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Has anyone out there, ever experienced this and can you tell me your experience.

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This is one I haven't heard. Hallucinating isn't unusual, and that seems to be the case here. She certainly has found her own way. I'd suggest that you contact the doctor right away, as this will affect her ability to eat. Maybe the doctor can prescribe something that will help her. You also may want to suggest that the doctor check the drugs she's already on in case there needs to be an adjustment. If she has any recent med changes, those need to be looked at.
Good luck,
Carol
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I have to admit that this is one question that I have never hear until now. First, I would have to ask if your mother worked in the health care field that would trigger this kind of response to eating. If so, then the answer could be easier to explain--but if not, then I would ask her doctor to check her meds as they may not be helping or that the meds needs to be changed to stop the hallicinations. Here is purely an brain storm to answer your question: First, I would change the place of her meals--maybe in her room or some other location as that environment might be triggering these thoughts. Secondly, I would give her one kind of food i.e. vegatables first, wait until eaten and then a second serving of another food group and so on and so to see if this makes the food more appetizing. Lastly, I would serve the food in a non-traditional way i.e. picinic basket, sack lunch, potluck style. I have a favor to ask you, please let us know what you decided to do so that we can also learn from your experience so that I can have an answer for the next unusual question. Best of luck!
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Well that's just spooky. My mom has nice bouts of hallucinations and paranoia - for her it is likely Lewy Body Dementia. She is in a NH and on Exelon patch which for her has leveled off the intensity of it. Still there but not as agitated and anxious. But one of her paranoia's is that she is being poisoned, "they" are putting poison in her food every morning in the oatmeal and especially in rice SO she stopped eating breakfast and no more rice dishes. What is probably going on is that she sees the staff mixing residents meds into their food and in her mind becomes "they" are adding poison. She eats like a stevedore when we got out so it's not a matter of being able to eat, it's a mental issue.

This is very common and is really bad because they start to dehydrate and then the paranoia gets worse, they get weak and dizzy and their legs give out as the body looks for water to run the vital organs and takes it from legs and arms.

If she is at home with you, you need to give her lots of fluids for a few days to make sure she isn't dehydrating. The Pedialite brand that you buy for kids is good as they have ones with added vitamins and electrolytes - this is such a good item that Target & Walmart have their own copycat brand at a much lower price.

Also she could have "floaters" in her visual field. This is common in the elderly, there really isn't anything you can do about it as it is just super small particles that float around. But it can interfere with vision a bit and i bet could lead to a hallucination. LBD often have visual hallucinations - for my mom a lot of it is about how the floor looks. I've posted on this before, it's strange but comes & goes for her. Her episodes aren't as bad with Exelon.

Another option is for her doc to give her an appetite enhancer med - Megace is good for this and low on side effects except they really really want to eat. Don't let her read the labels as a lot of the info is about AIDS & cancer as Megace is a front line drug for weight gain for those diseases. Remeron is also good - it is an very old school anti anxiety med which also is a appetite stimulator. My mom is on this.

In general a 10% decrease in weight in 30 days is a critical issue for the elderly and can be a reason for emergency admission to a skilled nursing facility/NH. This was 1 of the criteria used to have my mom go from IL to NH and bypass AL.
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