My Mom (88) is in relatively good health but last month she has suddenly had a dramatic memory loss. Is this dementia?

If your mom isn't under the close supervision of a doctor, she nèeds to be. When this happened to my mom, I found her in her apartment, incoherent. She was 911-ed to the ER and admitted to the hospital. She was found to have a raging bladder infection that changed her entire personality. And actually, after much thought, I realized that things had been changng for her for a while. I just hadn't seen it. There is also the possibility that your mom may have had a minor stroke. She needs to see her physician. Good thoughts coming your way|

Agree with Hugemom. I find that elderly women often get very poor health care, even from their PCPs who are often happy to write stuff off as "just old age". If she (or you) are not satisfied with her current doctor , find a geriatric specialist. Dementia is often a diagnosis of exclusion, i.e., they've ruled out everything else. Make sure that uti/bladder issues are the very first thing they rule out, and with a culture, not merely a dipstick test.

I agree with the above.

Yes, start with a possible urinary tract infection and work from there. Those can cause dementia-like symptoms until they're treated and stopped.

Quick memory loss like that can often be the result of a TIA (mini-stroke) also.

Thank you all for your posts. I will definitely see that she gets tested for a urinary tract/bladder infection or for a mini stroke. how do they test to see if she has had a TMI?