My husband with dementia thinks his dreams are reality. How do I handle this?
An example he says he was up for 4 hours last night in a hotel lobby try to cancel our golf reservation. So he wanted to go to be at 7 tonight because he lost so much sleep last nigh.
The mind can no longer differentiate between dreams, TV and reality. Its all one and the same. When Mom was still sort of lucid, she would ask me if something happened I would say "you must have dreamed it" she excepted that for a while. I came in her room one day and she told me the doctor wanted to talk to me. The Dr. was Dick Van Dyke on Diagnoses Murder. I got away with saying "thats the tv Mom". She said "oh yeah". Like said, you just go with the flow.
My Mom suffered from night terrors. I would wake her up, tell her to open her eyes and then she went back to sleep. I asked that she open her eyes because I found with myself, dreams dissipate when I do this and the dream is forgotten.
You just go along with whatever he's saying and then redirect him on to something else. Never try arguing with him about it because that is now his reality and you have to meet him where he is at in his reality not yours. Just reassure him that you're right by his side and that everything's going to be alright.
Just go along with whatever he believes to be true. You're not going to make him believe otherwise anyway, so there's no point in trying to correct his delusions. Redirect him if he's stuck in a loop, repeating the same story over and over again, offer him a snack or to go for a walk.
Pick up a copy of the book Understanding the Dementia Experience by Jennifer Ghent-Fuller on Amazon. It'll help you understand your husband's condition better and offer you tips and lots of Dos and Don'ts about dealing with dementia.
Here is a link to an article from Teepa Snow who's a dementia expert and educator:
My mother used to tell me "her girls" would take her to a new hotel every night (from her Memory Care AL), but she wondered how all her stuff got there? I'd just listen to her stories and nod my head.
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My Mom suffered from night terrors. I would wake her up, tell her to open her eyes and then she went back to sleep. I asked that she open her eyes because I found with myself, dreams dissipate when I do this and the dream is forgotten.
The thing that was really terrifying though, was when she tried escaping out the front door in the middle of the night.
The doctor prescribed Ativan and Seroquel and she stopped trying to escape.
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Never try arguing with him about it because that is now his reality and you have to meet him where he is at in his reality not yours.
Just reassure him that you're right by his side and that everything's going to be alright.
I didn’t tell her that we never saw this child in her room. I just listened to her tell me stories about this girl.
Pick up a copy of the book Understanding the Dementia Experience by Jennifer Ghent-Fuller on Amazon. It'll help you understand your husband's condition better and offer you tips and lots of Dos and Don'ts about dealing with dementia.
Here is a link to an article from Teepa Snow who's a dementia expert and educator:
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/caregiving-tips-teepa-snow-180395.htm
My mother used to tell me "her girls" would take her to a new hotel every night (from her Memory Care AL), but she wondered how all her stuff got there? I'd just listen to her stories and nod my head.
Best of luck.