In a message dated 12/28/2004 9:40:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, wkvarnstrom@... writes:
When you have WKS, is it possible to have some days where you are
very clear and are in the present with your short term memory in
tact, and then have other days where it's all gone again?
I appreciate any input that anyone has as I am desperately trying to
gain insight since my mom's diagnosis!
Hi. My mother does have better days than others. Sometimes she does remember some short term memory things as well which is always suprising. I am not sure if she is remembering or if she has come up with tricks to help her to remember. She is writing lots of things down. Her long term memory is mostly fine although anything from the last 5-7 years is gone. (that is when she really started to drink hard) The confabulation is mostly gone but not completely. She does come up with some doozies but not too often. Her "shopping" is really fun. She goes on the weekly trips but she buys the same things over and over. She's got drawers and drawers full of popcorn and candy. All hidden so that she doesn't remember that she has them. I think that hoarding is a part of the dementia. But the shopping makes her feel "normal" so I let it go on. That is the craziest of all, she really has no insight into what is wrong so it can be difficult to explain without hurting her feelings why she can't do certain things. And then this loss of control makes her angry at times.
Also, I have seen some people mention that you know after about a
year what symptoms will remain permanently. Does that mean that
some new ones could develop over that year so you could actually be
worse a year from now than today with severe confusion,
confabulation, no short term memory, limited physical capabilities,
etc?
I don't think that things will necessarily get worse but once a thiamin regimin has begun and if they have stopped drinking it can take up to a year to see exactly how much is lost. That seemed to be true for my mom as well and luckily no drinking. I don't remember (no pun intended:) how many days in it was before they started her on thiamin, it was at least three and possible five days before the doctor came up with this diagnosis. It's rare or at least its rarely diagnosed. I think that period of time without the thiamin may be critical as well. My mother was pretty sick when I brought her in and they were focusing on saving her life at first not so much what she had lost. She couldn't walk at all by the time we left the hospital and wasn't responding to their physical therapy but once we got her into a nursing home where they worked with her more intensely we got her walking with a walker and now she can do without it (though she uses it for security and because I think she doesn't remembe that she doesnt' need it.)
Anyway, hope this helps. Keep writing with your questions. It keeps the group active! Take care, Kathy
When you have WKS, is it possible to have some days where you are very clear and are in the present with your short term memory in tact, and then have other...
In a message dated 12/28/2004 9:40:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, ... Hi. My mother does have better days than others. Sometimes she does remember some short...
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