Hallucinations?

[CJW]

My mother has been dellusional and paranoid for a very long time and I am quite used to it. However over the last few weeks this has got worse and is now compounded by hallucinations. She mistakes people for dogs or cats, and hears things eg. Two of the carers were talking about serving tea to one of the residents and my mother and I were sitting close by and heard every word. My mother then said "now you have heard for yourself that they believe I am a murderess!". I asked her if she could repeat what they had said and she gave me her "verbatim" murderess version of what had been said. Is this "normal"? Mum has been checked for infections etc and these have been ruled out but she is spiralling down to a place where I almost can't reach her anymore. I certainly cant reassure her as her hallucinations etc are more convincing than me.
My mother is now in a good care home and is well cared for, but I fear that as the paranoia, delussions and hallucinations get stronger her tendancy to violence will get worse and fear she will have to go into a specialist unit. I would be very grateful if anyone has any advice or has experienced this sort of situation. Love to you all.....

 

[Onlyme]

Mum gets the same. She will say shhhuush to me, tip her head to one side and listen. She will then tell me that her carers are talking about something when I can hear that they are just going about their job. Sometimes she is worse than others but nothing I do can dissuade her.

 

[Seasider45]

My mother has been dellusional and paranoid for a very long time and I am quite used to it. However over the last few weeks this has got worse and is now compounded by hallucinations. She mistakes people for dogs or cats, and hears things eg. Two of the carers were talking about serving tea to one of the residents and my mother and I were sitting close by and heard every word. My mother then said "now you have heard for yourself that they believe I am a murderess!". I asked her if she could repeat what they had said and she gave me her "verbatim" murderess version of what had been said. Is this "normal"? Mum has been checked for infections etc and these have been ruled out but she is spiralling down to a place where I almost can't reach her anymore. I certainly cant reassure her as her hallucinations etc are more convincing than me.
My mother is now in a good care home and is well cared for, but I fear that as the paranoia, delussions and hallucinations get stronger her tendancy to violence will get worse and fear she will have to go into a specialist unit. I would be very grateful if anyone has any advice or has experienced this sort of situation. Love to you all.....

My Mum used to have hallucinations she used to say I had killed my husband and it had been on the television. It turned out she had a urinary infection which was treated

 

[LadyA]

My husband had (let's be honest, although it had always been treated as a bit of a joke) suffered from paranoia to some extent. He hid it by himself treating it as a joke - you know sort of "Haha! Can't be too careful, the phone might be bugged, haha!" - but he actually did believe our phone was tapped. Things like that.

When his dementia crept up on him, the paranoia got increasingly worse, and then in 2011, he had a major psychotic breakdown. He suddenly was having terrifying paranoid delusions and hallucinations. He could hear and see lots of people in and around our house - torturing my daughter to death every night, pouring acid into her eyes. "they" were going to (every night) kidnap him, take him away and torture/kill him for every tiniest wrong thing he had ever done. Or that they said he had done. Outside, there were diabolic children living in the trees, so we couldn't go outside the house because they were throwing things at him and screeching with laughter. If we did go anywhere, there were lots of people pointing at him saying "That's him! That's the man! They are going to kill him now!"

Finally he was put on anti-psychotics (risperidone) and it literally was as if someone had flipped a switch, and turned off this horror film that was playing out in his head! The consultant has tried a few times since then to reduce the dose (he's on quite a high dose for his age/condition, and it does carry risks), but at even the slightest reduction, the hallucinations come straight back. It is unfortunately, sometimes whatever way the brain is damaged by the disease.

I would say, mention your mum's problems to her doctor/consultant. It must be distressing for her. And often it only takes a tiny dose of something to put it right.

 

[CJW]

thanks LadyA, this was really helpful. I will talk to GP and MH nurse. I just want mum to have some peace and live without having to cope with the fear these hallucinations bring with them..

 

[FifiMo]

Risperidone killed off all the delusions, agitation and hallucinations for my mother almost immediately and we were left with a nice contented and pleasant old lady. It is certainly worth discussing with the Dr as it is so distressing for the person themselves to go through this on a day to day basis never mind those having to witness it! Of all the symptoms of the disease, there is medication that can be used to deal with this.

As an aside... how is your mum's hearing? If she is not hearing properly and is applying her own interpretations on what is being said then that is also something that can be helped too isn't it.

You could ask the carers to help deal with mum too. Like the murderers thing, if you repeat what your mum heard to them they could have defused the situation by saying they were talking about a new book or something. Every Little helps.

Fiona

 

[LadyA]

Wish I had been left with a nice contented & pleasant old man!

Sent from my C1905 using Talking Point mobile app

 

[Onlyme]

I was having to look after a newborn sibling today. Mum often has a new baby even though she is over 80. She then gets very upset when she can't find the baby. We just have to go along with it and hope she forgets again.

 

[FifiMo]

Could you get her a doll perhaps? Doll therapy can work wonders and as she thinks she has a baby to take care of then the doll would be the ideal prop for her.

Fiona

 

[Laurano]

Could you get her a doll perhaps? Doll therapy can work wonders and as she thinks she has a baby to take care of then the doll would be the ideal prop for her.

Fiona

lovely caring idea

 

[CJW]

fifimo, mum has very good hearing and I did ask the carers to tell her what they were talking about and that they did not suspect her of anything, but somehow the delusion is stronger than reality and nothing can prove she is mistaken...

 

[FifiMo]

Hiya CJW

Thanks for the info. It does then reinforce that it is delusions/hallucinations then doesn't it? I know what you mean about the inability to convince them otherwise too and that is the frustrating part. I witnessed my mother's psychiatrist spend an hour trying every which way to convince my mother that my father had not been specially chosen for resurrection and that he was living in her house again! Needless to say, he was the one who gave up - not my mother!

On some level it is easy enough to just agree with the odd comment that is made but once they become more sinister and are accompanied by distress and agitation too, it is so so difficult isn't it?

Fiona

 

[LadyA]

Hiya CJW

On some level it is easy enough to just agree with the odd comment that is made but once they become more sinister and are accompanied by distress and agitation too, it is so so difficult isn't it?

Fiona

Thankfully, that's how my husband's consultant felt - the stress and terror he was going through, he felt, were at least as much of a risk to him as the risk from the anti psychotics.