My mom is hallucinating

ppalmieri

Hi I’m new here. In the last few months my mom has had hallucinations. I live with her with my adult daughters. A month ago she insisted people came in a changed her house around. It got so bad I called the ambulance. The doctor there said she had mild pneumonia. A psychiatrist evaluated her and diagnosed her with dementia and bipolar disorder. She’s on a mild antipsychotic. Last night she insisted her doctor was here(her primary she’s seeing Monday). It went on until she fell asleep. I’m new to all this. What can I do? If we disagree she gets agitated. It’s so hard because I’m not used to her like this. Thanks in advance

mommyandme (m&m)

Welcome to the forum but sorry you need it. This thread of the forum doesn’t get as much traffic, therefore your questions etc… will be seen more readily if you post on “I am a caregiver (general topics)”. This place was a life saver for me, the supportive and wise folks here have more expertise on caregiving for a dementia patient than many doctors.

I also cared for my mom, so I understand some of the issues you’ll face. First I want to mention that if you don’t already have DPOAs for your moms health and financials, please get them asap. An infection can definitely ramp up our LOs behaviors. Hopefully her treatment will bring her back to baseline soon. A lot of us here recommend not to try to reason with our LOs w/ dementia as their brain is broken (their reasoning) and can create frustration for all. A lot of empathy, validation of feelings and support goes a long way. Distracting after the validation often helps too. Not everything works for everyone of course. As we say, “when youve met one dementia patient, you’ve met one dementia patient” since our lifelong dynamics are all different.

Go ahead and repost on the general caregiving thread and I trust many will chime in. Keep coming back to vent, question, support, etc…