Mom was having a conversation and she kept trying to say one word, but a different word was coming out.

sharon, I am so glad you took her to the hospital. Please let us know how it goes and what they do to help her. Thinking of you and your mother this morning.

I hope your mother comes out of it okay. My father was my mom's maincaregiver for 23years (I took the evening shift when I got home from work.) Last year, father had a minor stroke. He gave up on life.... refused physical therapy and is now bedridden. I think he was just so exhausted from being mom's caregiver 24/7 for 23 years and he just doesn't want to get to well to continue caregiving. I now care for 2 bedridden parents. Please do come back and let us know your mom's condition.

Well, I posted the original question & tonight at the hospital I got the answer. My mother has been having several mini-strokes. So, if you are ever having a conversation with someone & their words become garbled or they start not making sense temporarily, they may be having a mini-stroke, too. The first time the speech problem lasted approximately 10 minutes, and the second time it lasted about 3-4 minutes. Thank you for your help & I'll find out more about my mother's condition tomorrow. She's been admitted into the hospital for tests & observation.

The headaches along WITH the other symptoms, should warrant a trip to her doctor.

sharonic, it may be nothing, but it could be something more serious. I would talk about the headaches and the word loss with her doctor. If there is something going on with the vascular system in her head, it is good to know, since there are ways to slow down damage if she is having small strokes or ischemic episodes. I hope it is nothing serious. Losing words is fairly common for people as they grow older. It can be a sign of dementia or simply a sign of having a senior moment.

My mother probably has dementia of some form. She loses words quite often. I have something I do that she thinks is fun. I give her a hint or the first letter of the word and then she can usually pull it out of her brain. She just needed a hint to know what neural drawer to look in for the right word.

It's harder with me. If I can't think of a word, I have to type something into my computer until it comes up with the word I'm looking for. How dependent on computers my brain has become!