My Mom was diagnosed with moderate to severe Parkinson's bout 2.5 - 3 yrs ago. How to deal with her hallucinations?

You should check her medicine. My father had the same issue and the doctor found Mirapex was the cause.

Check with her Neurologist. Some of the PD medications cause this. We had to quit 2 different ones.

Does she by any chance have a bladder infection. My mom had Parkinson Disease for 16 years. She did have bouts of hallucinations. The good ones I would just go with it. She had badder infections some times and that seemed to increase the hallucinations. Never stop to have this checked out!

Talk to her doctor.

Care4Mom2, our mom just passed after a long battle with vascular dementia. Once she could no longer walk and needed a hoyer lift time was short. Her ability to swallow was compromised and appetite fell off. She lasted three and a half months in a nursing home. You have shown exceptional strength and courage to carry on for 13 years. I salute you. Godspeed.

I have taken care of mom for 13 years until the last 7 weeks when it just became too much to bare. My mom has depression, hallucinations, delusions, confusion and paranoia. The last six weeks have been a whirlwind from hell. She spent a total of 3-1/2 weeks in a mental hospital (2 separate visits) and now is in a rehab/nursing facility because she can no longer walk and is refusing to eat. I do not think she remembers how to walk although they are going to start rehab on Monday. She is so agitated and contrary that I just cant see that happening, she refuses to do what is ask of her. This was NOT her nature - she is totally opposite now from the lovely lady that raised me. She is still hallucinating, living in her dreams, depressed, confused, and paranoid.... so what the meds are doing I do not know. She has vascular dementia so every time she has a mini stroke it gets worse and/or changes. Mom is 92 years old and my prayer is that God has Mercy on her because this is an insidious disease that has no pat answers. All I can do is love her... and I do.

Reminds me of my mother - she had Paranoid Schizophrenia, later came Dementia, and Parkinson's - when she lived alone she was always calling the police because she was convinced of all sorts of things. Arguing with people that weren't there on a bus or watching a show on the TV that was not even turned on. When she went into the nursing home things never got better, she eased up a bit from the meds yet she was always lost to reality. Later, after she went into the nursing home all the other mental problems came about, I didn't realize until all the replies that the Dementia and Parkinson's played into the delusions as well. My sister was the point of contact and I lived across the country and was unable to travel so there was much day to day I did not know about. Before the end they said she also had Alzheimer's - I have learned much from reading the various posts. It gives me much to consider for myself and much to talk about with our children. I want them to know how they should handle things if these problems happen with me later.

My mom has, what I call, 'episodes' where she talks all nite and hallucinates all day. This has been going on for 3 years, at first months apart and now every week. If she isn't upset by what she's seeing? I just go along with it since that's usually easier than trying to convince her she's in la-la land. Lately she's been asking about the name of my husband...thing is, I've been divorced for several years but try and convince her of that! Nope...she's just sure that I'm married again and even saw my new hubby on TV last nite. So today I told her his name is 'Simon'...she was satisfied with that for now. So far...so good. It's just a day at a time for all of us caregivers.

scanner2971, isn't she on Aricept?

The best thing you can do is find a doctor who is very well experienced in handling Lewy Body Dementia.

These symptoms you describe are all and part the dementia mixed with Parkinson's which effects the dopamine in her brain. She is never going to be "normal" again, so take her to her doctor and describe her symptoms. Learn to deal with it, or get her some professional help.

We went through the same thing with my father-in-law, monkeys on the ceiling fan and worse. We found changing his med got rid of the hallucinations. Apparently they are a know side effect of some of the meds. He now only has them every few months and the are not as scary. He has Parkinson's but not Lewy bodies. Sinemet has been working for us. Also he takes a small dose of Xanax to get to sleep. Nights are much quieter now.

I agree that meds may not be the answer. My Mom used to hallucinate that there were bugs crawling all over. We used to try to convince her they weren't there, but that just upset her more. Her doctor told us to go along with it, pretend we could see the bugs too, and help her get rid of them with "bug spray" (which was just a bottle of Windex). It worked. She calmed right down and immediately felt better. Maybe if you go along with your Mom's hallucination. Agree that you hear the little girl crying too, and pretend to call someone or tell her you're going out to help her? Also, we'd give my Mom a couple of Sudafeds or antihistamine each night at bedtime. They're non-addictive and they helped her sleep. Hope things get better for you.

Same problem with my mom, she was up all night screaming and hearing voices, a little girl down the street she said she heard her crying all the time. Can you imagine how she must have felt? You could not tell her these hallucinations were not real, so the only thing that helped was meds. Occasionally they had to change them, but it did help alot. We had to put her in a home, she kept getting out of bed and falling. I go see her, she still doesn't know where she is. Sad thing to witness.

My mother has the same problem. Nights go by when she doesn't sleep. She tries to get the babies out from under the bed. She puts all the bed clothes around her bedroom so that the little girls won't hurt themselves. She tries to put her coat on so that she can go out, catch a taxi and go to her own home because she doesn't feel as if she is in her own home. She falls over and can't get up and so it goes on. This sounds like Lewy Body dementia and this being the case, gettiing the right balance of medication is very difficult as these patients are notoriously sensitive to medication. There comes a point when antiparkinson medication can worsen hallucinations so this needs review. My mother also takes aripiprazole 2 mgs every morning. This has helped with delusions. You are correct in thinking that clonazepam is appropriate however the dose is a matter of trial and error. Sometimes she is knocked out with 1mg and at other times it appears to have no effect. So 0.5mg then another 0.5mg after 30 minutes if the first dose doesn't work. Don't worry if she oversleeps. It gives everyone a break. Melatonin 1mg early evening also helps regularize the sleep cycle. Is the antidepressant really necessary? People with Parkinson's often seem depressed but this can easily be confused with the symptoms of Parkinson's. I hope you find this helpful. It is very difficult to cope with LBD? Difficult also for the patient as they do often retain a degree of insight. My mother is now in a home becausse it became impossible for us to cope with endless sleeples nights. Important to take care of yourself because lack of sleep will take its toll on you. As you might have guessed, I am a physician.

meds dont work much anymore. she's carbidopa / levo 25/100 six total at certain times a day. and escitalopram once a day for deppression. actually i think she needs what i used to take for anxity attacks which is clonazipam...which i dont take any more. get this..."ONE" of her docs put her on it for a while, but it made her null and void.

Call 911 and have her transported to the hospital when she is out of control. This behavior is not going to get better. She needs better medications and that is best sorted out in a hospital setting.