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Alainatheard Asked September 2022

What could be causing these hallucinations?

My grandmother is 82 and has dementia. Her case is mild, but it’s starting to get a bit worse. She recently started hallucinating about a month ago. She has been in the hospital 2x in the past week for different reasons. Both times, they checked for UTIs and found that she doesn’t have one. So now that we know it’s not a UTI, what could be causing this? Everything I’ve googled says that hallucinations typically aren’t until the later stages of dementia. I don’t think it’s her medicine either because she hasn’t had any changes in meds recently. Is this indicative of a certain type of dementia? We just got the general “dementia” diagnosis with no specifics. Any insight would be appreciated.

Fawnby Sep 2022
Does she drink alcohol? If so, that could have something to do with it. Dementia and alcohol both affect the brain, and they’re not a good combination.

lealonnie1 Sep 2022
Dementia causes hallucinations and your grandmother probably doesn't have as "mild" a case going on as you think she does. A full workup with a Neurologist may give you more answers as to what type of dementia she's suffering from, but maybe not. And considering there isn't much to be done but treat the symptoms anyway, maybe just let things alone unless she's upset and agitated. Do know that all hospitalizations tend to increase an elders symptoms and can cause hospital delirium too.....so if she is newly released from the hospital, give her a chance to reacclimate back home and see if the hallucinations stop.

Best of luck to you both.

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97yroldmom Sep 2022
Here is a good back ground article from this site.

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/dementia-hallucinations-delusions-476869.htm

If the hallucinations aren’t upsetting to her then just roll with it but do read all you can to better understand what she is dealing with.

Click on the Care Topics at the top of this page. Scroll down to the Hs, and look for hallucinations. I hope that helps.

vegaslady Sep 2022
Who gave the "dementia" diagnosis? A more detailed diagnosis would be appropriate.

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