Mum has been diagnosed with dementia some time ago (about five years ago).
For the last 12 months I have watched her go from vagueness, some confusion and disorientation to full blown auditory and visual hallucinations.
She has invented a whole family living in her and my father's house. She has informed me she has asked my father to evict the woman, with her daughter and the dog but he hasn't done it.
Today she told me she had called the police at 3 am to accuse my father of theft. The police were lovely to her apparently. It has been noted on something (?) that she does have dementia
My mother is in her seventies and my father were is very frail physically is in his eighties.They both live at home still and myself and my family are about 40 mins away in the car. We see them at least one a week often more than that. I have no siblings
I am hoping that here, at the LBD forum, I can have some form of reassurance mmm trying to think of what, because I am unsure how to cope with mum's dementia.
One of the major issues is that mum was always right, so though I know logically she is having hallucinations there is still the inner child who wonders what is my mum seeing to tell me these stories about people and burglars and flashing lights.

Ok I think I have rambled enough.

Regards Terry

Welcome Terry. There are many, many posting on this forum about dealing with victims of LBD and how to deal with their delusions, hallucinations and other unsettling behaviors. I suggest you read as much as you can - that will give you some ideas, info. about meds and lots of support. There are thousands of us on this forum, and at least a few people have probably been through just what you all are going through.
Remember to take care of yourself, and same with your dad. As she loses mobility and becomes rigid and unable to transfer from bed to chair, etc. you will either need helpers at home or a facility where multiple people can help with her needs. I hope you are checking into care facilities for her for the time when your dad can no longer handle her care at home.
All the best, come back often. Lynn

Terry,
Welcome to the LBDA forums and I am sure you will find many answers here and helpful way to help you deal with the illness your Mom has, I am sorry for your need to seek us out but glad you found us !

Good Luck

Hi Terry,

I can definitely relate to your statement: "One of the major issues is that mum was always right, so though I know logically she is having hallucinations there is still the inner child who wonders what is my mum seeing to tell me these stories about people and burglars and flashing lights."

When my mom would have hallucinations I would have to tell her that no one is in the closet. At times she would get angry because I didn't believe her. When I noticed how upset she would get, I just had to try my best to change the subject. At times it was very difficult. I remember she accused me of killing her mother and her sister. She said their bodies were in the bathtub. I tried my best to calmly tell her that I didn't kill them and that I would never do a thing like that and I gradually just changed the subject. One time she threatened me and said..."you're gonna wish you never met me." It can be very scary at times. I just tried my best not to get her upset. Sometimes I just had to go along with what she said as long as it wasn't harmful. For example, if she told me she brushed her teeth and I know she didn't, I would just go along with it and somehow convince her to do it again.

Yes, before we got my mom onto seroquel and titrated to an effective dose, we had both scary and weird hallucinations and delusions. One day she refused to use the bathroom because there was a dead body on the floor, and there had to be a police investigation before we could go in there. We had people falling off roofs and balconies. I got carjacked on the way home every few weeks, and the building was on fire quite regularly. Despite being worried and anxious about these things, though, she was never aggressive or hostile to us.

I think a lot of what went wrong was mis-processing of real stimuli. Our neurologist, a colleague of mine, showed us some elegant tests that demonstrated that her visual acuity was actually pretty good but her brain had lost the ability to translate the signals into comprehensible explanations. A bath rug might be "seen" by her eyes, I think, but her brain then turned the signal into a body on the floor. Or a bird flew off the roof, and poof! there's a person falling.

Good luck coping, and I hope her doctors can help you find a way to ease her problems.
Laurel