Short-term memory almost gone

Lilydaisy

My DW has almost completely lost short-term memory, meaning events or conversations of a few hours earlier. Does this provide any clues about the stage she is in or moving into? Handles ADL well still. Converses fine, though doesn’t participate much in small groups of friends.

Are stages even important when there is so much inconsistency of behaviors among patients?

Stuck in the middle

Your wife sounds a lot like mine.  She doesn't know the day of the week or the month of the year, but still matches her earrings to her blouse.  

I don't know that stages are all that important.  I think AD affects different parts of the brain in different people, and they don't progress like base runners, from home to first to second to third to home.  I just try to keep track of what she can do so I know what I need to help with.

Jeff86

I have found it useful to think about stages—perhaps in part because my DW has moved through stages in a textbook linear fashion, now to stage 6d.  I’ve found it helpful to understand what to anticipate in successive stages, even as it’s entirely valid that each patient’s AD journey is different.   I think the guidelines in terms of length of time a PWD May spend in a given state is less useful.  The range is so great, it reminds me of the old adage of a man who drowned in a river that was 4 feet deep, on average.

Bob in LW

My SO also has severe short term memory loss.  Her neurologist has not said what stage she is in, but in reading the descriptions of the various stages, I believe that she is in stage 3, because, other than her memory loss, she is quite functional.  However, with the various Alzheimer stages, there is no "one size fits all", so a person diagnosed as being in a certain stage may not have all of the characteristics listed.

toolbeltexpert

Here is my 2 cents for what it's worth. Every now and then I look at the Tam Cummings list and compare what I have seen. For sure a pwd can have several in the next stage and not have some from another lower one. I asked my Dw Psychiatrist what stage he thought my Dw wife was in when he said 4 maybe 5, I was floored. She is thru almost everything in 5? so it is what it is. In the end enjoy what you got and celebrate it. But deep inside we all kinda want that timeline, there maybe a little comfort knowing.

Stewart

trottingalong

I’m noticing how much my DH is losing his short term memory, and it surprises me. I don’t like looking at the stages. He’s never fallen right into a particular stage and it’s not so cut and dry. I live for the moment, which can be confusing. Is he getting worse? Are things progressing? Yes on some days, no on others. He is still quick witted with a great sense of humor. We laugh all the time. He can’t remember what day or month it is, why he’s going to a doctor or what the doctor even said the minute we leave. He can’t comprehend reading and now finds it more and more difficult to follow characters in a tv show or movie. But he will tease me, laugh at funny animal videos and rewatch a video over and over, not recognizing that he just watched it. I live in the moment as much as I can and I do worry about him.

Just Bill

My wife started out with minor short term memory loss and cognitive impairment and now has major short term memory loss and cognitive impairment. She has added reality impairment to her list of major symptoms. She cannot tell the difference between a dream/hallucination/delusion and reality. She hallucinates a lot. In spite of all her symptoms she is still relatively independent. She can feed, shower and dress herself as well as go to the bathroom without any help. Of course I act as her memory and reality calibrator, it is constant questions all day long who ?, what ?, when ? , where ?, why ? and how ? It is non stop all day. She has a bit of a hair trigger temper but even if I accidentally bump into a detonator she is usually over it in 5 minutes and it is completely forgotten in half hour. I would estimate she is at a level 4. She cannot be left alone in the event she acts upon a delusion. If she loses any of the above independent skills that may bump her to a 5.

KathyF1

It’s a puzzle to me that so many people with Alzheimer’s have different paths. Bill, my DH has the same reality issues. Delusions - like he and I started the January 6 riots. A friend he talked to on the phone yesterday actually came to visit. Questions all day non stop. For others it is just memory loss. I wonder why? 

But on the flip side I am also amazed that most do the same things, like layering clothes. Or digging through drawers and putting things in strange places. What a mystery. 

Ed1937

I never considered stages that important. My wife was all over the place with the things she lost, and the things she retained. One day she asked me 5 times what the time was within a 3 minute period. Another day she remembered something that was said 2 or 3 days ago. During the same period of time she became fecal incontinent. She was mostly "with it", but would also at times become confused during the same day. My best guess was she was stage 5/6 when she passed. But at times I wondered if she wasn't stage 4.