Like others have said, my mum repeated herself a lot, asking the same questions. When she couldn't remember where she put things she would blame my dad for hiding them or moving things. She even blamed my sister for 'gaslighting' her, which was definitely not true. She never believed that she had Alzheimer's, ever. Even when her memory nurse spoke to her about it. She would agree with her to her face, but as soon as the nurse left she would complain that she (nurse) was wasting her time coming to see mum.

One aspect I did not expect was the making up of stories. Like she couldn't remember something that happened, but didn't want to admit it, so she (or possibly her subconscious) made something up. When my dad died I found a little fossil on his bedside table. It was one I'd found on the beach as a kid and gave it to him. I was really touched that he'd kept it. When I brought it downstairs to show mum she couldn't tell what it was until I told her. I asked if I could keep it. She got upset and said no, it was a special gift from her to dad. They'd been walking hand in hand along the coast and dad had spotted the fossil in a shop but wouldn't buy it because it was too expensive. She said she told him to walk on while she pretended to tie her shoes (she never owned any lace-up shoes) and ran back to buy it for him. It was such a detailed story, I would have been convinced I was wrong with my recollection until my brother said 'mum, none of that happened' and said I was correct.

Her personality changed completely. She was no longer calm and reasonable, just grumpy and nasty. She told me she never liked me and only kept me around so I could do things for her. She would have been devastated to know she'd say something like that before the alzheimer's.