My mother has a history of hard to explain mental issues. She has been in mental facilities several times. For the last few years, she has been acting like she was getting Alzheimer's or dementia of some sort. She would say off the wall things, forget who people were, say that the house she was living in wasn't hers, accused care givers of stealing, acted paranoid, etc etc. I had to put her and my father in a nursing home earlier this year. She gave the nursing home a hell of a time.
My father died a couple of months ago. Ever since he passed away, my mom has been acting like she knows what's going on. Her confusion has lessened dramatically, she rarely talks crazy, recognizes people, etc etc. So now I am wondering, was she faking it? Why, all of a sudden after a trauma like losing her husband of 55 years, is she acting closer to normal than she has in years? Has anyone experienced someone with Alzheimer's having long periods of clarity? Even my father, before his death, when they were still living at home, said he thought she had Alzheimer's which he was familiar with, since his father had it. (She has taken lots of medicine and perhaps they are giving her less at the nursing home than she was taking at home but seriously, why is she suddenly clear?)
Which is along the lines JessieBelle suggested. Perhaps your mother has had dementia all along, but along with it lots of aggravating conditions -- stress, pain meds, other mental illness -- and that made the dementia appear much worse than it would have on its own. And now you are seeing the dementia in its more "pure" form.
I am not a medical professional and I may not be explaining this just right, but I don't think what you are seeing means Mother was faking the earlier, more severe symptoms.
Dementia does not go into remission. Progressive brain deterioration does not reverse itself - ever.
Sometimes other illnesses in elderly can mimic dementia, but clear up once the infection or whatever is cured.
Mental Illnesses can change a great deal in a short period of time. People can come & go in and out of psychotic states, fugue states, and have ups & downs that change with their body chemistry, stress level, and the wind.
My mom has had bi-polar probably all her life but would never admit to a diagnosis or seek treatment, and now advanced dementia. You just never knew what you were going to get with her day to day, hour to hour before or after dementia.
Paranoid, neurotic, suspicious, angry, and then just as suddenly sweet as peaches. My few friends in high school used to ask me how I was going to know when she went senile. My answer was "I probably won't." And that was very true. Mom's behavior was very demented before dementia.
Mom decided to stop walking one day. She just didn't want to. Nobody could explain why. She just would not. (Except for when she did once in a great while, when she must have forgotten she wasn't doing that anymore.)
Refusing to do it quickly turned into can't do it. She is physically unable to shift herself any at all in the bed now and losing muscle mass.
My mother also has cluster B personality disorders at the same time. Hystrionic, borderline, narcissistic personality disorders. Once I learned about that, it explained everything from 1971-2013.
When you have somebody complicated who has both dementia at any stage and mental illness, it's nearly impossible to tell what thing is causing what behavior from day to day. You just do your best and make sure they are safe from themselves.
Now suddenly, she is acting mentally clear. I mean way clearer than she has been for years.
I was just curious as to whether people with some form of dementia can suddenly seem mentally clearer for an extended period of time. It's just so weird!! She used to have good days and bad days, but now she is having lots of good days. Which is good and bad, because she doesn't like being in the nursing home.
What types of mental issues has she had in her younger years? I know that you said they were hard to explain. I just wondered how she acted.