my dh is right handed. Over the past 3 or 4 months he has been favoring his left side. He initiates things with his left hand/foot and then if he needs to he switches to the right hand or foot. Is this something that anyone else has experienced? It seems weird to me. I have seen this with strokes but no where else. Is this a symptom of Alz. or what? It is strange. He only uses his right side as a back up sort of thing.
If you remember as a child, many start off left handed, then switch. Since they are going back in time, that may be happening. If he uses the left less often could be the right side of the brain is being affected more than the left.
mammie, it is funny that you should mention that. Gord is left handed. He now reaches for things with his right hand. Also, he can put on his left sock but frequently has no idea how to put his right sock on. He will sometimes put a second sock on the left foot. Like you, I had heard of similar things with stroke but this is weird. He will even pick up things with his right hand and then move it to his left hand.
It could also be a TIA or mini-stroke that could happen w/out any apparent symptoms. It could happen during sleep and no one would know. I think my 90 y.o. sister has had them, they come and go quickly but can leave some damage. I think it may be caused by a brief diminished blood flow. Or it could be regression as Charlotte says. Confusion of L & R is not unusual, especially in children and can cause reading and other problems until it all gets straightened out. Usually, a teacher or parent may try to get a left-handed child to use the right hand--sometimes it works, sometimes just causes more problems. Or it could just be the *&^*#$^ that comes with AD. Interesting anyway.
Just this morning while trying to give the fork to my dh he grabed it with the left hand and then transfered it to his right hand to use it. I tried to hand it to him on the right but he took it in the left hand just to put it in the other hand. He also lifts the left foot more for walking and drags the right foot. I am wondering if the left side of his brain is damaged now. In 1989 my dh had a head injury where he was hit with 3000 lbs. of pipe to the left side of his head. Since there is no history of Alzheimer's in the family, it is thought that this head injury is what is causing the Alzheimer's. It all seems to be coming together now but we never knew of this possibility back then. Would never have signed papers for the company to not be accountable for any future medical issues. I am so amazed when I learn something new about this disease. Even tho it is a horrible disease, it still interest me. Hope this is not sick...... Thanks for all the postings about this.
The other thing I've noticed is when my DH and I are going someplace he'll say for example,I told you to turn left and i say this is left,then he says I mean the other left.
wish my dh could talk and say that. He says "yes and no" for most things. Of course they are mixed up and not the right one, you still have to figure it out. They can still be so sweet......... sometimes....lol