Brief Answer: Can be due to ischaemia or degenerative diseases. Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for posting your query. Your mother's symptoms are suggestive of short term amnesia. The commonest cause of this condition at her age is low blood glucose levels either due to prolonged starvation, dieting irregular feeding habits or diabetes. These causes should be ruled out first of all. Second cause is depression and anxiety. These can cause a kind of “brain fog” that makes it difficult to concentrate and pay attention to things. As a result, it is harder for depressed or anxious people to store information in short term memory. She can do meditation, yoga and deep breathing exercises to decrease the problem. Third possible reason is Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia which is common among XXXXXXX citizens. The gradually increasing weakness in the hand is due to a neurological cause. Other causes include head trauma, brain injury and brain tumors, alcohol and drug abuse which can damage or destroy brain cells, affecting a person’s ability to remember things. A mass or ischemia on the right side of the brain needs to be ruled out. You need to consult a neurophysician after the MRI report is available. Meanwhile try to keep her mind busy with reading, crosswords, search a word and by playing Scrabble. I hope this answers your query. In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out. Wishing you good health. Regards. Dr. Praveen Tayal. For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Praveen-Tayal

---