Hallucinations

[JudyP]

Hello, I think this my first time posting, though I have read a lot of posts. Mom has developed hallucinations in the last month. I’ve lived with her for 6 years, and she normally sleeps for 10 -12 hours a night. A heavy cold in December brought in the belief that my dad had left her for another woman , which eased a bit when she was over the cold. She has another heavy cold and cough this week and the hallucinations of seeing strangers in garden a man in the attic, bee swarms and spiders is now prevelant. She called police Sunday because she saw a man in the garden - I just didnt catch her doing it in time. Fearing intruders is one thing and I would expect that - but hallucinating insects and people I wasn’t expecting! Is this common with Alzheimer’s? She was diagnosed 6 years ago.

 

[JHA]

My mom has lewy body dementia and has regular periods where she has hallucinations. Normally it is people who she is not scared of but just before Christmas she thought there were people in her room (she lives alone) and as a result left her house and was found on the corner of her road in the middle of the night (that was the start of our journey for the move to a care home).

Some of the hallucinations are very vivid once it was about someone being in the house baking a cake, she even described the cake and then went off to look for it so that we could have a piece. The most recent one that I witnessed was her talking to a little boy but he would not come out of her room to see me. On another occasion there has been a lady doing hairdressing in her wardrobe in the dark and the little boy was asleep on the top shelf - she even got my husband to check the shelf.

I think hallucinations about animals are quite common with my mom its always people.

 

[JudyP]

Thankyou. Sometimes she is anxious but mostly very matter of fact.

 

[JHA]

Thankyou. Sometimes she is anxious but mostly very matter of fact.

My mom is rarely anxious or upset in general. Even when she left the house because of the people in her room I do not think she was worried just felt it better not to be there. I also find that she totally lacks empathy and this has been evident long before the dementia was even thought of. My mom was only diagnosed in July 21 but the first hallucination that I can remember was in March 2020.

 

[Pork Pie lady]

My husband has had visual and audible hallucinations since soon after diagnosis. Apart from one that started several years before and has been quite consistent, that is he sees fruit flies and is convinced they are living up his nose. They seem to go in phases, he will have several every day for a while then all of a sudden they stop. We have had things like fires and snakes under the bed, people in the back garden, leprechauns hiding or running all around the house and encouraging him to be naughty( we lived in Ireland when he first had symptoms), the neighbours playing music in the middle of the night, me being attacked/covered in rashes or being seriously unwell, his foot pouring with blood and all kinds of things in the bed that shouldn't be there. at one time he would take his shoes off and throw them at the leprechauns to frighten them away.

We have worked out that some of these things are probably sparked off by waking up from dreams and thinking they were real. He can usually accept it if I tell him darling I think you were dreaming. Thankfully he is still able to understand reasoning most of the time so where I can I try to show and explain. With the fire under the bed I showed him that there wasn't any flames or smoke visible, got him to put his hand near where he though it was to feel there was no heat and asked if he could hear or smell anything he started laughing when he realised how absurd it was. Unfortunately that didn't work with the bright green snake, we had to take everything from under the bed and look inside before he was convinced - at least it didn't occur to him that it could have slithered away to another part of the house.

Sometimes I can get away with saying "I think your head is playing tricks on you again.

 

[JudyP]

Thankyou - I think my mom is responding to dreams too sometimes. You sound very gentle. I do need to lean some tricks like this.

 

[Felixcat1]

With my dad it’s mostly people getting in his house. People going to his toilet at night. People shouting in hie garden at night. The latest ones are that people are sleeping in the other rooms. He said he thinks they must be calling off on their journey to work and also a boy has run through his house and put drugs in his coffee. At first I was really worried for him and tried to ease his worry by saying that maybe he is dreaming but then he started getting angry and accused me of not believing him. He wanted to call the police and have the locks changed, the saving grace is that dad doesn’t know to phone the police anymore or how to get hold of a locksmith.
After seeking advice on this forum I quickly realised that hallucinations are a very common occurrence for PWD. They can be caused by a UTI so it might be a good idea to get your mom checked out. Dementia with Lewis body’s causes hallucinations too.
I know talk to him about the people and then try to change the subject at the earliest opportunity. He seems happy to engage in the conversation and it seems to help him remain calm.

 

[JudyP]

That’s good to hear. Thankyou. I took a urine sample to the surgery today and it’s positive , so she is now on antibiotics. What many people don’t realise is the UTI need not present as burning or frequency. I’d forgotten that too. Surgery were great. Just have to hope that this all stops once antibiotics kick in. For now my wonderful daughter is staying so that I can get some sleep tonight.

 

[Felixcat1]

That’s good to hear. Thankyou. I took a urine sample to the surgery today and it’s positive , so she is now on antibiotics. What many people don’t realise is the UTI need not present as burning or frequency. I’d forgotten that too. Surgery were great. Just have to hope that this all stops once antibiotics kick in. For now my wonderful daughter is staying so that I can get some sleep tonight.

I hope you had a restful night. The doctor prescribed antibiotics with my dad. However, I’m a teacher and can’t take time off during term time so I could get dad to take a urine sample to the doctors to get it tested. He couldn’t manage to take the antibiotics (one tablet, three times a day with food,) it was just too much for him to manage, it was confusing him. In his head he thinks he can look after himself. We had a care package organised but he sent them away. He is still remembering to take all his heart medication in the mornings, thank goodness but it’s a terrible worry. I really hope that the antibiotics clear up the UTI and in turn the hallucinations stop ????