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Avatar universal

are hallucinations part of dementia?

my mother is in a nursing home and has obvious confusion sometimes, short term memory loss, but most of all she has a lot of hallucinations.

she tells me she see these things that i know haven't happened, like some man is chopping off little kids arms and legs in front of her and everyone else is just ignoring it.  she tells me she has gone places, when I know she hasn't, tells me she is now walking, when i know she can't.  She told me once the arm cutting guy was in her closet, so I looked to show her he wasn't, and she told me he built an escape door in there and got out in the other room...I tried to show her there was no such door, but she got really mad at me.  she also call apartments to set up appts to go view them with the intention of moving out of the nursing home...I have gotten a call from one of them checking on her references!

They give her seroquel, but it doesn't seem to touch the hallucinations.  she also has parkinsons and the parkinsons meds can cause hallucinations, but I am not sure they cause full blown movies 24/7.  She also has Hep C, so maybe her liver is starting to take a dive as well.

i'm just not sure what to do, all i know is that she wants me to take her and all the kids she thinks live in the nursing home with no arms out so we can buy them coats for the winter.  I tell her they don't exist, that it is her meds or something makeig her think they do, she gets very mad at me and starts yelling and cussing at me.

Is this to be expected behaviour?  How do you all deal with things ike this?
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Avatar universal
Reading this and I know the feeling.  My mom is in a nursing home and she thinks the owners wife is trying to kill her and I just don;t know what to tell her , but to reassure her that I won't let anything happen to her.  She as well is taking Seroquel which is not helping at all.  Since she has Parkinson she is taking Sinemet and they lower the dosage instead of 3 times to 1 time a day.  I also wish they were hullicination that aren't so scary for my mom.  Is so sad to see her scare , but I can't take care of her home.  What I think triggers this besides the Meds is adjusting to the home. Because the time I taken her to my house on weekends she doesn't get any and she sleeps like a baby.  So your not alone and I see neither am I.  Hope your Mom and Mine can't get rid of these horibble hullicinations.  Take care bessings  JRS
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Avatar universal
Serquol can be used for several things but that's the first time iv heard of it being used on a alz. Patient they make meds just for the halluctions ,pills and recently the FDA approved a patch. Even with the meds their will still be hallucanations,xanax or ativan can help with keeping the patient calm some. My mother always thought someone. Was outside lookinh thru the windows and they where there to break in and kill her sometimes that would go on for hours.you don't want to upset them or make them mad cause they can get violent so my family and I. Would just take turns following her from window to window because she would pic up stuff and beat the the windows .having to take the stuff away from her upset her so she would useher fist.very tiring but just remember its the disease not ur family member that has alz.when u start to get frustrated....
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996946 tn?1503249112
My mother-in-law was prescribed Seroquel and it was a nightmare, literally. She had hallucinations really bad and they were directly linked to that drug. We found out that Seroquel has an adverse effect on elderly people. It is widely prescribed...I can't for the life of me, understand why.  Maybe there are a lot of Dr.s out there who have stock in the company that makes it.
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Avatar universal
Interesting, I just looked up the Lewy Dementia...just like what my mom has...although they said she had parkinsons...who knows, but amazingly its the exact symptoms whe experiences..
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212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
strange to see your mom with Lewy Dementia, my mom also has that and its really bad. we cant move her legs or body she so stiff, so sad. mom is now in a fetel postion and its getting harder to bathe her or feed her.

dont see many who have that, her hospic had never heard of it my dad was on net and read about it , could not figure out why she was so stiff, now we know.

is your mom bed ridden with it yet. my mom has been in bed for 5 months now.
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Avatar universal
Ahhh, yes, my mom has dementia and depression, she is on a anti- psychotic and anti depressants and many many other things.

what is a SSRI re-uptake inhibitor?
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155056 tn?1333638688
We have been having many issues with meds and my mom too.  She suffers from depression and anxiety....but also diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia (last week they decided to tag it as Lewy Body)....there are a lot of meds that cause issues in the elderly.  We have learned to stay away from SSRI re-uptake inhibitors, she also has to stay away from anti psycotic drugs which will make it worse.  We finally found a doctor who says there are 3 groups of seniors, those with dementia, those with dementia and depression and those just with depression and  they all need to be treated differently.  As we have gotten my mom off of these meds, the hallucinations have stopped.  She takes Pamelor for depression and depakote for anxiety.
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212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
wish i could help you out on that but am not sure, my mom has not gone throught that like yours, my mom has them but they are not as bad as your moms and so her anxiety pills gets her throught hers.

hope she has a great day today and all her thoughts are good ones.
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Avatar universal
Are there medicines that are better for hallucinations then others?
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212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
glad shes having a good day it helps us as dauighters to have a good day to.  yeah when i talk to my mom which is everyday all day long lol, i always bring up good times like when she had us 4 girls, she likes to talk about that  most the time but than there are other times you cant change her mind on things lol.
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Avatar universal
ahhh, she told me got proposed to, ha....she also thinks she met someone with a $3 million home that wants to rent a room, but his 22 yr old girlfriend is jealous of my mom and doesn't want her to live there, thinks she is a threat to her....sometimes I have to love my mom's imagination!  If she could only focus on that kind stuff, it would be so good!

My mom was a hot item in her day...she is reliving the good old days!  A good day today :).
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212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
so sorry your having health problems as well, and yes you have to take care of self first or you will never be help to mom,  mom has all the help she needs, so you need to look after yourself and get well, its the caretaker that goes down first because we feel bad that we are not doing all we can for them, i know to many caretakers that have passed before the mom/dad/spouce.

that said ,i really wish george would turn into a nice guy not sure how you could help her understand that and may never. i know once my mom gets something in her head its very hard to get it out, its so true to them like everyday living is to us, they really see this stuff and live it in their head.

scarey for her room mate they might end up puttingher in a room by herself just so others be safe and not have to live her scarey life right now.

plz try and do as your dr says, your mom will be fine, get your rest and get better your in my prayers.
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Avatar universal
There was a person named George that was a good friend of my step dad's, at first she said this guy just looked alot like George, so she started calling him George.  Then for a little while she thought it was really George (he passed away from cancer about 8 yrs ago).  She told me she thought he took the same drug that Juliett from Romeo and Juliett took when she faked her death, ha...she gets quite creative. Anyway, she has since backed off from that therory, maybe just to appease me.

I have recently been diagnosed with Hep C and will be starting treatment in the next 2 weeks, so I have told her I need to back off a bit from helping her with all her stuff.  she said ok at first, then completly forgot by the next day, ha....I need to remind her constantly that I can't do all her running around and will need to focus on my health for a bit...some days that gets her to back down, some days she just gets get mad at me...

The main thing is her trying to get out of the nursing home.  she doesn't want to be there, and who could blame her, but she can't take care of her self, and I can't take care of her like she needs either...of course she doesn't think she needs any help and is completly upset that she is in there...her poor room mate is completly scared of her...my mom threw her container of water at the room mate the other day thinking she was George...that went down on her permanant record unfortunatly...she is a hand full and most days I don't have the patience to deal with it, but can't really say anything to her cause whats the point...so I just stay stressed and take deep breaths, ha...I wish she could hallucinate a buddy that she likes and could talk with and would make her stay at the nursing home enjoyable!
Helpful - 0
212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
wow am so sorry shes going threw this but more for you . your a great Daughter to be doing all for and being there for her.

yeah i guess the 911 get tired of it lol, but am sure they understand and , yeah they will probley take her phone away if she keeps doing that, guess you cant block the 911 off of it.

dang that George, he needs to go away  hum can you make up a fake death thing and show it to her ?   was there someone in her family name george, my moms nurse says they use real people in their stories even if they didnt do all of that.

funny how they had us and now we are their mothers. am doing the same thing my mom did for me as a little girl. lol my mom is still at home with us. shes bed ridden so easy to keep up with her, she lays in bed and talks to self or who ever is there . I love my mom and its a Blessing to have her with me at this time so i can take care of her like she did me,,,,,,,,,,,
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Avatar universal
when she gets too bad, they give her something to calm her down, she is on Serequel (spelling?) for the hallucinations, but it doesn't really help.  it's hard to get a hold of the doctor, it's a nursing home and they have a doctor through them, they keep adjusting her meds but haven't gotten it right yet.  I hate to see her just zoned out, but sometimes she needs it.  I gave her a cell phone so she could call me when she needs to...the other night she called 911 five times to report 'George' attacking the kids...the nurse gave her a pill and hid the phone....I'm afraid they just might take it away from her, ha...
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212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
Wow thats sad that they are so bad/scarey. no my mom does not have anything like that. what does the nurses or dr seem to think and have they gave you any ideals as to help her.   if shes scared at the time than she needs to medicade to calm her down. is she on meds for anxiety/stress or just to help her get throught the days. i would be talking to her dr and see if she can get something to help her relax and not be doing that . hope she has a better day today and you .
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Avatar universal
if they weren't such violent hallucinations I would be abel to go along with it, but hers are so violent and scary, I just can't bring myself to go along it...seeing little kids 3,4  yrs old being raped and mutalated...I have tried going with the theme that George the perpertraitor has been arrested, or what ever, but that doesn't work either,,,she actually told me that his head was cut off by the kids once, I was happy to hear that....then she told me it grew back or she was mistaken cause he was back with a vengence...
Helpful - 0
212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
p.s tell her you went and got all of the coats,  and she will feel better than she will start on something elsa , you have to go into her world because shes having a hard time living in ours.
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1 Comments
You couldn't be more right. My mother has Dementia and goes thru horrible stages of hallucinating. Some make her laugh and that's ok, it's the scary non existent things she thinks she sees, that are horrible to watch. You have to do like you said, enter their world as they see it and do not disagree, confuses them more. Try redirecting their thoughts. One more huge issue, you NEVER give seraquil to a dementia patient, makes them so much worse. A nurse in hospital thought she was helping mom when she gave it to her. Doctor came in and saw what was happening and quickly gave her something to counteract the med!
212161 tn?1599427282
COMMUNITY LEADER
Yes it is, sad to say my mother does the same, she sees people who are not there and she can tell the story like it really happen and almosy make you belive they were there.

sad but seems like they go into their younger days and brings stories up that might have happen than, or they can hear something on tv and relate it to their life now as if they really lived it.

when my mom does that i just go along with her unless its a sad bad thing than i try and make it good, but telling them it never happen makes them more confused or mad at you , so was told go with the ride. me and my mom talk alot about stuff that never happen but the Dr says thats how they relate to life and dont want you telling them they are wrong.

God Bless ya and hope ya have a lot of great memories with her.
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