Mom's hallucinations are getting worse (and no, she doesn't have a UTI). They're also strangely consistent. She always hallucinates about men. They're always dangerous, threatening men. She tells me that they come into her room (she lives with us temporarily until we can get her placed in a facility). The first time she hallucinated, it was one man in her room with a gun. The second time, she mistook her television for a window and three men were staring at her through the window and spying on her (it was a Verizon commercial). The third time, a man waked into her room and told her that our daughter was on fire. Most recently, today, a man entered her room and told her that her god wasn't real. Then he threatened to kill her. Today was the first time the hallucination happened in the morning. Usually it's later in the day (or in the middle of the night). In all cases, she completely loses it and starts screaming at the top of her lungs. She'll be physically shaking and wandering around the kitchen. Each time it takes longer and longer to calm her down. Today it took 90 minutes and though she calmed down, she does not believe that he's not still in the house somewhere.
I do wonder why it's always these violent, horror movie like scenarios that she imagines. It's never bugs or paranoia that someone's stolen her things. So strange.
When she went to an SNF, it ramped up 100 fold. I won’t detail everything she ever said, but her scenarios were also violent and scary. She went so far as to slap other residents (women) with short hair she thought were men.
I suspect that at some point in her life something happened to her. There is no one left who might know to ask. And, after making the horrific discovery that my grandfather committed suicide when I was 12 and it was kept a secret from me for 50 years, I’ve decided I don’t want to know what happened to her. I did hear some fantastic stories from her when I visited her. I really don’t believe any of them.
Unfortunately, you can’t pick your hallucinations and delusions like streaming channels on a fire stick or Roku.
You lksten, youndint argue with her or try to convince her she’s hallucinating. To her, they’re very real. If she becomes agitated, speak with her Doctor. I wish you well. I know how it is.
I used to watch that show Hoarders. One elderly woman, also in early stages of dementia, had to walk over piles of junk to get to her favorite recliner. She was physically frail and was a bad fall risk. The therapist sat with and talked to her about why she was hoarding. It eventually came out that she had a stepfather when she was a teenager who would sneak in her room at night and try to rape her. Awful. The hoard stemmed from keeping things around her, like a safety barrier of sorts so no one could get to her at all. This poor woman was in her 80s or so, and never told anyone what happened. She burst into tears.... in pain and I think the relief/release of finally talking about it.
I would think dementia and Alzheimers ‘scrambles’ the mind. Things that were buried way back could surface in weird ways? Just a guess.
Either way, it’s sad for everyone involved and my heart goes out to you.