Hallucinations?

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Has anyone experience of hallucinations being part of dementia or stroke symptoms? My DM is seeing 'people' all over her garden and sitting in her house. They even smell bad, according to her. She seems reasonably sharp in most other respects & gets very indignant and angry if we try to say that there's nothing there, so we're mostly opting to humour her at the moment. She has been assessed by a doctor and is being sent for a brain scan shortly but is there anything we can usefully do in the meantime?

They can be part of the symptoms, I'm afraid I don't have much advice other than to reassure her lots.

Cog. I witnessed this in my grandma and now it's starting to happen to my DM who has vascular dementia. I have learned that he kindest approach is to agree but not indulge.

For example mum will complain about people in the house annoying her and I'll just say something like " they're leaving in 10 minutes"

It's hard because sometimes I want to yell THERE ARE NO PEOPLE!! But she sees them so this would be confusing/upsetting and(as I have learned) pointless and long winded

Other days she perfectly fine. Dementia is cruel. You have my sympathy

My grandfather suffered from Lewy Body dementia and hallucinations was one of the symptoms.

It was a very difficult time for the whole family, as in your case he would become distressed when we tried to explain that there were no animals/people when he could clearly see them. I agree with the "agree but don't indulge" plan of action, trying to reason just caused upset for all parties.

Stroke symptoms are also classic Lewy Body traits, as are tremors you would associate with Parkinsons.

There are lots of forums to support family and friends of Lewy Body sufferers (if that's what your DM has), I found these very helpful when my grandfather was ill.

I hope you find the support you need. Dementia of any kind is truly a cruel disease :(

I agree with 8814, it's quite common in LBD. As a general rule there's two aspects to hallucinations - if they're new and unusual, it's an indication of delirium (often caused by infection, medication). If they're caused by delirium, they tend to be very scary and the person will say things like Am I going mad?. If they're caused by dementia they will not seem scary. Definitely worth a trip to the GP (ideally accompanied!).

Oh sorry I see you're in the assessment process. I hope you get answers soon.

Oh lovely, tis so difficult. She's not changed medication recently has she? My mum was prescribed something for her Parkinson's that made her hallucinate. Was awful, so difficult to know how to cope.

Such a worry for you. Hope docs can help

I also agree on the agree but not indulge.

Does she live alone?

Yep , hallucinations are part of Lewis Body ( sp ) dementia
My father has dementia
You will find put there are 3 types of dementia , Alzheimer's , vascular and Lewis Body
You can have all 3 types

My mother had Alzheimers & had a lot of hallucinations.

I remember the last Christmas she spent with us & she was looking out of the bedroom window & was convinced that the garden (which was long & narrow) was a runway!! She was begging me to get 'them' to turn the landing lights out.

OH's aunt (100 & still, just, manages living at home with help) is convinced that burglars come in every night & steal her hearing aids, shoe polish, geranium cuttings............. when we find the missing objects she assures us that the burglars come back to return them.

Both her GP & the geriatric phsychatrist (sp?) she is seen by have told us that this is a very well known affect of any dementure.

My sympathies to you, Cog - it's a horrible thing to have to deal with.

And, for what it's worth, we have been told to 'humor' aunt & then change the conversation.

My granny has 'phonecalls', she just sits chatting away to herself and when she sees us (she is in a home) she 'ends the call' and tells us who she was talking to. Fortunately they don't seem to distress her but it is quite unnerving as she will often have a completely lucid conversation with us yet still refer to the calls.

We tend to humour anything that doesn't distress her but if she is upset about something that we know isn't real/true we ask gently if it might have been a dream. She will often admit it could have been but then will forget 5 minutes later.

It's very hard at times. She knows she's losing it and cries sometimes. It breaks my heart :(

Sorry I don't have any advice, just sharing.

My dad had a full army career from being a "boy soldier" at 15.
Now at 65 (diagnosed with vascular dementia and alzheimers at 59 but showing symptoms for a few years before) he "sees" people in the house...usually with guns and he gets so frightened. We can't reason with him at all when this happens and its happening a lot now....

My Grandmother had a terrible hallucination in her last few months, to the point, she refused to speak to any of the family again. We kept turning up, but she ignored us and it was excruciatingly painful for her and for the family.

Her hallucination was she saw, when admitted to hospital for a minor heart attack, her family around the table saying we wanted her putting down like a dog. Obviously, that never happened, but it was so painful to watch a woman who had always adored us, die thinking we did that.

I work with elderly people with dementia and hallucinations are normally part of lewy body dementia, but as it cannot be diagnosed until death (sorry) they diagnose it but it can be so very similar to parkinsons disease, they often medicate for that. Have a look on the dementia support groups on the Internet, they have a lot of information. It is hard, but I love working with them :-)

My own mum had horrible delusions involving my brother. She actually called 911 (our 999) and reported that he was 'holding women prisoner in the basement'; she didn't have a basement. She called my DH more than once to look under her home (small crawlspace) because 'those people' were under there. She accused my younger son of being on drugs. She accused us of conspiring to 'steal her money' and drugging her so we could talk about it behind her back. She also saw people 'down the hallway'. She was so sure we were 'after her' and that my dear brother was a rapist that she spent her days in tears over it. It got so bad we had to move her to a care facility. The delusions disappeared immediately with the 'change of scenery'. She still has some delusional thinking, but it's usually something off the wall that can be dismissed with an 'Is that so?' and a change of subject.

Dementia is an ugly, ugly disease.

There are over 100 types of dementia each with different signs and symptoms however it is a very individual illness where each person suffers in a different way. Are the hallucinations a recent thing? If so the first port of call would be a urine test, as a pp suggested infection can often cause hallucinations

hallucinations can occur in any form of dementia but tend to be most prominent in Lewy body dementia. They can occur in vascular dementia or in stroke disease without dementia. They can be frightening and distressing whatever the cause. A ct/MRI scan can help to clarify what kind of dementia someone has . A dat scan can be used to help diagnose lewy body dementia,along with the clinical picture. As others have said it is worth checking that there is not a physical cause for hallucinations such as infection or medication that has caused problems. If someone is undistressed it is better to try to distract them and often it is impossible to persuade them that they are not real. Make sure that any problems with eye-sight have been addressed and keep the place well lit. Other than that and offering re-assurance there may not be much more you can do. There are medications which can be used if symptoms become very distressing-cognitive enhancers in alzheimers or particularly Lewy Body dementia, and anti-psychotics. Unfortunately however anti-psychotics can cause side effects and their use has to be very carefully considered.