My Mom has dementia and sometimes struggles to find the right words, and will just stop mid sentence, or be distracted and forget she was trying to say something. I try to help when I know what word she's looking for, but I try not to jump in too quickly....
It could be meds but there is also a common speech beavior with alz patients know as word salad. The thought may be in there, hard to tell, but the right words and phrases just can't be found. I dealt with a lady as a hospice volunteer who did this. I think she understood me when I would tell her about my day but try as she might she couldn't form rational responces any longer.
Dementia and interfere with normal speech patterns.
Drugs can have wide-ranging side-effects.
Has this problem come up after starting a new drug or changing dosage?
What I would do first is go to the pharmacy (or contact them online) and ask whether that is a known side effect of any of the drugs this person is taking. I did this once with a sudden problem of blurred vision and the pharmacist was surprised to report that yes, 15% of people who took the drug I had recently added did report that side effect. I told my doctor I needed to discontinue that drug, and why, and she was very surprised -- she had never heard of that side-effect. From experience, I'd always talk to a pharmacists first now. What they don't know from experience they can readily research.
Dementia and interfere with normal speech patterns.
Drugs can have wide-ranging side-effects.
Has this problem come up after starting a new drug or changing dosage?
What I would do first is go to the pharmacy (or contact them online) and ask whether that is a known side effect of any of the drugs this person is taking. I did this once with a sudden problem of blurred vision and the pharmacist was surprised to report that yes, 15% of people who took the drug I had recently added did report that side effect. I told my doctor I needed to discontinue that drug, and why, and she was very surprised -- she had never heard of that side-effect. From experience, I'd always talk to a pharmacists first now. What they don't know from experience they can readily research.