I'm not sure I always 'maintained my calm' but my late husband had constant hallucinations and delusions for four months prior to his death. Since they became such a regular part of our lives, I found many ways to deal with them.

At the beginning, I made a long list of things that he believed were true and were not. I'm not sure it made any difference. We did not have basketball players in our guest rooms. There was no leper colony near our house. Employees were not still working after 5 pm and he did not need to tell them to leave.

One thing is certain. Delusions and hallucinations will not just go away and there is no medicine that will cure them. All you can do is listen and respond with as few words as possible. I attempted to continue to tell him that I loved him.

Gerry, I'm going to play devil's advocate here. I don't really believe that it is always best to become a partner in our LO's delusions or that redirection is always possible. But let's just play "what if" for a minute. What if you agreed with him? What if you said, "Oh, the car is gone because Betty's broke down and she had an urgent errand so I let her borrow it." or "The truck is in the shop getting the muffler fixed." He is certain it is gone, so how about reassuring him there is a logical explanation and that it will be back? Or even playing along more thoroughly? "Oh dear! I thought I saw it in the driveway. If it is really gone perhaps I should call the police." Then dial the weather number and report the car missing. Assure him that they will be on the lookout for it. Or even tell him that they found it and will be returning it soon.

Since logical proof that it is still in the driveway doesn't convince him, might it be worth trying one of these approaches? If you decide to, do report back the results!

JeanneG, I will try it, might be interesting. This morning he's been up since 3:00AM, he wants to go home. He keeps asking if I'm ready to go. He usually gets tired after a few hours and will sleep for an hour or so. I had to cancell his massage for this morning because he doesn't understand directions on good days so without enough sleep it's impossible. We have to move him on the table, he isn't able to change positions, or doesn't understand what we're asking, he's only 155 but it's dead weight.

I'll let you know how your suggestion works.

Thank you,
Gerry