Sherma,

Forgetfulness and, therewith, misplacing things, are certainly signs of stress. I am healthy and reasonably young and, still, when I'm very stressed, I need to write more things down since I become much more forgetful then. A key sign of stress-related forgetfulness is the parallel between an increase in stress and and increase in forgetfulness and, similarly, the lessening of one's forgetfulness as the stress ebbs away. If you suspect that your forgetfulness (and therewith the misplacement of things) goes beyond the normal stress-related forgetfulness, I suggest talking with a neurologist about it, ideally one who has some training in psychology/psychiatry.

That being said, I'll share with you some information about my mother who has PD (severe stiffness, no tremor) with cognitive impairment, as I prefer to refer to PD Dementia (PDD). Early on, my mother expressed her frustrations with her inability to concentrate well on whatever she was reading or doing; later, she commented on becoming more forgetfulness. At the time, neither my father nor I saw any signs of either problem. Over time, however, multi-tasking became a source of stress for her, so, she began tackling items one after another. She's pretty good about doing this now, except when her PD-related anxiety kicks in, at which time it's best if my father or I steps in and helps her get focused on one thing before tackling the next.

What seems to be a problem without solution is my mother's inability to concentrate/focus on conversations. Within seconds, it is as if she gets bored since she starts looking for things to do that then distract her. It has been a source of frustration (and stress) for her to be "trapped" in conversation, especially if we ask her to listen (for understanding and/or to reach a decision) as well as for my father and I who can't seem to keep things simple and short enough to keep her attention on the subject-matter at hand. A related issue is my mother's desire to be left alone in her home office, where she is most content; it is also where she prefers to take her meals, alone. This is a major change in my mother who had always been a real extrovert and very social.

Specifically with respect to forgetfulness, it's only been in recent months that we have actually started noticing changes in this area. We have not (yet) noticed any forgetfulness with respect to names and faces; even phone numbers of friends, doctors, etc. seem pretty easy to recall. The forgetfulness is most noticeable with respect to things said to or by her or things recently done, be it 15 minutes earlier or, sometimes, a few days ago. Her forgetfulness appears related mostly to her inability to concentrate on what is said during recent conversations and on what action was taken on a particular day of the week (e.g., on what date she had gone to a doctor's appointment or when a friend had called). With respect to misplacing things, that's always been an issue with my mother, so that's not something new, although it does stress her out a bit more these days than in the past.

Dementia in PD is different than Dementia in Alzheimers. In short (and in my layman's terms), in PD, the problem is a difficulty in mental processing rather than one of forgetfulness of such things as names, faces, where one lives, or that a desk is a desk, as is the case with Alzheimers. If interested, I can send you some links to web sites to read about it; there are also books on the subject available in book stores and libraries that I can recommend.

I sincerely hope that the forgetfulness that you seem to be experiencing is stress-related and not PDD. I wish you well.

MMMMMMMMM l wish l did not read that, as it sounds like im ex\experiencing the same things as your mom.

Peachybum, I'm so very sorry if my response to Sherma has you wondering whether you have PDD. In my response, I only addressed those issues raised by Sherma; there are a number of other symptoms / tell-tale signs of PDD. As I said to Sherma, stress can bring on forgetfulness, etc. Also, just because you may have some similarities with my mom doesn't mean that you have PDD. I sincerely apologize to you and anyone else if I am the cause of additional stress. That was so not my intent!

My mom has PD and she's experiencing the same thing. Her memory isn't good at all at this point and she's had PD for only 5 years. My mom will call me 3 to 6 times a day and ask or tell me the same things. I just keep answering it... She can't write well anymore and if told a set of 3 numbers, can't remember them from the moment you tell her to the second later when she tries to write them down. Hers seems pretty severe saddly. Dad doesn't allow her to cook any more and that's frustrating to her. She is able to use the tv remote but only to flip channels. Most of the time she sleeps or reads. :( *sigh*
I haven't seen her for almost 8 weeks and dad said she's gotten worse since then. I'll be up there in a couple weekends to help him sort through some of their things in their condo.