No certain diagnosis yet - does this sound familiar to anyone?

[Guest guest]

My 83-year-old mother has been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment after

neuropsych testing. A neurologist said he can't tell yet whether she has DLB or

AD, although he did say that her memory lapses were not consistent with the

pattern of AD. She does have hallucinations - for instance, she thought there

was a frog on the floor of her 5th-floor apartment, she thought the woods around

her were brick buildings, and she thought we were driving on a bridge with

houses far below (we weren't). At the same time, her memory seems to indicate

some " Swiss cheese brain " - she can't remember that one of my brothers lived in

the same town (5 years ago), that she ever visited Vancouver (about 15 years

ago) or that she attended a friend's birthday party (a few months ago), so it's

not just recent memories but long-ago memories too. Because of her memory

lapses, she also has very paranoid ideation sometimes, and will come up with the

most bizarre stories to explain things. For instance, that someone stole some

art objects and temporarily stashed them in her apartment - then the intruder

became angry when he returned to collect the objects (but she'd given one away)

so he broke the towel bar in her bathroom. (In real life, the art objects were a

gift from my brother for Mother's Day last year, and she regifted one to a

friend.) I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Finally, for the past 3

years she's been saying (constantly) that " the eyes are getting worse and worse "

and that no glasses help. She's even gone to the ER at a famous eye hospital

several times, each time to be told that her eyes are physically fine (although

she has glaucoma). It seems that her brain isn't processing the visual input

correctly. I believe that she probably has DLB, based on what I've read, but

I'm wondering if the paranoia and memory loss is more of an indication that she

has AD. She does not have parkinsonian symptoms, although the neurologist said

that could come later - and I see from a recent post here that some DLB

sufferers never experience it. Does any of this ring a bell for any of you?

Any insight based on your experience? I've read the Whitworths' book on DLB and

much of it sounds like my mother. Any input is welcome. (No need to recommend

books - I've already checked out everything I can find in the library and on

Amazon!) Thanks so much in advance.