Has anyone had a PWD who experiences seeing shapes, etc. that appear transparent and "see through"?

three4rd

Hi,

My Mom is 102 and, while having extremely short term memory, has never until now described or shown evidence of other dementia-related symptoms. The past few days, however, she's convinced that she's not at her house and needs someone to pick her up and take her back home (she's been in AL for the past 9 years), etc. But what I wanted to mention mostly is that she describes seeing what I'd describe as wispy, transparent shapes - could be people, animals, and such. Right now she's in the ER with my brother - took her over there this morning since we're wondering if there's a UTI that might be causing some of this (happened once before several years ago). So he mentioned that she described, as an example, the image of a person coming right through the curtain in the ER room, but she can see the curtain through the person. She's fully aware, at least, that whatever she's seeing isn't real (far different than my aunt - whom I discussed in a different thread here who is convinced that every hallucination is indeed real) . So, sometimes crawly things, a bear, and she always says that she can see right through them. Just sitting in the bed she saw a sort of clear covering over her legs. She could see it, but it was clear and she could see the blanket underneath it. But she knew it wasn’t real. It’s very strange and if it isn’t UTI, then I guess we have to await further developments.

This is something totally different than anything my aunt has ever described - who is, BTW, living in a MC facility the past several months. My Mom is in a regular AL facility that does not do MC. Thus far it always seemed like she really never needed to move to some place that specifically deals with MC.

Thanks for any insight.

SDianeL

sounds like hallucinations. Rule out UTI and talk to her doctor. There are medications that help hallucinations. There is also a form of Alzheimer’s called Posterior Cortical Atrophy that affects what the person sees. As long as the hallucinations aren’t causing anxiety or frightening her, I wouldn’t worry.

harshedbuzz

@three4rd

It's sounds most like a hallucination of some sort. It's interesting that she knows they're no real. Dad's hallucinations were his reality. He mostly saw people. I recall once being told off sharply not to sit in a chair in his room because his lawyer was sitting there. My aunt's hallucinations were more of the landscape nature— she'd look out her window in the MCF and "see" the boats and seagulls on the bay in front of her beloved house in Maine.

If they disturb your mom, medication can help dial the back in some cases. Both dad and auntie seemed comfortable with their respective hallucinations.

HB

LamBee

My Aunt is 93, with dementia. Earlier on, she would see things and sometimes know they were not real (like a reflection of a light looking like a light bulb to her 💡). She said she was told she had cataracts during one of her lucid moments, but didn’t have them operated on. She has refused to see an eye doctor since. I’ve noticed her hallucinations sometimes are brought on by a change in light or shadows in the room. She will say there’s a dog on her pants, and I will look, and see it’s actually a shadow that she is not able to differentiate the cause. The shadow looks like a dog to her, so it’s a dog. Or, a pattern on her sofa looks like a face to her, so she says there’s a face. Don’t know if this will help at all, but hope it does 💗Edited to add: if not cataracts, could be glaucoma-related if a history of high blood pressure? Just throwing out ideas.