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Two weeks ago my 86 year old mother fell in her shower and was sent to the ER. She lives in an independent living complex. Fortunately she was able to pull the emergency cord in her bathroom for help. I met her in the ER where she was evaluated and discovered the compression fracture. After a pain pill, she was released with a back brace. I took her back to her apartment.

The following day I went by her apartment and she told me she saw my deceased father standing by her table in her living room. I figured the pain pills were causing her to hallucinate. I didn't think much of it. I figured the hallucinations would go away once she stopped taking the pain pills.

t planned to contact an orthopedic doctor to make an appointment for her after the weekend, but before I was able to do so, she wound up on the floor again and couldn't get back up. Off she went to the ER again. She was diagnosed with a UTI and dehydration. IMO she should have been tested for a UTI the first time she went into the hospital after her fall, but wasn't. Something caused her to fall, perhaps dizziness from the UTI. This time she was admitted to the hospital for observation. The hallucinations continued in the hospital. She wasn't on any antibiotics as the doctor was waiting on the urine culture to come back. My mother was seeing people who were not there and dogs going in and out of other patients' rooms. Nothing scary which I'm grateful for. Her most interesting hallucination was the little lady sleeping on the floor next to her bed who around 4:00 a.m. jumped up and ran out of her room. She said she must have been there to watch that she didn't try to leave. Maybe she was acting out in her mind what she really wanted to do! The urine culture came back negative. I was hoping it was positive and the cause of her hallucinations. Take some antibiotics and she'd be right as rain again.

After two days in hospital my mother was sent to a rehab hospital. She has been there a week and will leave to go to another rehab facility in a few days closer to my home. The hallucinations seemed to stop for a while in the rehab hospital, but the last two nights she has been acting strangely again so a urinalysis was ordered this morning. Again, I hope the urinalysis is positive and the cause of her strange behavior and can be easily rectified. But with the first culture test coming back negative, I doubt this test will be positive.

Ah, this is all new territory for me. Learning as I go, that's for sure. I have seen my mother rapidly decline since her fall. She only just moved to be closer to me (she lived 6 hours away up until the first of this summer) and I was hoping she would improve. Maybe it is just a bump in the road and she will bounce back. It's been quite an adventure to be sure.

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This is very frightening, since she was living a normal life before it happened. If the culture comes back negative again, they may want to check to see if maybe she had some small strokes or if there is evidence of Lewy body dementia. These are two things that are known to cause hallucinations. I hope that you are able to find what it is, and that it can be treated. Please let us know what happens.
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My mother has had TIA strokes in the past and she has dementia, so she wasn't really living a normal life before her fall. She just never had any hallucinations that I was aware of. However, a few weeks back she said someone from where she now lives entered her apartment after she had gotten in bed. I spoke to the community director and he didn't think anyone went into her apartment. So now I'm thinking she may have begun hallucinating but I didn't realize it. It is scary as I don't know where she is going in her mind.
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ooooh this is just the beginning ..be vigil on the meds they do cause crazy things to happen
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I assume the dehydration has been corrected?

How long has Mom displayed dementia symptoms? (Which might be longer ago than when she was first diagnosed.) I take it the dementia was very mild, since she is in an independent living facility. Does this place have additional levels of care available?

Dementia progresses. It is what it does. Hard to say whether the hallucinations are a "normal" part of the dementia or something else is going on. You are certainly doing the right thing by having it medically checked out.

When you moved Mom nearer to you, what kind of doctor did you select for PCP? Does she see a geriatrician? Is she being followed by a dementia specialist?

Do keep in touch here, and let us know how this works out.
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My mother's TIA was a few years ago, so that is when the dementia became evident.

Yes, the dehydration was corrected.

Her retirement facility has caretakers that can be hired to assist residents, similar to an assisted living facility (or so I hope). I don't want to move my mother again. She only recently moved here. She was not very well when she moved here but I had hoped by my overseeing her health care that I would be able to help her communicate with her new doctors. I do believe her previous doctors were not treating her appropriately. I believe her new doctors are treating her appropriately. What has happened recently may have been going to happen whether she had her fall or not. It may be the dementia progressing, but I really hope it is a lesser evil such as a UTI. Will know tomorrow one way or the other.
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My mother has a UTI. That explains a lot. They started treating her for the infection yesterday and today she was much more like her normal self. Thank God! I was worried she was slipping into a deeper place in her dementia, but it was the UTI affecting her mind. I wonder if she has had a UTI all along though the culture came back negative the first time her urine was tested. Hallucinations, confusion, forgetting family members--all signs something was up yet the first culture came back negative. I know things can change all of a sudden and I was hoping that wasn't the case for her--that her symptoms were permanent. So for now she is on the mend and is moving to another rehab tomorrow.

The case manager at the facility where my mom is now is talking to her doctor about giving her an appetite enhancer. I am hoping that will also help. She barely eats and drinks. I am going to make sure she has lemonade in the new place she is going to as she seems to like it and perhaps will drink it where she refuses to drink everything else. I'll supply the lemonade if I have to. Her current rehab hospital doesn't have lemonade and I didn't get myself organized to bring it in for her, but she'll be at the new rehab for a week or two still.
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Thanks for updating us, kmangel. I'm glad your mother has a uti! (Just as I was glad when my mother did. Those don't last forever.)
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Today my mom was transferred to another rehab closer to my home. The one she was in is more like a hospital and intensive but she does not need that level of care now. I spoke to her about her moving to the new rehab. The hospital caseworker spoke to her. Yesterday she seemed aware so she signed the paperwork to be transferred. I am sure everyone reading knows what happened next. She then promptly forgot. She was mad as a hornet today after the move! Said she was moved against her will. It was like a bad nightmare. She now wants to move back north to where she used to live before agreeing to move south near me. I guess she is done with living here and all the unpleasantness that is following her. Too bad she can't see much of why all this upheaval in her life is self inflicted by her not eating and drinking. Those nasty UTI's and all the accompanying dizziness, hallucinations, falls, and other assorted ills are going to keep on keeping on. She looks like a concentration camp victim she is so thin. All skin and bones.

Tomorrow hopefully she will be a bit more settled in.
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Today I took a friend in with me to visit my mother. No more solitary visits from me. I am opening myself up to her expressing her dissatisfaction when I go alone. I am counting on my mom not complaining while someone else is in the room with me. It worked for today anyway. Not an ill word.

My mother was given the Megace medication to enhance her appetite and today she ate everything at lunch. Now either the medication is a miracle drug and works almost instantaneously or the facility has a good cook. Either way, what a pleasant surprise today to hear. I told my friend visiting my mother with me (she had never met my mother before) that my mom is making out to be a liar!

A good day to be sure.
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Making me out to be a liar, that is! We need an edit button to be sure!
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