Questions

Pampankey

Dad has been having hallucinations that people are in his house stealing from him. Dr added new med 2x a day- after about a week he has been better. Stayed with us a few nights now wants to go back to own home. Last night he was seeing people again. Is this normal behavior- to improve then regress? The ebb and flow of dementia might just be this way? Mom was his caregiver and passed away last November. So we are taking baby steps.

JeriLynn66

Is your Dad safe to live alone?

M1

No way should he be staying by himself if he is hallucinating. Even if the hallucinations subside, he needs 24/7 supervision.

Emily 123

Hi pampankey,

Early on the brain can work to compensate for losses, but as time goes by and more communication within the brain is affected I think it becomes harder. So there are good days and bad days. You may see that any upset to routine or illness makes it harder for them to adjust and so there's more confusion. They have less bandwidth now to adapt to physical or environmental changes.

I'd contact the physician--everyone's different and it may take a few tries to find the right dosages or combination of meds that works best. When you do talk to them it helps to ask about when you could expect to see changes in behaviors (sometimes it can take a few weeks), and what side effects you want to look out for.

If he hasn't been checked for a UTI lately it might not hurt to have that done, too.

Pampankey

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/194622#Comment_194622

Thank you. We have recently seen doc and he was checked for UTi- all clear. They added one new med and we were told it might take a little time to see improvement. He is more good than bad so I know we have a long road ahead on this. This site has given answers to many of my questions. I really appreciate the feedback