Is there anything I can do to help Mum's auditory hallucinations?

[Lindy-Lou]

Hi everyone
Hope you all had a good Christmas, without too much stress.

Please any helpful advice over Mum's auditory hallucinations.....?

In the run up to Christmas she was eagerly awaiting the hols....playing carols on the piano and of course singing all the ones she remembered singing at home with mum and dad. However as time has gone by she noticed the lady next door,along with all her children were singing the same tunes. "I expect she is teaching the little ones" she said.

This has escalated into "the lady" singing almost constantly and driving Mum nuts!
I havent contradicted her at all just asked things like. "does it sound lovely Mum" etc etc. Mum even resorted to putting on the tv today (something she never does) just to drown her out.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated?

Thanks

linda

 

[Allycat]

Hi Lindy-Lou,

My Mum, who has moderate to severe AD, has been through various stages of hearing things that either are not there at all, or just mishearing everyday noises as something different, sometimes threatening.

One morning for example, she got up very early and went into the dining room with her bedcovers because she was sure there were people out in the garden trying to get into her room. Sometimes she will become quite obsessed about a particular "noise" just like your Mum.

When that happens, it has helped to take her out for an hour or two. Sometimes the change of scene is enough to get her to forget all about it. Worth a try if your Mum is sufficiently mobile and can tolerate being away from her usual environment.

If the change of scene doesn't work I have found it is quite hopeless to tell her that the noise isn't there. She just gets cross, so I don't comment either way. I just try to keep very calm and say that although the noise is a bit of a nuisance for her, there is nothing to worry about.

Another hazard is having her switch off the fridge because she thinks it is going to blow up. She does this a lot. Arghhhhh!

There is no magic wand to fix this, for sure, but I hope these, or ideas from others, might help a bit.

A robust sense of humour is good too, if you can hang on to it!

Good luck with it. Ally.