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Bjh1952 Asked December 2013

Elderly father thinks his dreams are real life. What should I do?

Elderly father thinks his dreams are real life.

AgingCareCM Dec 2013
Hello Bjh1952,

There is a great article on our website that maybe helpful to your situation. Thank you assandache7 for the recommendation!

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/What-is-Reality-for-Dementia-Patients-133766.htm

I hope this helps.

Warm Regards,

Ashley T.
The AgingCare.com Team

dogabone Dec 2013
May sound crazy for me to say this but,I always felt that dreams mean something.
I learned yrs ago when I have a bad dream. Something bad happens that next morning. Good dreams for me never amounted to anything. But, bad dreams for me is like a warning sign as something's about to happen to me or someone in my life. Could be something small as a bill in the mail to worse. I'm a 100 % believer of bad dreams. When I have a bad dream I stay home lol. Just how I am lol.

For your father it could be a side effect from changing medications. Morphine will cause hallucinations as well as other pills. The question is, Is it dreams he has or hallucinations?
Here's a story I like to share of what medication does to a person people don't realize,
My father beat my Mother through the yrs as I was a child. My mother & father got divorced in the 70's. From my mother's past beatings and from trying to raise 4 boys on her own during the 70's & 80's caused my Mother to have nervous breakdowns is what her Doctor felt at the time. Her doctor put her on many different head medications. Seems head doctors are all arab doctors why I have not a clue lol. Not putting down arabs just venting is all. Anyway, my Mother smoked cigarettes most of her life. During her nervous breakdowns she would smoke like crazy like 4 packs a day while on head medications. I grownup all my life watching her break downs. She would say theTV was talking to her. Or strangers was out to get her or her kids. Us kids would try to explain to our Mother that everything is ok. Don't worry about things but, she had her mind set that people was out to get her and us kids. God Bless my MOM she was the greatest! She died at a young age of only 64 yrs old. Three yrs before she died she stopped smoking. And stopped taking that head medication. Not once in that 3 yrs did she have breakdown. That was the best 3 yrs I had with my MOM. She was her self and fun to be with always joking around and telling stories of her times in the 1950's. She would say the 1950's was the best of times. She was a big elvis presley fan. She said she got to kiss elvis presley on stage in the 50's. She said, she didn't care for elvis in the 70's because, he did drugs then and gained wieght from his drinking & drugs. That's what Mom told me anyway.
Anyway the main point what I'm trying to explain is, smoking cigarettes and taking medications has side effects. Not saying your father smokes just saying is all.
I learned that my mother didn't need head medication. She needed to quit smoking. She did but, many yrs to late.
I hear of many people having nervous breakdowns. When that happens they either turn to three things. God, arab doctor for medication or the 7th floor. nether is the answer. They just need to talk to someone. Sorry for the venting story. I'm not saying your father is having a breakdown. Just saying that it's the little things that people don't think of seeing is the problem. Your father's dreams could be from what he is eating or taking before bed. Explaining to him the dreams aren't real that's your job to attempt. But, you could only do what you can do.
As for dreams,
I careless what doctors say their caused from or their thinking. We all dream for a reason not for it to be pointless. We dream for our brains to relax or to gear down. But, there's a piece of that dream that goes along with our life as well. And a reason for it I'm sure. The next time you all have a bad dream? See what happens in your life that day? Bad dream morings I'm hiding in the house lol.
Best,

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assandache7 Dec 2013
If you type in "dreams" in the search site on the top of this page you'll find some answers... I don't have any advice but I did the search and found others have asked the same question.

Good luck I'm sure it's scary when he does this.

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