Short term memory gone now what?

JC5 · May 2

Curious if there is stage where short term memory is just gone? DH has been declining with his short term memory but the past week it’s just not there! The verbal cues aren’t working, or verbal suggestions. Thought I’d have him literally write a list of 3 to-do’s , read it with him, asked what he will do first, got a reply and then nothing. He walked away to do first on list and ended up watching tv. So where is he in the realm of things? Or is this an answerless question?

Chris20cm · May 2

DW in stage 6 has nearly completely lost her short term memory. She will ask the same question ten times or more in a five minute period. "How old am I?" "What is today?" "Is my brother still alive?" "Where are we going?" "Did we have breakfast?" "What's our dog's name?" "Where do we live?" "Who are our granddaughter's parents?"
Up until now, she had bad days, memory wise, and some better days. Now they are all bad. She still knows me though, and I am grateful for that but I know what's coming and it ain't pretty.

hiya · May 2

My DH has zero short term memory too. I’ll be stood in the same room as him, hand him something to change into and he will take something off then put it back on. He already forgot I just handed him something different. I think it’s just part of this insidious disease. He’s stage 6.

Biggles · May 2

it’s the saddest thing ever. One day my DH’s memory is quite good and then out of the blue he will ask all those same questions and more, like who else is in the house? who are you? ( this used to upset me but not any more I just give him my name say we’ve been married for 54 very happy years) he accepts everything I say. He’s so lovely and gentle and responds beautifully to kindness, it makes me privately weep. If he sees I’m stressed he wants to help and will load the dishwasher with cups the wrong way up etc. I still adore him and am most happy when we are together. Clothes go on back to front, inside out and shoes on the wrong feet, I just gently change things around for him and he responds with a kiss or a cuddle. I shave him and he responds with a little kiss again. It’s so very sweet. It’s such a horrible disease but I have found giving in to it and responding with love has calmed me and allowed us to continue a beautiful, respectful, relationship. I only think of now, I can’t think of the future it’s too sad.

Lilydaisy · May 3

Exactly the same status with my DW. And she does only ok with most ADLs. It's interesting how we handle each setback or new decline by telling ourselves to cope with it because it will only get worse. There is no light at the end of this tunnel.

MAW5 · May 3

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/242203#Comment_242203

This sounds like my boyfriend who is so kind and sweet, and doesn't get upset. I am not sure what to expect though as this disease progresses. He is early stage, repeating questions and forgetting conversations, or things we did.

SDianeL · May 3

here’s a link to a chart of the 7 stages. I would say your DW is Stage 5 or 6 based on the one behavior you listed, but keep in mind that behaviors can overlap stages or a person may not have all behaviors in a stage. https://alzheimersdisease.net/living/stages

NewCareGiver540 · May 23

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/242203#Comment_242203

You are wonderful person and he is so lucky to have you to take care of him. I can't help being more frustrated, but I will remind my self what you said.

NewCareGiver540 · May 23

I can totally relate to this. Last summer my DH was so helpful with yardwork. Now he can only do things if I supervise, he too walks away and wants to go back inside sometimes after only 5 minutes. He goes to the garage to get something and comes back empty handed. We have a large yard and I wish he were more helpful, but i know he cannot remember how to do things.

l7pla1w2 · May 24

PWD can have a short attention span and are easily distracted. I experienced the same things with DW. We have been gardening together for many years, and a lot of the time we didn't have to say anything to each other to know what needed to be done. I recently placed her in MC, but until then she was nearly useless in the yard. The one exception was putting pruned debris into bags. It fed into her self-soothing repetitive behavior of cutting things up. Recently at the MCF, we were outside, picking up twigs and branches, breaking them into little pieces, and piling them up, and she was happy.

Lilydaisy · June 5

My DW has reached this point too. She sometimes has good intentions, but doesn't have the initiative to follow through. Other times she doesn't even think of doing things she would have routinely done years ago.

Timmyd · June 6

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/243942#Comment_243942

My DW was also big into gardening but has lost interest as disease progresses. However, the one thing I can still get her do to is pick up twigs and branches which she likes to break up into little pieces. She needs help knowing where to put the broken twigs and branches, but she still likes to pick up the fallen debris in the yard and break it up into smaller pieces.

Short term memory gone now what?

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