Mom forgot who I was briefly. Any advice?

It is time for a full medical with this incident the REASON you are seeking it. I hope you are on advanced directive and have POA with Mom. If not this is the time to do it when she can pass competency tests. Your Mom needs referral by her MD for a neurological workup. You should discuss this with her, telling her what happened, telling her gently but certainly that this is not normal, and telling her that you and she need to support one another to find out what is happening here. I am so sorry. This IS of concern.

Your profile says your Mom is 76 years old. That's "pretty young" to have that symptom without many of the other accompanying ones for age-related decline. I agree with what Alva posted.

I'd get the car keys away from mom stat. No joke. Until she gets a formal diagnosis going here, mom needs to stop driving b/c something is definitely wrong, and you do NOT want to get The Phone Call (God forbid) that she's wrecked the car and killed herself and/or an innocent person on the road. Which happens often when dementia/Alzheimer's is at play and an elder is driving a motor vehicle.

That said, before my mother was officially 'diagnosed' with dementia, she started introducing me as her 'mother'. I thought she was joking at first, expecting to see her laughing, but she wasn't. That was the pivotal moment in time I KNEW something was wrong, and had her medically evaluated. Your mother forgetting your face is a huge red flag that she is having some cognitive issues herself, and is a lot further along than you suspect.

Best of luck and my condolences on a difficult situation.

Mini stroke? Can you have her seen right now without alarming her?

Or contact HER doctor and ask for advice.

Time for you to be proactive. Hoping for you and mom.

I'm assuming she still lives alone. When that's the case, no one is there to observe the downward day-to-day spiral, and dementia patients are good at covering up. I had a friend who talked to his sister in another state on the phone every weekend, and he had other friends and drove often. One day he went to buy a new car and drove it off the lot, stopping at a restaurant on the way home. When he came out, he couldn't find his car. He'd apparently forgotten what it looked like. Someone at the restaurant drove him to his nice neighborhood and dropped him off, but he couldn't remember his townhouse and asked for help from a policeman who lived across the street. Policeman took him home and saw him safely in - only to observe huge piles of trash in the gated courtyard, old appliances sitting around, toilets not working, ceiling vents pulled out and hanging. Friend had been living like that for some time, and his sister and friends hadn't been inside his gate so never suspected anything was wrong. They were horrified because he had acted completely normal with conversation and activities all along. Friend went to memory care after that. I'd suspect that your mom has been having more issues than you know. You'd better check her bills and financial accounts ASAP.

If you get a chance, watch the episode "The Circle of Driving" from The Goldbergs tv show, your mom may have experienced something similar.

Sorry to say that this is just the beginning and now is the time to make certain that all of legals are in place, while she's still competent.

Keep her active and engaged for as long as possible, but put more safety nets in place around her and it's time to put up the car keys.

This is the start of a long process and my heart goes out to you.

Get a neurologist quickly. It sounds like a stroke

Reading your post, I was reminded of my condition just a few years ago. I had been taking medications for depression, anxiety, and migraines. I am in my early 50s. Progressively, my memory got really bad. There were many instances when I suddenly forgot where I was and could not recognize my surroundings in my own home and other places I knew well. One time, I didn’t know who my husband was. Another time, I didn’t know who my sister was.

These instances were only brief when they occurred, but they were incredibly frightening and humiliating. Knowing how I felt then, and also how my own father feels now about losing his memory too, I wonder if your mother might feel much the same way. My heart goes out to the both of you.

Now that I have gotten off all those awful medicines, my memory has been getting better and better. I have not had any of those scary episodes since then either. Understandably, your mother is older like my father, and some of those symptoms are sadly almost expected. But is there any chance they might be chemically induced?

Disable her car, take her keys away from her and get her to a doctor now for a complete evaluation.

Hi, this happened for me last june, my mom suddenly confused me for my deceased father. After three horrible months finally the medicines prescribed have done good effect, and she hasn't had disperceptive phenomenos since one year...

She would not be driving if she was late stage dementia :)

Mum would have been predispositioned for dementia but the trigger was the sudden loss of my brother. Whilst on the plane overseas to take care of matters I suddenly observed Mum looking happy rather than grieveing. I asked her how she was feeling and she responded with “Good, but I’m just wondering who’s funeral we are going to?!”. I said the name of my brother and she responded with “Yeah I know the name but who is this person to us”. I couldn’t believe it!! I said,.. it’s your son!!
30seconds later the real world and grief came flooding back as she recalled the sad news we’d just received the day before.

That was the beginning and while we were overseas in our home country things started to show. Like she struggled with turning the shower on in the hotel as it was not motor memory being different from home.

I actually initially put it all down to shock ! Having seen movies with people being absolutely lost in grief. I though it was just a temporary stage and she’d come back to being herself. However, then she was diagnosed with dementia.

Then begin the denial stage of Mum refusing to accept the initial diagnosis. Now we are in severe stage and majority of the time she can’t stay on topic, can get lost in her own place. Sometimes she goes up and down the staircase and I allow her for a bit. I figure she is getting some exercise.

I in same situation. .is this dimentia? What an I suppose to do?... What would be best for dad? What will he allow to be done? What is it legal for me to do?
This is a great message board but many on this board are dealing with certain dimentia after they know when it affects a person's daily activities.... They have forgotten when it didn't affect a person's daily activities. They will say that was a hard time and it gets harder but that doesn't help u with what can I do legally now.. I have to reread ur post cause I read too fast in the excitement of knowing someone posting in same stage. If it is dimentia in the future we will be able to respond like these old timers here. But it seems like in these early stages it could go in 2 directions . Normal aging and dimentia. Glad ur here as we struggle to understand what we have going on

More.. I just went through that u have to take the car key or disable the car.. .no u have to get a doc to say u need to do these things then do them. .message me so perhaps we can discuss more by email if ur willing. .I starting a log of when something screams dimentia to me. With date.

By the way I have multiple sclerosis also another brain disorder and the symptom u describe ur mother experiencing has a name facial blindness I went through a relapse where I had that.. ur mom then recognized your voice....it's an Ms replapse but is it a dimentia too?. .. I trying to understand an all I say will be speculative.... Dimentia is memory loss with cognition changes.
Start a log.... Write the date and situation that occured. I think it must take a while to know.

Have her taken to a neurologist for testing. Dementia is a progressing disease. It will never go away or get better but they have medication’s to slow it down. I’m so sorry that must’ve been heartbreaking.

If this memory lapse seems to occur again, please get her evaluated by her doctor for stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack - which she appears to have had), She may have some vascular issues in her brain that can be addressed medically.

Your moms needs to be seen by a physician who can test her and see what is going on. She should not be driving or managing the care of children, etc.

My mom lives with me. She thinks I am the hired help sometimes. It made me sad to start with but I keep it light. She may say are you going to be here tomorrow. I say yes I live here. she said, Oh I forgot.

So sorry this happened. Dementia is horrible for the whole family.

First, take her to Dr and have her evaluated for dementia. That way you will know and not be second guessing yourself. Then, prepare yourself, it’s a difficult, heartbreaking road ahead. Sorry, but it’s true. Join a support group and start looking into resources for yourself and your mom…help to come into the home, memory care facilities when home help isn’t enough. Educate yourself.

You mentioned that you hadn’t really seen any big issues until she forgot who you were. Hate to tell you, but if you lived with her 24/7, I bet you would’ve seen dozens of issues with her reasoning and memory.

Check for UTIs and low sodium.
Happened to my mom. She doesn't have dementia.

I do not disagree with anyones previous answers to this, but something I learned from other posts is that if the person is in a different setting, or you are dressed differently or your hair done differently, that could have confused her. If there is nothing else found by the Drs,, this might be an explaination.
But have her checked for UTI, that caused the early signs for my Mom, and once "cured" often return to more normal behavior.

My Daddy started off not remembering events like his wedding. He was married to my Mama for 49 years until she passed. Then, he started not remembering what streets to take to the store (took those keys away that day). So I had him tested for ALZ. And not the three word test either. I insisted on the 30 question test. Turns out he failed it and did have ALZ. He forgot my name one day. Another day he forgot who I was. But I read everything I could on ALZ and knew what was coming. The week he passed away he knew who I was and he was quite with it. I would suggest to have her tested oh and another thing... UTI check for it and check for it often. When my Daddy was in a care home I noticed something was off and I told the caregivers that he was not making sense that he needed to be tested for a UTI. This home had the best caregivers, anyway, they immediately called and had a sample taken and sure enough he did have a UTI was given medication and bam! he was better the next day. Keep and eye on her and if you notice something that is not right insist on testing!

My mom had Alzheimer's, and although she usually knew whom I was, one day she didn't. Ironically, it was the same day that my husband's mother, who also had Alzheimer's, didn't recognize him. I agree with the other people who posted here, that you might want to get your mom evaluated by a physician. Sometimes symptoms can be indicative of several diseases. Best of luck.

You need to bring her to her primary care physician and he can do a cognitive test and refer you to a nuerologist . Has she not seen you in awhile ? Could be a stroke and she needs a MRI .

Same thing happens to my mom , but the other day she woke up from a nap and didn’t know who she was , who i was or even where she was…. It usually happens after she’s been sleeping and usually doesn’t last more than half a day ! I’ll try and take her out for a drive or visit a family member, that helps … good luck ! 🙏🙏🙏

Perhaps it's time to have her physician refer her to a Neurologist and Geriatric Psychiatrist.

You can purchase a locket and put your (and your brother's) picture in it.

Sorry you’re going through this. One of the first things I noticed about my mom, who was an avid reader, was that she wasn’t really reading. I would follow suggestions mentioned here and start being proactive! The driving will become an issue. I had a friend who put a tracker on her dad’s car.

jmsharpless: Your mother needs to see a neurologist stat. Also, disable her auto by any means possible.

You need to get prepared because the downfall from this disease can happen quickly.
1. Get a diagnosis from a neurologist ASAP. There are medications that can slow the progression, but nothing can cure the disease.
2. Get POA ASAP. Start taking over bills and paperwork.
3. She should not be driving. Period.
4. You will need baby doorknob covers and an Alzheimer's clock.
5. Join the Alzheimer's Dementia Caregiver's FB Support Group. You will need a group where you can vent without judgment and get great advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dementiacaregiversupportgroup/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

Get on the ball and start now!