Typical mental decline from age, or something more worrisome?

[Anonymous]

My mother, 72, has become a bit of a sedentary agoraphobic, and has always suffered with anxiety. I chalked up these things to her gradual change in behavior. Things like, she’s very rigid with her schedule and not adaptable to change, seems like she could be prone to elderly scans (thankfully she still calls for advice), and occasionally forgetting concepts she once knew, but THAT is the part that’s now concerning me a lot after two phone calls we had this week.

I’ve noticed her forgetting things intermittently, but figured she doesn’t stimulate her mind and is probably just declining. But this week, she forgot public defenders were a thing, and was even confused when I reminded her how it works. (She’s always been a true crime fan and we were discussing a case she’s following.) Then she forgot another thing related to a hobby she once engaged in for years. I’m sensing something may not be right, and all the other things are related.

Is dementia a catch all phrase for normal cognitive decline? Or is this a separate thing? What about Alzheimer’s? She knows people (and how everyone wronged her) to a fault, knows dates, places. But it just jarred me how she forgot those two seemingly simple things. What could I be dealing with here?

[Anonymous]

Op, a different tangent than what your are asking ~ what is her living situation? How far is she from you/other family? What is her financial situation and plans for her aging. The "reason" for these deficits are not nearly as important as how this affects her ability to live, live alone ... if she is. Sounds like time make plans.

I say this only to emphasize, imo, in which direction you should place your energy. Chasing a diagnosis (without other symptoms) will likely take up valuable time. Is she seeing a doctor for any conditions? Has she had a physical recently? UTIs can bring on delusion.

[Anonymous]

My father is like this, at 73.
He was recently diagnosed with atherosclerosis and we suspect vascular dementia (dementia from damaged blood vessels in the brain), like his father had. He needs a brain MRI to be certain.

Your mother needs to have exams done. She needs to go to the doctor.

[Anonymous]

So sorry. This does sound like the beginning stages of dementia. I would see a neurologist.

[Anonymous]

You need to secure her finances asap!

[Anonymous]

Rigid schedule and anxiety could be her compensating for memory loss. My mom has a very rigid schedule because any changes are scary and confusing. The rigidity and anxiety come from their awareness that they’re missing things and if they have a set schedule it’s easier for them to remember since it’s the same. It does sound like cognitive decline which I guess is just another term for dementia. My mom also has vascular dementia which I understand manifests slightly differently than Alzheimer’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to secure her finances asap!

My mom got Alzheimers diagnosis when it was too late so my dad had to go through an involved process for guardianship. If the advance directive, power of attorney, will, and everything is not in order, this should be taken care of asap.

[Anonymous]

Dementia is a bit of a catchall description as there are many causes for memory loss. And, yes, from having family members deal with dementia and dementia-adjacent diagnoses, her symptoms are not normal aging.

16:34 is correct that getting a diagnosis will take time, and I will echo 20:49 to get power of attorney, will, advanced directive, etc., taken care of ASAP.

[Anonymous]

At age 72, it does seem like that is a bit young to have those lapses in memory. Most people I know in that age group are very sharp, and would not have forgotten things like you mention for your mom, I am sorry to say.