No memory loss

gbriggs

My mother started hearing alarms at night last summer. Then she started smelling things, hearing music, and now has delusions at night. Her memory is excellent and she thinks these delusions she has at night are real. She has had a few during the day but mostly during the night. Has anyone heard of anything similar? Thank you for any feedback provided.

M1

Welcome to the forum. You might read about lewy body dementia, hallucinations can be prominent and memory can be intact. She needs medical evaluation, and you should alert the doctor to your observations before the visit, likely in writing. Families always pick up on the early changes first. It can be hard to convince our loved ones to go to the doctor. Don't argue with her about the hallucinations, they are very real to her and you will just make her defensive. Some times it's effective to say that a visit is required by Medicare.

towhee

Make sure you give the doctor a good timeline, just like you did here.

gbriggs

Thank you so much for your feedback. We did bring my mother to a doctor. We had to establish a new primary care doctor because her's had retired. He did a quick memory evaluation which she did very well on. He suggested we bring her to see a neurologist. Unfortunately my mother is not the doctoring type and because she does not question her mind, she refuses to go. We do suspect Lewy Body but after talking to multiple sources, they do not think it is, because my mother does not have more cognitive issues. My belief is that the delusions have developed first and she will most likely have more cognitive issues down the road. Thoughts on this? I so appreciate the input!

NUMber2

My mom had age related memory loss when noises began.

First she heard noises outside in the middle of the night. "the AC was running too loudly, maybe it was going to explode." ( she was so concerned that she drove to the gas station to ask them to look up the non-emergency number for the fire department)

Then it was her phone. "someone was ringing one time in the middle of the night every night."

Then knocking on her bedroom window and her front door.

It is a rotten disease! I'm sorry that you're both going through this.

❤️peace to you both

M1

My sister in law died of Lewy Body dementia two years ago, and the presentation was almost purely motor, with the only symptoms for several years being progressive inability to stand up straight (I've later learned that this is called the "Lewy Body lean."). She then had intermittent confusion that was attributed to an anesthesia reaction, when she had back surgery to address the poor posture. A definitive diagnosis was only made in the week before her death.

Long way of saying that you are right to keep your antennae up. If she's resistant to further evaluation, not much you can do; however, you should be sure you have legal matters such as powers of attorney taken care of so that you can step in if you have to.