Mom has been phantom eating and drinking. Should I be concerned?

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Irecapat Asked November 2020

Mom has been phantom eating and drinking. Should I be concerned?

Recap:
Mom has vascular dementia (stage unknown due to newly diagnosed) and advanced glaucoma. For the last few days mom has been phantom eating and/or eating. Sometimes she is in her hallucinations and other times she is quiet while performing the motions of bringing things to her lips. She already grabs and talks at imaginary things and people. She also talks about dying a lot and speaking to her dead mother.

Has anyone experienced this and at what stage did you typically see this decline in your loved one's dementia?

Thank You.

Alzheimer's & Dementia Cognitive Decline Vascular Dementia

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score 0 · Answer 1

Here is a little bit more on her condition. So my mother for the most part is still alert and talkative. But every day she goes through confusion where she is talking to or looking for one of her parents, grabbing at things, hearing things, seeing people, thinking she's in one location when she hasn't left the house all day, not recognizing us sometimes, etc. She can still move her arms and legs but when she's having one her episodes she cannot follow directions to stand and move her feet. So I honestly don't know what stage she's in. She was supposed to be screened on election day but the Dr had to reschedule to December. So that's where I am with trying to figure things out.

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score 1 · Answer 2

My husband who had vascular dementia, didn't start talking to dead people until about 4 weeks before his death. He however wasn't eating at all at this time or drinking as he was in his dying process. I do remember him bringing the TV remote up to his lips once as if trying to either eat it or drink from it. Other than that I don't recall any other strange instances pertaining to food or drink.

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Thank you. I will keep monitoring her behavior.

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score 0 · Answer 3

My wife did the same thing while in MC. Don't know the reason although it might have been that she was hungry. Just another inexplicable behavior of dementia. You might Google the words "FAST scale". This scale shows in detail the various stages of dementia behavior. VaD may progress differently than AD or one of the others. Rather than progressing slowly, VaD can advance in steps. A person can be at one level and suddenly drop to a worsening level, stay there for a while then drop again to a lower level. Also, it is not uncommon for someone with VaD to also have AD.

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