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Joined: 12/19/2018
Posts: 7
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My DH was diagnosed with Alzheimer's three years ago and is showing most of the usual symptoms. However, he has one I've not heard of -- when I show him a new picture (e.g., something from the news that day or from Facebook) he claims he already saw it, usually yesterday. He's certain of it. Not argumentative, just certain. Has anyone else seen this?
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Joined: 5/25/2020
Posts: 150
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Hi Jazzma. I noticed you'd put this in another post, and nodded my head knowingly! Yes, DH went through several months of this. Originally, before I really got the hang of dementia communication, I'd say "you can't possibly have seen that, it just happened". He'd also be convinced he'd seen new episodes of a Netflix show that we hadn't seen.
I finally realized that all I could do was say "oh really? I haven't seen it".
Around the same time he started to point out people on the TV that he'd met (supposedly). One was Joe Biden and for a while he would tell the story of how he met Joe Biden - twice! - on almost a daily basis. I feel a bit sad that he's now at the point where he has no concept of Joe Biden, his buddy, being President.
Good luck.
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Joined: 6/13/2020
Posts: 119
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Last Saturday was my daughter's graduation ceremony. On Thursday I remembered and I said out loud "yes, it’s in 2 days, it's November 14". My companion replied "well yes, it's the 14th I remember". Not only did he never know that it was the 14th but even before he never remembered the dates. I was the calendar. And often in conversations I hear him answer as if he knew, remembered, even talk about something he never even knew, saw or heard. I think it's hard to lose the memory of your past, so to stay in the loop, the solution is to invent a past with the present.
Even if it’s difficult Or sometimes shocking for us to hear them « lying » eventually with other people... but it’s certainly better to let it go, hoping that people will understand.
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Joined: 10/12/2018
Posts: 1763
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All the time. DH more often than not has “already seen it” although that would be impossible, OR vice versa—he says he’s never seen something he sees daily.
It really doesn’t matter. I just nod, and say ok, or something similarly vague.
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Joined: 4/12/2019
Posts: 234
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Now I understand why DH always says 'yes, I know' to everything!
I'm so used to sharing stuff with him, but now he just claims to already know and doesn't want a 'discussion'.
I miss the adult who used to discuss things. He's gone, I guess.
ElaineD
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Joined: 10/12/2018
Posts: 1763
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Elaine, this used to drive me crazy with my DH. He’d say yes, or yes I know, to anything. It was only if I pursued discussion I realized he had no idea what he was talking about. It caused others —who usually just accepted his agreement—great confusion and sometimes problems, because they though, reasonably, he knew what he was talking about or could do what he said. It took some follow-through (which likely in casual passing conversation) to know that agreement or yes did not always mean that. I also miss the days of debate and real answers, but now I know they are really gone.
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Joined: 5/22/2016
Posts: 303
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DH does the same thing. We drive somewhere - he's seen those cars before. Someone walking on the sidewalk? They were walking that way the last time we drove by. I just respond with "oh, how strange" or "you have a great memory to remember her".
The one that bothers me is when we're watching a movie and he says, "We watched this before". And then keeps asking me if I remember it, and why do I want to watch it if we've seen it before. When we haven't. When he gets stuck on that we usually have to turn the tv off. I can't tell you how many movies I've seen the first 15 minutes of, but have no idea how they end.
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Joined: 8/22/2020
Posts: 615
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Our experience is just the opposite, my partner doesn't remember any shows we watch. We'll put on AFV every Sunday night for example and she'll say, "Oh good, we haven't watched this in ages." Does the same thing though with housecleaning, wants to vacuum and dust every day because it hasn't been done in weeks. Mostly harmless...
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Joined: 5/26/2020
Posts: 41
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My DH does this all the time. While watching a new episode of a TV show we always watch he says he’s seen it before and shows we have seen previously he doesn't remember. I used to try to reason with him until I learned you can’t reason with a person with dementia. Now I just say OK and keep watching. This strategy works for many other things as well to lessen our frustration and keep the peace.
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Joined: 11/19/2020
Posts: 59
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I'm just starting on this journey, but I get what you're saying. I think that my DH agrees to things to try and "cover up" what he doesn't remember. I'm sure at some point he'll start getting creative with what he does remember!
aod326 I think it's awesome that your DH has these ideas that manifest into stories. I wish I had met Joe Biden.....even if it was make believe! For now I would try and enjoy his creative stories and think about the fact that somehow his mind decided to express his thoughts through them.
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