Hallucinations.........any suggestions?

Buttercup

Registered User
Jun 5, 2008
13
0
58
South Yorkshire
Hi I'm a new member my Mum has just being diagnosed with alzheimer's but it started 8 years ago she has started to have hallucinations about seeing children, and i'm not quite sure how to cope with it if the hallucination's are not bad ones i don't say anything to her i just try to distract her and give her something to do any sugesstion's
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,440
0
Kent
Hello Buttercup. I have moved your post to help you get more replies.

I haven`t had too much experience of hallucinations but it looks as if you are doing the right thing. If you are unable to distract your mother, others have said they go along with them.

Tak care xx
 

Buttercup

Registered User
Jun 5, 2008
13
0
58
South Yorkshire
Buttercup

Thanks Sylvia i was there talking to her then she was smiling at the floor, when i asked her what she was looking at she said me playing with my toys i'm 42 she has done that quite a bit and she also thinks my late Dad is still alive i haven't got the heart to tell her he isn't she just says he works long hours which he did used to, so i just go along with it.Thanks Linda
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,440
0
Kent
Linda

It is very unnerving isn`t it?

It has only happened a few times to my husband, one minute it seemes we were having a very rational conversation and then it took a completely different turn, without any warning. And I realized he was in another world.

Is your mother on any medication that could need adjusting? If so i would see her doctor.

Love xx
 

May

Registered User
Oct 15, 2005
627
0
Yorkshire
Hi Buttercup, welcome to TP, best place ever for support, info and just a place to let it all out. :) My Mum has Alzheimers and although she is a fair way down the road from your Mum (now in nursing care), I can empathise with what you are going through. We had exactly the same, Mum would see people that were not there, didn't understand that things on tv were not real, regressed to her childhood etc. We found that distraction sometimes worked, but if not we would would try and go along with whatever place she was at. You have to get very used to telling 'white lies', it's much easier and kinder on the person concerned, especially when they are asking for their Mum who died forty years previously, which is what my Mum used to do. Do take care of yourselves and comeback and post letting us know how things are going..
 

Tender Face

Account Closed
Mar 14, 2006
5,379
0
NW England
Hi Buttercup - mum had a stage of hallucinating - mostly 'seeing things' that weren't there but then described people knocking on her door in the early hours ... the noise of water dripping down walls (think that's a common one?) .... all pre-Aricept, after which they seemed to go .....

I'm inclined to think as long as the hallucinations are 'friendly' then there is not too much cause for concern ..... (perhaps these 'children' are giving her comfort or they are memories from her own childhood?) .... the moment the hallucinations become 'sinister' is another matter .....

I think you're doing brilliant to 'go along with it' .... it's tough, I know ..... breaks your heart even as you're smiling and 'playing along' .....

Much love, Karen, x
 

BeckyJan

Registered User
Nov 28, 2005
18,971
0
Derbyshire
Hello:

My husband has been on Aricept for 4 yrs. but he has only in the past few months started with hallucinations/delusions. His mostly occur in the middle of the night when he has long conversations/arguments with 'whoever'. Usually he has someone standing in the room, we have had someone in the cupboard and sitting on his bed!

During the day he can often get up to phone his Mum, or ask what is Dad doing. Asked me if I am married to his Dad!! Frequently wanting to be in touch with aunts and uncles who would be 100+ by now.

I just explain gently that cos he is 79 these relatives would be ... - he just says oh they are dead then! - then on to the next subject. :eek:

It sounds as if you are handling it well, difficult though it is. As Karen says its when they are sinister .. -then that is another matter and would probably need medication.

Love Jan
 

sarah<3

Registered User
Apr 12, 2008
24
0
Essex
Hi
my aunty has alzheimers, and she thought that her parents came to visit her in hostpital, but her mum died of alzheimers about 10 years ago, and her dad a year later
i didnt really know what to say, so i didnt say anything
its hard to know whether to correct them, or just let them imagen theyre still alive
xxxxxxxx
 

Buttercup

Registered User
Jun 5, 2008
13
0
58
South Yorkshire
Buttercup

Mum told me today the police had been to her house because she had murdered my 11 year old daughter it was really upsetting,i had to take my daughter down to prove she was ok but no police had even been down i came home and broke down i called her cpn and she has recommended respite and to be assessed.she said she didn't think she was safe to be living on her own, i have to agree after this.Take care to all
 

BeckyJan

Registered User
Nov 28, 2005
18,971
0
Derbyshire
Buttercup - I am so sorry to hear of the latest episode with your Mum. It is truly distressing, no words can express. I do hope you can sort something out for your Mum's care soon.

Love Jan
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,440
0
Kent
Dear Buttercup

I`m so sorry. It must have been so upsetting for you to see your mother so confused.
I`m glad the CPN is being supportive, you certainly need it.
Love xx
 

LizzieS

Registered User
May 25, 2008
9
0
Somerset
My Mum went through a period of hallucinations and, at first, I was so worried especially as she lived a good 60 miles away then. I realised what was happening when she told me the babies were still there and no-one had come to collect them. She was upset as she didn't have suitable food in the house.

I just told her to tuck them up as if they were not crying they couldn't be hungry. When I arrived the next day, all the cushions on the sofa had been carefully covered! I took her to the Docs and she was diagnosed with a water infection. A course of antibiotics put her right.

However, it was a warning and she soon started hallucinating again. When she called me I would advise her what to do. For instance, if her "visitors" were my grown up nieces or nephews and they wouldn't go to bed, I told her they were old enough to look after themselves. She has since been diagnosed Alzheimers but she just understands she has memory problems. She's been on Aricept for about a year now and it has helped enormously with her hallucinations but I have noticed that they've started again although nowhere near as concerning as 18 months ago.

She has now moved to a retirement complex just 3 miles from my house so I see her every morning and evening Mondays to Fridays. She has carers in at the weekend.
 

Cliff

Registered User
Jun 29, 2007
777
0
North Wales
Hello Buttercup,

My wife Dee was always aware of other people in the house and told me what they wanted. Her concern was usually about feeding them but she has had conversations with individual people.

So this dreadful disease has these common patterns even though they vary so much person to person.

Very kind thoughts,
 

Margaret W

Registered User
Apr 28, 2007
3,720
0
North Derbyshire
Hi Buttercup,

The first signs of mum's Alzheimers were when she said Dad (her husband) had come back from the dead, and was in the house. It wasn't so bad at first, she accepted that it was her imagination, but after some months she insisted she was right. He was never there when I visited, he had gone to work, or down to the pub, then she started to ring me to ask if I had seen him, he hadn't come home for his tea and she was worried. At the time, I admit I was irritated by this (Mrs Logical, that's me), but I now realise how upset she must have been. Wish I'd known of this website then, you would all have helped me out and I'd have done a better job.

Then my dad had invited two women and a man to live in the house, she didn't know who they were, and I have never worked out who they might have been. They all slept in the spare bedroom in one single bed, and she even took me up to the room to show me that it had been slept in - no sign of that at all, but her mind's eye could see the bed ruffled.

It's a ****** of an illness, and everyone is different. I worried that mum was scared by these two women and a man, but she didn't seem to be at all.

Since she went into the care home (indeed preceded by 6 weeks in hospital, now all about a year ago), she has never mentioned my dad or these visitors, she once asked me if I had seen her mam and dad (long since dead, and I never knew she called her mother "mam").

I do feel Aricept has stabilised her, but I have noticed recently a tendency to not understand what is being said to her. I have to phrase questions in about three different ways before she graps what I am asking.

But fingers crossed, she still knows me, still likes me to visit, and I'd like to visit her more. I was "taking a year out" from work to do that, but have now decided to resign altogether. I'll get some part-time work somewhere, I'm going to draw my company pension, only small but it will help, and see more of mum. The summer weather means I can take her out for a walk, perhaps even to the shops (I dread the thought!).

Anyway, stay strong Buttercup.

Love

Margaret
 

fearful fiona

Registered User
Apr 19, 2007
723
0
77
London
Dear Buttercup,

Wish I could find a solution to this problem for you -and me! My Mum has hallucinations all the time, first when she was still at home, she had "burglaries" (and called the police unfortunately), the she "never had any food in the house" (the cupboards and fridge were overflowing). Now she is convinced that a man on her ward in hospital is my father (he died at the end of February).

When this first happened I would challenge her, but have learnt that it is better to be gentle and just listen, then try to distract her with another subject. If you pursue things then it may only distress her as it would have done my mum.

Good luck.