How do I handle these hallucinations?

UTI's affect the elderly and people with dementia worse than it does young people. My grandma with UTIs is terrible. In fact it's the times she had them when I most think I'm not cut out to be a caregiver. She has serious backpain and doesn't sleep due to hallucinations and pain and who knows why else. In fact one of the signs I noticed before even the burning with the peeing is the questioning of her being lost and confused. She would get so confused and lost when she had a UTI asking people where is everyone, where are you going, where am I, who am I, and what's happening to me. Then that night she'd start talking in her sleep and eventually half way through the night she would be wide awake and talking to people who weren't there. She even at one point turned to the wall next to where I had come to get her to take her to the bathroom and she was talking to someone and then she looked at me and yelled at me for scaring them away. I'd always worry I had hit another stage of dementia when she had them until I'd remember UTI and get her treated right away. That was months ago and now she's on a probiotic so thank God no more UTIs. Does the person with hallucinations have photos in their room? My grandma talks to hers. I tried to take them down but she got really upset. I think that is what triggers the hallucinations to be honest but I'm not 100% sure as she won't let me take down the pictures always asking where they are when I do.

Are you sure this person is not in life's end stages? I had an elderly friend who started seeing people who weren't really there. I remember one night in the wee hours of one morning we started talking in his sleep, calling out to different people he knew. One of them was his wife who long since died, another was his favorite home health aide and another was me. At one time he started calling out in his sleep, he called out to his wife as though he were calling out to her from a distance. Right then I knew he must be nearing the end because even though she awoke and sat up, the incident continued. He eventually started leaving all the lights on in his apartment because he was going blind, and he said leaving all of the lights on helped him to navigate better though it didn't help really all that much. That's because even in broad daylight hitting things with his power chair. I think in my opinion what was really going on was that maybe constant lighting would help to deflect possible hallucinations. Another thought is maybe his fear of dying. It may be that the constant lightning was a comfort to him since he died a little more than a year after I met him. He was a new neighbor who lived nearby and it was a chance of meeting during summer when we both happened to be out enjoying the weather. We met under his favorite shade tree, and from that time call on, that was our tree. Any time I walk past that tree I remember my elderly friend. Sometimes when you walk past an outdoor spot after someone's death, you just can't help but remember them. I think for me it's become a memory tree since that's where we met. He lived just across the street from me, which explains why he would've gone somewhere outside during a cooler part of a summer day. Words really can't describe really can't describe how hard it can be to lose someone, especially someone close to you who you watched declined to the point of eventually ending up in a nursing home. When you've spent a lot of time around someone, you can't help but know them pretty well. I can't admit to being particularly traumatized by the loss, especially knowing I may never see him in heaven due to some things I learned about him. This is the part of the loss that's especially sad for me. It's the knowing that's so hard when you pass a favorite spot that belonged to both of you. At that time I never knew he was actually nearing the end of the road since he was much healthier and had he taken care of himself much better than he did, he could've lived so much longer than he actually did. I'm now starting to wonder if he may have actually willed himself to die. Toward the end I didn't see at first, it seems like he started talking a lot about his deceased wife and his past.

To briefly mention the UTI, I'm very puzzled by the mention of a UTI causing hallucinations, I never really heard of this. I had one for about a year before it was eventually caught, and I never hallucinated, not even once. I have had early signs of a future return of a UTI, but again never hallucinated, and I found out from the first one what to do about it since I now know what one feels like for me. All I had to do was up my water intake and even drink large amounts of ice water. The first time I was on antibiotics, the other few times I experienced early signs of a return, I was able to successfully eliminate it without antibiotics since I now know what's going on and how to catch it early. I don't always like plain water, it becomes distasteful after a while. This is why sometimes people can get UTIs and even kidney infections. Even bottled water can become unappetizing to the point we simply need some flavor in what we're drinking.

I have had drugs in the past give my grandma hallucinations. An antibiotic gave her some really bad ones. In general she sees my mom and talks to her. When I go in at night (She sleeps in the same room as my mom did and they slept together for years so I think that's why she sees her in that room even though she passed away a few months ago. I took out the extra bed and replaced it with a chair thinking it would help and it has somewhat but not totally.) she'll tell me that Carol has to go to the bathroom too or that Carol said she was hungry too. I think to her it's a comfort, almost like an invisible friend. When she first started after my mom died, I was disturbed. She'd look right at me and say, "Carol said that you need to take me to the bathroom." I was horrified and then another time she said, 'Carol said there was something so important for you to know. I don't remember what." That time I pressed to see what it was thinking perhaps she was on to something but she really couldn't remember so I left her alone and changed the topic. Usually I just respond, "It's your turn for 'whatever' now. I'll help her in a minute." She forgets all about it within a minute anyway so it works out.

Both my parents had hallucinations while on morphine. Once my mom hallucinated when she had been taking too much oxycodone - I had gone to visit her at her apartment in IL and she started telling me about a tall man who was in the apartment. In the middle of talking about it she abruptly brioke off talking about him - it was like she suddenly realized he wasn't real. After that she cut way back on the pain killer and never had the issue again. Moms now on hospice - they wanted to use morphine but asked for oxy instead - so far no strange tall men.

I can tell you when my mom was given morphine that the drug manifested itself into bad hallucinations. You might want to check to see if your LO was given that.

My husband had hallucination, one of my aunts had hallucinations, and I have had hallucinations. Each situation was different. Most caregivers in my local support group deal with hallucinations.

1) Have the doctors rule out any immediate cause. My aunt had a uti. Cleared up the uti, the hallucinations went away. (She lived to be 100 and that was the ONLY time she hallucinated.)
2) My husband's hallucinations were early symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia. Other kinds of dementia include hallucinations, too, but in LBD they tend to happen earlier. This was/is the cause of hallucinations in my support group.
3) My hallucinations were part of ICU Psychosis. No one was particularly disturbed about it and they did stop on their own.

In all cases, the medical professionals should be told of the symptoms.

Generally, hallucinations don't need treatment UNLESS they are very disturbing to the person having them. (This is after causes like a uti are ruled out.) If the things the person sees aren't frightening them, just try to go along with them.

If the visions frighten the person, comfort them, reassure them, and perhaps "solve" the problem by sending the bad guys away, asking for police surveillance (on the weather phone line) or offering other protections.

Don't argue about whether the hallucinations are real. Of course they are real. Your loved one sees them! Depending on the loved one's cognitive abilities it may help to talk about "very vivid dreams happening while you are awake" or "what the dementia is doing in your brain" or even Lilacalani's Thought Forms. Never do this in an argumentative or dismissing way. Take their visions seriously, but provide explanations IF that seems to help them.

The husband of one member of my support group saw children in his house often. He was a minister and his inclination was always to help them, feed them, etc. When he wanted to know why his wife wasn't setting places for them at the table she'd say something like, "Oh they had graham crackers and juice a little while ago and they are watching a nature show right now. Their parents are coming for them soon and it wouldn't be good to spoil their dinner!" He accepted this.

When my husband saw bats in our bedroom at 3 am I asked if they were bothering him, and then suggested we wait until morning and if they were still there we could chase them out with a broom. We both went back to sleep.

DDDuck, you'll have to keep an eye on the dog's welfare but otherwise it sounds like you may be able to just go along with most of the delusions.

Good question, partsmom. Hubby's daughter lives with us. She stays in her room a lot coming out once or twice a day. Hubby thinks we have 3 women living with us besides me. So, I just let him. No harm. He doesn't think they are bad. Just as long as they honor his privacy.

Just wondering if some of the "hallucinations" could be reflections on mirrors, picture glass, windows, etc.

We talk about the hallucinations. Hubby gets sooo frustrated when he can express what happened. And to him, the hallucination is very real. We've also discuss the fact he has dementia. This helps a tad. Diverting his attention is good to.

Has your mother seen a neurologist? My mother has Lewy Body Dementia, and her neurologist said hallucinations are very common. She took Namenda and an anti-anxiety pill, but the hallucinations remained, and your mother's sound very much like my mom's. I could write a book about those 'visions', I would get calls any time of the day or night, mom complaining 'those people were going in and out, and now they're sleeping in the basement bedroom.' They weren't frightening, thankfully, more 'puzzling' than anything else. (It could be much worse, my uncle had Lewy Body Dementia and he was very paranoid and disturbed by sights and sounds, too, only he could see. He had to be watched 24/7.) Arguing is utterly useless! We learned to respond neutrally, and change the subject. "Oh, I asked those people to go home, and they probably left already. Hey, look out the window at the nice dog walking by!'

This is so interesting to me. I plan to read your thesis Lila. Thank you for sharing.
Does anyone have anything on auditory hallucinations? I've recently discovered that there are support groups where folks who have auditory hallucinations get together to share experiences. I had no idea it was so common. I guess I thought people who had hallucinations were schitzophrenic.
DD perhaps Lila's paper will help. I hope so.

If your mom is mentally lucid, you might discuss the concept of Thought Forms with her. In brief, Thought Forms are mental-emotional energy forms that take on "life" as we feed them our thoughts and feelings. They are real, as long as one feeds them. Perhaps if your mom understands what she perceives, it might make it easier for her to deal with her perceptions.

My mother in law is not on medication. She still thinks there are others living with her. She says she sees them. Part of it. I just ignore her because she doesn't ask me to tell them to leave. Her husband argues with her and that just causes her to have a temper tantrum.

Perhaps you might have to check your mom's medication. My aunt went through that when she lived alone and were given very strong tablets which obviously didn't agree with her. She would see people around her and be scared to sleep at night. She is now in AL, on different meds and no longer suffers from it. My dad on the other hand has dementia and often calls out to his late mother and son. He also has conversations with them. We've just accepted it and gently try to bring him around. He'll smile and talk to us and forgets he mentioned them. Two different reactions.