Parroting?

Care4Mom2

I still don’t know where we are in this journey…

Something that has been going on for at least a year is that my husband will say something as if it was his idea when it was actually something that was said to him a few minutes before. He just doesn’t remember. 

Case in point: We just put in a fire pit patio. There is a branch that is hanging over it. I said to him, while we we standing under it, that the branch had to come down. He asked “back to where?” I showed him. He asked if I wanted him to do it right then and I said, “No.” Ten minutes later, he said to me, “That branch will have to come down.” I told him that we had just talked about that. He said he didn’t remember. 

He is aware of his memory issues. I am also honest with him about what I am seeing. I told him about the parroting as just an observation. He said it is possible. I asked him if he felt he is getting worse. He didn’t really have an answer, but said that he is trying to find ways to help himself remember, but said he is about 50% successful.

Has anyone else seen this type of parroting behavior?

Ed1937

Yes. Several times my wife would repeat something I said. For instance, she might be walking towards the bathroom, and I would ask her if she were going to the bathroom. She would say "No, I'm going to the bathroom". I don't think it's uncommon at all.

nancyj194

Hi Care4mom2,

My DH does the very same thing. It used to bother me, but now I just say that I just said that and he replies ok. 

Everything takes time for us to adjust to with spouses.  

I wish you well through this extremely difficult journey.

Rescue mom

Yes, my DH did a lot of that. He’d also *do* whatever  he saw me doing (if he could), 5 minutes later.  He was an extreme  “copycat.”  

But I didn’t tell him I just said or did that. Telling him just made him angry (he would not admit forgetting) and didn’t change anything. It’s not like he was going to remember to not do it. I’d just say OK, or how about that…it usually didn’t matter anyway, except as a sad reminder of his disease.

M1

Oh yes indeed, I think this is a pretty common phenomenon.  I'm a bit surprised you can talk to him about it without him getting defensive or upset, that was never the case here.  I would suspect at some point that there won't be a purpose to telling him about it., because he's not doing in on purpose, and likely can't change it.

Faith,Hope,Love

My DH does this too.  In the beginning I would explain to him what he was doing.  But I soon realized that he was going to keep doing it and couldn't help it.  So now, I just acknowledge what he says and everybody's happy.

MaryG123

We’re in that stage as well, and it’s so hard for me to remember that I shouldn’t comment on it or ask “Don’t you remember…,” which just embarrasses him.  He can talk about his memory loss but it makes him sad and he can’t do anything about it, so I try not to bring it up.  I guess I’ll have plenty of time to learn to just agree.

RobertsBrown

My wife and I are basically an Abbot and Costello routine at this point.

saltom

DH used to parrot quite a bit at least a year ago. It's gradually subsiding. I ignored it because I thought he was trying to annoy me, so I just said nothing.  In retrospect he probably started dementia behavior way before he was diagnosed or even went for cognitive testing.