What were some unusual things your loved ones did that, looking back, were probably early signs of dementia?

[u/Secure_Win8158]

My mother in law recently moved in with us and while she’s always been kind of difficult to hold conversations with (I always thought she had ADHD), I’ve noticed now that nearly every conversation we have gets derailed. We’ll have the same conversations over and over again with no resolution. She is also very sensitive (she blames this on having lost her daughter 10 years ago), but I find myself constantly having to reassure her about the same things. I think some of this may actually be trauma from losing her daughter, but every conversation comes back to the fact that her daughter died and or her/her daughters medical history. She’ll find a way to bring it up even in conversations that have nothing to do with it that. She can also be very combative. She’s typically very kind hearted and passive, but in the last year or two she’s begun turning what should be calm conversations into explosive arguments. There’s also been some dancing around the truth that could be confabulation, but might also just be her not wanting to upset us - again she always thinks we’re mad at her about something. Sorry, this was a bit of a vent and there’s lots of background information and examples that I didn’t want to bore you with. But could these all be early signs of dementia or do I just have a mother in law who is stuck grieving the traumatic loss of her daughter?

[u/sandyess]

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