New to this - Hallucinations

[Bluemissie]

Hi, my mum has been diagnosed with Alzheimers for a couple of years. At the beginning of June my father died after a long illness. For the first five weeks my mum was fine, able tolive by herself with a lot of support.

For the last six weeks or so she has been hallucinating that my father is still in the house. She sees him sitting in bed or the chair. She is up and down stairs every five minutes to check if he is there, takes food to him etc. The next minute she is telling everyone (including 999) that he has just died or that the undertakers must have called to collect him while she was having her lunch.

She made 510 calls to me and other carers in 7 weeks again including 999.

Last Friday she was admitted to a Psychiatric ward in the hospital but still thinks her husband is still alive either in the hospital or at home.

Has anyone else come across this and if so what was the treatment and outcome.

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[taylorcat]

Hi Blue, my Mum also had hallucinations but in her case she believed someone was trying to murder her and my Dad was the worst person who walked the earth. Her GP prescribed Olanzapine which I suppose is not really ideal but it did calm her down.

 

[Grannie G]

Hello Bluemissie, welcome to TP.

I have never experienced the type of hallucinations you talk about, I have only experienced the ones my husband had as side effects of Aricept and Reminyl.

But I have read many posts on the Forum about them, and know someone will be able to undersatnd your fears before very long.

Take care xx

 

[Kayla]

My Mum thought that Dad had come home one day and was really upset when she found out he wasn't there. In the Nursing Home she talked about him a lot and thought he disappeared under the bed whenever a nurse came into the room. A few days before she died, she dreamt that she was trying to wake him up but he stayed asleep.
She was upset by her hallucinations when she was on her own, but it didn't seem to bother her so much when she went into a Care Home, because there were people around to talk to her when she needed company.
It was strange that she kept thinking Dad was still alive, because he had died five years before her hallucinations began.
Kayla

 

[dianasnan]

You have my sympathy. the numerous phone calls must have been very wearing. Both my Mum and MIL truly believed that what they saw was real so, in the end, we just went along with the situation as neither of them were really frightened by it, fortunately. Lasted about a year with my MIL and about 6 months with my Mum

I found it alarming to have my Mum telling me that my Dad was sitting on the sofa by her when he was actually far away in a nursing home following a bad stroke. She patted the cushion which she thought was my Dad and peered behind it to find him when he appeared and disappeared. Wanted me to phone the nursing home to tell them he had walked home .It scared the living daylights out of my children when she hallucinated like this when we were away.Bless em they coped really well.

the hallucinations just stopped, no changes of drugs involved, paranoia continues.Looking back it was another phase of dementia that they went through. Nevertheless terrifying and disturbing at the time.

Take care

 

[Grommit]

Sorry to say, Jean, my wife, is hallucinating more or less constantly. She used to be paranoic believing that i was going to kill her and getting very agressive towards me.

The Mental Health people put her on Ebixa which, i hasten to add, does not stop her from hallucinating but does contain the paranoia and calms her.

Hope this has been of help.

 

[sunset]

Changes

Well I'd like you to know that this is a normal behaviour for my mother. We have developed a sense of humor about it (hallucinations) it keeps us a bit more sane and able to get thru the day. Mom is always insisting that Dad has been here harrassing her etc. However, this past week has taken its toll on me as she thought she was being attacked by something.............actually she had the telephone cord wrapped around her as she fell. Mom is very delusional, she was out of control screaming it was my fault. Whatever that may be and my poor brother who has been her major caretaker all of these years is usually her target IT DOES TAKE ITS TOLL ON YOUR LIFE so you really must know when to stop. My father has not been in my mothers life since 1980 when they were divorced. OTHER THINGS ARE IS MOTHER OUTSIDE? SHES BEEN DEAD FOR MANY YEARS.WELL,I COULD GO ON AND ON BUT MOM IS IN THE HOSPITAL UNTIL WE CAN GET HER INTO A HOME LATER ON IN THE WEEK. kEEP YOUR CHIN UP........POST TO VENT ............TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF SUNSET