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My mom is 84 years old. She was only recently diagnosed with dementia. When I look back, at things that have happened in the last two years or so, I kinda think she has had it for a while now. My question is this. My mom thinks their are other people living downstairs in her house. This is the part of the house where I stay. She will be fine for days on end and then she starts talking about the lady downstairs or the people downstairs. Up until now, I have always told her that there is no one downstairs and she can come down and look around if she wants to. She never does. Stairs are hard for her. I tell her that she must of been dreaming again. It seems to calm her for the most part. She knows she has dementia but not sure if she understands it. Am I doing the right thing by telling her that she must of dreamed it again? She is fine most of the time, but she has other issues along the same line such as animals in the house and seeing things. Her meds have all been checked and rechecked. Her doctor will not put her on any meds for the dementia because of a heart condition. I just want to know if I'm making it worse by saying "mom you must of been dreaming again...there is no one down there but me".

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thats an idea...thank you. But it is not only when I'm here that she hears things. I can be gone for several hours (mom has more than one caregiver) and I will come home and she will say: "we need to talk about the couple or the "lady" downstairs". I use to tell her that she was hearing my tv when i was there, but my tv is not on when I leave. I could be quiet as a church mouse and that doesn't seem to matter. Weather I'm there or not, she still thinks someone is down there. She gets very worked up about this. It drains her to the point where she is almost in tears.
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Why can't you just say something like this: "Was I making too much noise again mom?" Sometimes I forget that by me living downstairs, I might be making enough racket to bother you. Let me know in the future and I'll try to keep it down to a low roar".
Just validate her hearing people downstairs, but put aside her concerns about who it might be. Anyway, that's my thoughts.
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