Follow
Share

Quite often my mother will hear a story someone tells then about 24 hours later, tell everyone that is what happened to HER. She will be insistent and I believe that she believes it. For instance, she saw something on TV where a man told his wife, “I’m not going to put my life on hold for you.” A day later, she angrily confronted me for telling her “I won’t put my life on hold for you,” which I never said. I mentioned to her once that I was taken aback because my husband’s mother, who knows we are on a tight budget and have 3 children, had asked for a ruby for Christmas. A day later, she told everyone that my niece had asked her for a ruby for Christmas, which never happened. She was insistent, talked about it obsessively and was so offended. She did tell me once that she could not remember if she dreamed something or if it was real. Some of the outlandish stories she tells sound like dreams and I think sometimes she doesn’t know the difference. She has always suffered from mental illness but never done this before. Does this sound like dementia?

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
I thought I posted to this.

Yes, this is normal and part of the desease. My Mom's dreams, TV and reality were one and the same. One day while she was watching TV, she told me the doctor wanted to talk to me. The "Dr." was Dick Van Dyke and she was watching ""Diagnoses Murder". She would ask me if something happened, I said "no, u must have dreamt it". I had to stop allowing her to watch "Emergency". Every time there was a fire or an explosion she thought it was in my house.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

Could be confabulation. They can't tell the difference between the different information in their brains. Can't tell dream from thought from reality, etc. It's all just in there, not sorted into categories.

So they make things up, mix things up and really think they're real and right, etc. They're not trying to lie, they just can't tell anymore.

I do think it is part of dementia.
Helpful Answer (0)
Report

It could be caused by any number of things. I'd bring it to her doctor's attention. They may want to do some tests, if it's bothering her. I know that when my LO was first diagnosed with dementia, she would sometimes ask me if things were real or if she was dreaming. I would tell her it was all real and that she was okay. She seemed insecure during this time and often wanted me with her. She needed a lot of consoling. I think that she was confused and scared. So, I'd try to be there for your mom, comfort her, not disagree and keep in mind that she may be scared. She likely does believe in what she's saying.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

Oliver Sacks spent a lifetime being fascinated by our brains in trouble. Whether from accidents of birth or mechanics or from dementia or mental illness, these brains were a fascination to him, and reading your great descriptions of what you are seeing and hearing I so thought of him. He said that they are truly and wholly THERE, but it is just a different world they are in.
Think, in fact, dreams. How different your dream life is from reality. How different the stories you read from your own. The TV dramas and movies. And then think of being able to separate your reality from those worlds. It is, in fact amazing. And as you are so good at writing, considering writing incidents as they happen in a journal.
I am not making light of this; living with it has to be VERY daunting, and, as a Dr. Mr. Sacks could move away from it by going home from his work. You cannot.
This does indeed sound like a form of dementia, esp. if there is no mental illness history. Lewy's is noted for hallucinations that are VERY REAL, seeing people, being able to describe them to the inth degree, and my bro, who has apparently early Lewy's by diagnosis, can have these and describe them perfectly. Such as "A pool party outside my window. One man with white shorts, no shirt, hair combed like Elvis, towel over his shoulders" or "An immigrant woman huddled, dressed all in brown draped clothing, huddled in the corner of my room sheltering a baby; I reach out to her and poof--gone". He understands they are not real, and this is disturbing to him. But they SEEM entirely real.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report
MargaretMcKen Feb 2020
Yeah! Another Oliver Sacks fan!
(0)
Report
This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter