Help! Wakes me up and says there are people outside!!!

LorettaP

Please, if anyone else has experienced this, please give me some advice. My husband wakes me up in the middle of the night and says there are people outside. First time, about a month ago, it scared me to death. It was traumatic because he kept insisting someone was there and wouldn’t turn on the light cause he said the man would come in. Since then, he wakes me up and has seen trees, animals, etc., in the bedroom. Last night, he woke me up and said there were two people outside the bedroom door. I said NO ONE is there and flipped on my light. He asked me to turn off my light and said they wouldn’t hurt me!! This morning, he really didn’t remember until I brought it up. He insists these are dreams and gets angry when I tell him otherwise. He said that last night it was like he was watching it on a movie screen. Neurologist isn’t definite about his diagnosis. He says we need to wait and see how he progresses. He is on Donepezil and Memantine.

OrganizerBecky

I'm looking for the same help - similar situation with us, but not quite as scary. DH will wake up from a nap or sleep and see animals and spiders in the corner ceiling of our room. A couple of weeks ago, he was napping on a Saturday afternoon - I went into our bedroom to let the dog out the back sliding door and he woke up. he said there was a squirrel up in the corner. I waved my hand around and said I didn't see one.  

Last week, he called me while I was at work and said he'd seen me pull into the driveway and motion him to help me. I told him I was still at work. I think he must've been napping in the recliner in the living room and had a short hallucination when he woke up (he can't see our driveway from the inside of the house). 

I'm sure it's confusing for them - but I can see how scary it is for your experiences! I've emailed the neuro's office and they wanted to if anything else had been changed and if so, they should run some blood work. He hasn't been complaining about urinary problems and I don't suspect a UTI. He does have a checkup with the neurologist's APRN next month, so we'll discuss more then. 

My DH is diagnosed with dementia, probably Alzheimer's. He's on mementine and aricept. i'm 99% sure it's Alzheimers because right after the dx about 3 years ago, I tried to get him into a drug study. As part of the prereqs, he had a PET scan which showed too much amyloid plaque already for him to be in the study. 

Stuck in the middle

My late mother, and recently my wife, developed difficulty telling dreams from reality.  DW got out of bed last night to check on the food that was cooking.  She accepted my assurance that we weren't cooking anything, and accepted that she had dreamed about cooking.  She hasn't actually cooked anything for at least three years.

Your LOs may be experiencing something similar - dreaming, and waking in the dream reality.

ButterflyWings

Well this brings back memories, and they were not good. When my AD husband began hallucinating, he would weapon up to protect us from the (non existent) intruders. 

It was as real to him as anything. For me, it was terrifying trying to hide the knives, bats, hammer, pitchfork etc so I would not get clobbered, since he might mistake me for a stranger! I was afraid to go to sleep. All the while trying to convince him all was well, that our alarm was on, and even (fiblet) that the police had checked the area and no bad guys around.

That was a terrible time for us and dangerous. He saw and heard people, animals, and even went outside in the middle of a cold night to confront the guy with the gun (no such person), and another one who was breaking in my car (not — but thankfully DH did not own firearms himself or might have shot someone). His neuropsych prescribed Seroquel which helped SO much. No more night wandering or weaponing up. Hallucinations and delusions under control. We have increased the dosage 3 times in the last 2 years but the worst issues responded to the antipsychotic med within a week or so. 

This merits urgent attention from your Dr. (phone consultation with the Dr or nurse immediately?!), for everyone’s sake. Are there guns in the home? Be safe 

Gig Harbor

My husband started having hallucinations in 2015 but after starting donepezil they stopped. He also started mrna tine and has had no further hallucinations. Of course now his memory is so bad if he were to see anything he would forget before he could tell me.

Doityourselfer

Seeing "people" in our yard was one of the first signs of my husband's EOAD in early 2016.  It was a living nightmare for the earlier and mid-stage years. He wanted these people out of our yard, saw them in neighbor's yards, in our house, in the car, and even in the mall, grocery stores, in restaurants and on walks.  He would keep a baseball bat under the couch and bed until I got rid of it.  No medicine eliminated his "hallucinations".  Who knows what he actually was seeing but it really highly agitated him.  

He still occasionally sees people in our house but it's not as bad as the earlier years because he is so much less active due to the severity of his AD.  

A PET scan in 2017 showed Alzheimer's.

I know how difficult it is to deal with one of the worst symptoms of this horrible, rotten disease.  Try to stay calm as best as you can and don't argue with your husband.

Crushed

Folks , this is delusional disorder a very common condition with Alzheimer's
  https://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/guide/delusional-disorder

 

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-and-hallucinations-delusions-and-paranoia

It requires major medication and help

It is a major signal for placement  

Kenzie56

My MIL saw so many people (adults and children) and animals in her memory care room and in the hall.  She even saw burglars and criminals outside her window. She was so frightened of the criminals that she starting hitting nurses and residents with her cane - getting everyone mixed up. She was later diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia when the tremors started. The neurologist prescribed Seroquel and Depakote and a week later she told me the children and other guests all left and didn't say "good-bye".  She had names for the children and the regular "guests'...funny she couldn't remember names of family members, but she always remembered these "guests". It upset her that the children never spoke to her. The criminals were the first to leave. My MIL was so relieved and so much more relaxed after the medication was prescribed. She never showed aggression after that. I know medication works for some and not others - and it all depends on the type of dementia a person has.  Just thought I'd share her experience.  It took a while for a neurologist to diagnose LBD - but we were so thankful to have her calm and not have such scary hallucinations. She passed peacefully last year at 95.

Pam BH

Loretta, my DH experiences these delusions every night and also during the day. They vary from someone knocking on the exterior door around 2 in the morning to someone being outside during the night to people living in the attic at night and leaving in the morning to a girl being upstairs during the day and having male visitors to seeing and hearing animals in the house. He's been having the delusions for a year and frequently gets up to check or look out the windows. They started before he was on Zoloft and memantine and have continued.  The good news is he's formulated reasoning why he can't and won't confront the people and is never defense-minded when he checks on them. To me, that would be the most important thing for you to figure out - if he intends to defend himself or you against a threat.  I would also never ask him about them afterwards but do respond during the delusions, such as I didn't hear anything, did you?  Good luck to you