Hallucinations/Delusions (2)

Sherjoy

Well, here goes.  My first post.  Reading your posts has really helped me, but I am still stuck with a problem that seems to cover several different topics.  My DW of 65 years struggles with delusions.  I usually can use diversions to refocus, but more and more she see me as part of the problem. Says she can't trust or believe me any more, which makes it extremely difficult to sooth her and get her calmed down, especially at bedtime.  It sometimes takes hours of talking, looking through photo albums, etc. to bring her back to a calm state.  She believes "my girlfriends" come in at night at take her things and torment her.  If I leave her alone for any length of time she starts hiding everything.  I have put in door alarms (which was a good excuse), locks on drawers, and used every reassurance I can think of.  We still go through this every day and night.  She has trouble sleeping because of it and it is exhausting to me.  If she is not actively involved with myself, family, or others, she seems to go into a state where she lets the negative delusions upset her and then it takes a long time to get her back to more positive, satisfied feelings.  Which basically means I must give her my constant attention.  She constantly wants "to go home", "go to her mother's house", "go knock on a neighbor's door to see if her parents are there", etc.  Then, because I can't (or won't) she is upset with me.

I try to involve her with simple household chores, go walking with her, help her with simple brain activities, and we have fun times together, but for some reason she is feeling like she needs to leave.  She is very sensitive and may be picking up on my frustrations.  I just don't know.

She has been taking low dosage (12mg) of Quetiapine (Seroquel) for almost a week, but can't see much difference.  Last night I finally gave up and just told her to go to sleep and that we would talk about it tomorrow.  So, I expect that she will have not slept very well, so today will be extra challenging.  How do I deal with this?

Ed1937

Sherjoy, welcome to the forum. Sorry you have a need to join our online family. We have a few things in common. We will be married 65 years in December, and we also have a large family.

From what I've seen, it might take some time to tell if the medication is working as desired. Talk to your doctor to see when a tweak might be in order. I know delusions are terrible. One of our sons has had problems with them for years. Fortunately he has been much better lately.

If you are frustrated, she almost surely picks up on that. Do your best to put a happy face on for her. It's hard, but it can really help. I wish you luck.

Rick4407

My DW also started with a low dose of Seroquel, but within a week was up to 25 mg and a few months later up to 25 mg twice a day.  The best correct dose is not necessarily the first try, work with your neurologist.  Rick

Pam BH

Sherjoy, this forum is such a blessing in letting us know that what our LOs are experiencing isn't uncommon and we can get such great advice and tips. Delusions have been a problem with my DH for a year and a half. Some are similar to yours. The doc put him on sertraline about a year ago for anxiety that the delusions were creating and increased it to 100mg which helped greatly as far as his attitude about them, especially the ones about me having an affair which that one has thankfully gone away. But other delusions remain and are being added to which involve people living in our attic, a girl living upstairs who has men over, a man waiting outside our bedroom window at night to visit the girl, men with horses outside with a bear and sometimes a tiger. The doc recently put him on Seroquel, 25mg which helped immensely to help him sleep a deep, restful sleep but still woke up periodically with the delusions. He just increased the Seroquel to 50mg which we're hoping will help. So having said all that, maybe get with her doctor and see if the Seroquel could be increased now that you know she can tolerate it at the lower dosage.

M1

Hi Sherjoy and welcome.  If she is tolerating the quetiapine, you can talk to your doc about increasing the dosage--12.5 is small, and you could go to 25 easily, and then to multliple times a day.  The dose range is huge--doses needed for dementia are typically much smaller overall than the doses used for other psychoses (while can go to 400-800 mg).  So the good news is that you have room to move; since it's a weekend, don't be afraid to increase today's dose if you need to and let the doc know on Monday.  

Medication is probably the only way to help with the delusions.  My partner has taken 25 mg at bedtime for 6-8 months now, primarily for help with sleep fragmentation, and it has made a huge improvement for her.  I have no qualms about increasing the dose or frequency later on if we need to.  Good luck--

jfkoc

It is difficult to imagine that reason and logic can be useless until we are splat in the middle of the situation where they useless.

Please go online and google Teepa Snow delusions. She has a lot of education on the subject.

Sherjoy

Thanks so much for your encouraging responses.  I feel much better now about starting her on medicine, and probably increasing the dosage.  She woke up yesterday feeling very good and we had the nicest day we've had for  a long time.  I was careful to listen to everything she said, and as soon as she started into something negative, I just redirected our conversation to something positive.  She still has the delusions, but she seemed to be happier and calmer all day, even at night time.  Fingers crossed for today!

Kevcoy

Delusions are an interesting thing.  It's one thing when taking a walk and DH casually remarks, What is that woman doing up there?  Then later in the same calm voice ask why are there two people asleep in our bed?  If that were the case I'd be throwing a major freak on.  Delusions are probably a main reason driving rights should be taken away because you don't know what your LO might see in their mind.