Dementia.

Dementia changes the persons personality. They can become paranoid or docile. It can change throughout the day. Medications can help....Medications do become necessary regardless how we think we can handle it. Telling "loving lies" become necessary to help the loved one cope. I tell my mother when she asks to go home to her house, "we are working on that...the dr. is out on holiday leave right now and as soon as he/she returns we will get that worked out. It works....Being completely truthful by saying your dr. said you cannot live alone anymore,etc...only upsets the person because they do not want to hear that. Tell them what they want to hear, regardless. I know this goes against the grain when we want to be totally honest with our loved one...but their reasoning abilities are gone. As Captain said...learn all you can. Hugs to you!!

better start reading all you can about dementia , its a fatal condition. before its over your mother may likely call you an imposter, accuse you of stealing and trying to kill her. your moms reasoning ability is impared, learn to let her believe anything she wants, its wiser than trying to correct her distorted reality.
dementia care will bend your head. the more you learn the better.

If she has progressive dementia, it will get worse with time. At least when she saw the photo she realized it was someone who lived far away. She just couldn't think of who.

My mother goes through periods of being baffled and confused, then she seems okay for a while. I don't know what causes this going back and forth, in and out of confusion. In my mother's case, she got bad fairly quickly, but has progressed slowly since then. It seems to be different for people. Maybe the dementias are different or different parts of the brain are affected.

I'm glad that you found the group. I hope the people here can make your trip through dementia a bit easier.