Self-awareness of hallucinating?

[charlie10]

In the last phone call, my FiL said he'd stopped taking his meds because they were causing hallucinations, and he'd rather be in pain than have the hallucinations. We phoned BiL who said hed been told the hallucination was that he (FiL) was building a brick wall, floor to ceiling, in his living room, and the fact that he'd had the hallucination frightened him (FiL).'

Does his remembering the évent' and naming it as a hallucination mean it's not one? I thought hallucinations were without self-awareness. I could understand that it could be a confabulation (that could link with the phone 'bugging' posted about recently).....but again, his remembering/naming it sounds as if he is totally aware of everything and we're quite confused as to what's happening (as well as worried about him stopping his meds). I've suggested to BiL he checks he's drinking enough, and look at possiblity of UTI etc, but we're wondering if this sounds like a dementia progression thing or not.....I think it probably is but he makes us second guess every time with his apparent 'normality'.....is this typical of the ups and downs of dementia?

Unfortunately nearly everything we know about him is self-reported, even to BiL, and the only other info we get is from BiL's housekeeping visits twice a week.....we try to put the jigsaw together but it all depends on whether FiL has given us the right pieces to start with!

 

[marionq]

My husbands cousin had Lewy body dementia and was fully aware of her hallucinations. The people she saw in her living room annoyed her rather than troubled her and she would shout at them to go away. She was able to discuss this with me on the phone. As her illness progressed however she became less aware of pretty much everything.

 

[Lawson58]

Like Marion, I know someone who has Lewy Bodies and she was very aware of her hallucinations and she would tell her daughter that Lewy was being bad today.

Her hallucinations were very disturbing such as having mushrooms growing out of her head, strange animals in her room etc but being able to recognize them for what they made it a little easier for her and her family to deal with. This went on for a number of years before her memory loss and general health issues moved her into further deterioration.

 

[Rosserk]

My mother has mixed dementia and she had hallucinations sometimes she recognises they’re not real but more often than not she doesn’t. Without her medication she’s even worse.