Confabulation has begun

Terri 2.0

My DH has started confabulating. Yesterday he told me about a story on the local news that he "had seen". The thing is, he was sleeping when that story aired, I saw it, and had told him about it. I didn't correct him; I said that I'd been wondering about that, and now I know.

He's never lived outside of two states; FL and NC. I've lived in many states, from Alaska to Florida. Sooo, last weekend he told me a story about "when he lived in Seattle". I lived there before I met him, but he never did. The story didn't make any sense, at least to someone who lived there. I kept saying things like "really?" "wow!" or "how fun!". Basically, he's taking my memories and making them his own, instead of mine. I can't wait to hear what he comes up with when he tells me about living in Alaska. LOL

I know that this is fairly common, from reading lots of posts on here. What I don't know is if this means that he may be moving to a new stage? Will this escalate?

Thanks, Terri

M1

Terri, I think it does escalate, I am seeing it more and more in my partner too. None of it makes much sense, but it doesn't seem to bother her--and I just make noncommittal comments to whatever she says. She has been a solid stage 5 and I suspect we are heading into 6 shortly.

Jgirl57

Those are the same responses I give my HWD/Alz . A well timed oh wow keeps him happy and talking. For years we talked about maybe going to Portland ORegon someday and now he tells me how much he loved living there ?!?!?!. I just smile and say “oh wow”. I have found that his accusations towards me is decreasing while the confabulations increase. A very strange disease

Jeanne C.

I think we all get pretty good at "wow, that's interesting." He seems to pick up on random things he sees/hears and incorporating it into his conversation. Sometimes it happens midsentence. Today I handed him napkin to wipe his hands while he was telling me a story and he worked napkins right into the narrative. I'm thinking this is a progression and plan to discuss with his NP next visit. Then again that's months away so who knows what will be going on by then. I'm also noticing a lot of language issues lately such as using struggling to find a word or using a completely incorrect word. I feel bad to say it, but I sometimes zone out when he talks because so much of it doesn't make sense.

mommafour

My DH started the confabulations a couple of years ago, incorporating other’s stories into his own. He’s in Stage 6 now and it does seem to be getting worse as he declines. His latest story for the past couple of weeks is insisting that he has secretly squirreled away several million dollars and he demands that I take him to the bank to prove it to me. I’ve been trying to redirect that conversation to save him the embarrassment of speaking with a very confused bank teller. He’s wanting to withdraw from his mystery account and it’s become an obsession. I ask him where it came from, lottery winnings? He has no idea, but insists it exists. This was actually his sister’s story. She and her husband had always lived a frugal lifestyle. When the husband passed away last year, she was shocked to discover that he had secretly saved 2 million and left it all to her. I don’t worry too much about his confabulations. He’s had worse behaviors lately.

ButterflyWings

This is an interesting thread for so many reasons. #1 confabulations and such definitely always escalated, always progressed, and yet there was no schedule or particular order for us.

We have always straddled at least one of the formal "stages", with DH even having some aspects of 4, 5, and 6 - today. But I know that if they display one aspect of a stage especially on a regular basis, they've progressed to that stage officially.

I am reflecting on the confab phase and the talking a blue streak monologue phase (which wore me out!) and his increasingly non-verbal state in 6E makes me miss the old days, even though it was largely nonsense. It has been a bit of a sad day here. Missing him a lot, though he is right beside me.

So, in striving for a mood shift, I'm in a "what if" mode now and wondering what if DH actually secretly saved $2 million! Wouldn't that be fun :) I think you all are so insightful and wish you well as this journey continues.