my mother is in the mid stage of kidney failure , she has a port in her arm that they have not had to use yet. She has real bad disfiguring arthritis in her feet and knees are bone on bone. She also has sever crushing arthritis in her lower back. She has been living on her own till just the other night she fell cut her head open and life alert called me they took her to the hospital and 3 days latter to the nursing home .They have been giving her small doses of pain med but because her kidneys don't function correctly the pain meds stay in her body for a very long time, and she is fine during the day other than she has 0 strength in her legs to stand and walk she is in physical therapy but at night she sees awful things people being killed and awful sex things she seems to not be at the nursing home in her mind. Some times she will call me in the middle of the night and she will ask me where she is then say now i no this isn't real but it sure seems to be. She reach can out and touch the people but in reality they are not there .I fear for her I don't want her to stay in this state of mind . This happened once before but that was her gallbladder burst and she was very sick and we almost lost her .They are checking for bladder infection but don't have the results back yet With thanksgiving and all hopefully tomorrow we will know about that . Now that you know a about her can anyone explain why she has this awful stuff go on during the night, and why during the day she is as sharp as can be . What to do about it I feel so bad for her my heart just aches at night when she calls me and there is nothing I can do
When she calls in the middle of the night, be reassuring. Tell her that she is right, these images are not real even though you understand that they seem very, very real. Let her talk until she calms down.