If she was 20 years younger say 68, then would it be more worrisome? Is there a specific age where it's determined "it's old age" versus something more?
Daisycat, I agree with what's been posted below. BUT it would be helpful to know the living arrangement...does your mom live with you? Or does she live in her own place by herself? If you live with her, then you don't need to read any further.
If she lives by herself, here is my experience: My husband and I discovered that my MIL had pretty bad memory loss only after her husband went into rehab from a fall and she was in the home alone for the first time in many years. MIL (on the phone) seemed perfectly good, answering general questions like, how are you? what's going on? what do you think about this weather, etc. We were bringing her groceries and meals since we didn't want her to drive. Then one day at a family outing she nearly fainted. Upon inspecting her fridge we discovered rotting food and no sign of her having eaten anything...for a few days. Even after that I'd call her twice a day to ask specifically if she had eaten and what did she actually eat. She'd always name the items. But when I checked in her kitchen, again rotting food and no signs of having eaten. She THOUGHT she had eaten and she'd tell me on the phone what she sincerely thought she ate. At that point we knew she couldn't be left alone. She also had trouble working appliances (like the microwave and stove/oven) that should have been in her long-term memory. The ability to answer general questions is called "apparent competency" by the social workers. Also, I'm sure my MIL could tell something was going on with herself so she covered it the best she could. My point is for you to not make any assumptions if you aren't actually checking on her daily and verifying that what she tells you is true. Don't ask your mom, "Do you remember how to work the microwave?" You must insist she demonstrate to you that she remembers how. I wish you all the best and you work on your mom's behalf to help her.
I agree with Midkid. It is simply a sign of aging and if, at 88, this is the only problem, then she is doing really well. People often think that this is indicative of Alzheimer's or other dementia. For instance people guess that if you cannot remember where you put the keys yesterday, then you have dementia. NO, not true. BUT, if you put the keys in the refrigerator and the butter in your drawer, you could be in trouble. As we get olders we often become a bit more anxious about EVERYTHING. And this anxiety can contribute to the short term memory thing as well. We cannot multitask well. That is why occasionally we will forget to turn off the stove after warming up leftovers on a low flame. Or don't close the fridge door well after putting back the milk. The brain tends to concentrate on only one task at a time, so where you used to be able to warm the leftover, put things away and have a great phone conversation with your best friend, that is going to become increasingly problematic.
Aging. At 88, if you are just beginning to see some short term memory loss, consider yourself lucky!
You could have her checked out, but if it's not a big deal, I wouldn't put her through any testing---and most docs are doing telehealth visits only these days.
If she lives by herself, here is my experience: My husband and I discovered that my MIL had pretty bad memory loss only after her husband went into rehab from a fall and she was in the home alone for the first time in many years. MIL (on the phone) seemed perfectly good, answering general questions like, how are you? what's going on? what do you think about this weather, etc. We were bringing her groceries and meals since we didn't want her to drive. Then one day at a family outing she nearly fainted. Upon inspecting her fridge we discovered rotting food and no sign of her having eaten anything...for a few days. Even after that I'd call her twice a day to ask specifically if she had eaten and what did she actually eat. She'd always name the items. But when I checked in her kitchen, again rotting food and no signs of having eaten. She THOUGHT she had eaten and she'd tell me on the phone what she sincerely thought she ate. At that point we knew she couldn't be left alone. She also had trouble working appliances (like the microwave and stove/oven) that should have been in her long-term memory. The ability to answer general questions is called "apparent competency" by the social workers. Also, I'm sure my MIL could tell something was going on with herself so she covered it the best she could. My point is for you to not make any assumptions if you aren't actually checking on her daily and verifying that what she tells you is true. Don't ask your mom, "Do you remember how to work the microwave?" You must insist she demonstrate to you that she remembers how. I wish you all the best and you work on your mom's behalf to help her.
As we get olders we often become a bit more anxious about EVERYTHING. And this anxiety can contribute to the short term memory thing as well.
We cannot multitask well. That is why occasionally we will forget to turn off the stove after warming up leftovers on a low flame. Or don't close the fridge door well after putting back the milk. The brain tends to concentrate on only one task at a time, so where you used to be able to warm the leftover, put things away and have a great phone conversation with your best friend, that is going to become increasingly problematic.
You could have her checked out, but if it's not a big deal, I wouldn't put her through any testing---and most docs are doing telehealth visits only these days.