mum is pretty quiet, definitely not chatty. No conversation skills; usual response to talk is "yeah", "oh right", or laughing. She will sporadically make a statement about something but if you try and carry it on into a conversation she can't. I think she struggles to form a sentence that makes sense, and knows it. She often laughs after saying something that comes out as nonsense. Sometimes you can see the concentration when she's trying to reply to something, and see what an effort it is, so I try not to push for an answer to anything. A lot of the time she just stares at me. It is sad.