She says she does not know my name. She knows I am her daughter, but calls me Margene. Her favorite sister-in-law. She has even known my dogs name, but not mine!
I wonder is she playing games or is it part of dementia??
I doubt she’s playing games, unless she always was prone to that before the dementia. My Mom would never have been mean to me, so when she asks who I am, (she’s blind) I know she’s not kidding. When I remind her, I’m Jeannie your daughter, she apologizes and she mean it. I make it a point to always refer to myself as “your daughter Jeannie” multiple times when I speak to her. It might help.
People with dementia don’t play “mind games”. They simply don’t have the mental capacity. They truly can’t remember what they were told 5 minutes ago, or remember names and dates. But, my mom would stick her foot out and try to trip the aides when they passed.
If your mom’s vision is fading, she may call you “Margene” because you sound like her. My mom had MD too.
Patience and understanding of the disease is the best way to go. There are many, many posts and pages on here about what to expect with a diagnoses of dementia.
They say that if you've seen one case of dementia you (only) seen one case of dementia, although there are certain trends every person is different, and don't forget that there are many different kinds of dementia as well as mixtures of more than one. My mom had vascular dementia and very early on she became confused about important things like names (even her own!), whether she had ever been married or how many kids she had, so I learned not to push for answers to those questions. The funny thing is that years later I realized that part of her really did remember all those things, she just couldn't bring them to mind when asked directly. It could be that part of your mom's mind pictures her daughter as a child, and although on some level she "knows" you are her daughter she can't reconcile that with the little girl she expects you to be.
If your mom’s vision is fading, she may call you “Margene” because you sound like her. My mom had MD too.
Patience and understanding of the disease is the best way to go. There are many, many posts and pages on here about what to expect with a diagnoses of dementia.