Could she have mixed dementia? Do the delusions, hallucinations and extreme terror subside at any point?
Our mother (76) seems to have ended up with the most severe presentation of delusions, hallucinations and fear that a person with dementia can have. No movement symptoms. No shaking. Still can talk intelligently, but she is confused about reality. She is still in the hospital behavioral unit after one week and they won't answer our calls and emails because of patient privacy. She calls us, fearful and confused. She had an MRI but we don't know the results. A doctor did tell me on 2nd day that he thought it was "dementia, her Montreal score was 19 of 30, and there was no UTI".
She does a lot of Alzheimer's type things: rummages, loses things, hides things, asks what day it is, forgets appointments, gets scary-angry, distrusts everyone, wipes her mouth, feels strings in her mouth, talks obscenely, accuses us, has incontinence, bathes infrequently.
A CT scan done by a previous hospital showed "old cva right external capsule", "atrophy with moderate small vessel ischemic change noted", "microvascular ischemic changes may be appropriate for age", "cannot exclude aneurysmal changes on the left".
Does this indicate another type of dementia? I'm thinking it's mixed?
4 Answers
Popular Questions
Related Questions
- My mom's dementia is taking a terrible turn. Do you have ideas?
- Is someone with dementia hallucinating, seeing people that aren't there, talking to them, hiding things normal? Is that a stage of dementia?
- My mother is having hallucinations and is convinced my father has other women in the house at night. How do we convince her it's not real?
- Hearing knocking at nighttime?
I hope knocking down her meds will also soften the hallucinations, anger and fear a bit. He has started her on Aricept, but I've heard that doesn't do much. I have a conference call with the doctor and social workers tomorrow to find out the level of care she will require.
The family's sights are set on assisted living, and if she balks, we will shoot her there with a cannon I guess.
Oh...she has two small unruptured aneurysms that the doctor said just need to be "watched" by the neurosurgeon.
It does sound as though she is getting all the testing done for diagnosis.
Evidence of possible aneurysmal changes would be an incidental change. If there is an aneurysm in the blood vessels you should google that word to understand what that outpouching and thinning in one area of a vessel could mean; she may have had it for many years; sometimes from birth. The other changes would add up to what diagnosis you will get eventually.
I am certain from what you describe your Mom is currently in care?
I wish you good luck moving forward. First step is to get a diagnosis. This is fairly early onset for dementia, but clearly something is happening.
Speak to a social worker about guardianship/conservator ship for one family member as soon as you are able. I hope you'll update us and wish you good luck.
If you will fill in your profile with some history we may be of some more help on Forum. Again, good luck. So sorry this is all coming down.
You say the behavioral unit won't answer your calls & emails, yet a doctor told you on day 2 'he thought it was dementia, etc.' Which is it? Are you privy to her medical information or not? Who has medical POA for your mom, if anyone? That person would have full access to speaking with her doctors about what's happening.
This is a very frustrating situation for you, I'm sure, and you have my sympathy. Mixed dementia is always a possibility for any elders suffering as your mother is, from several different sets of symptoms. I hope the behavioral unit can come up with a diagnosis and a plan of treatment for her, b/c this is NO way to live, for anyone............you or her or any family members trying to deal with the chaos.
I hope one of our nurses comes by with an explanation of what the the CT scan results translate to in plain English.............I have no idea myself. If she's had 'aneurisms' in her brain, well that can lead to all sorts of mental issues right there!!! I know my mother has had a stroke which left her with worsened dementia afterward.
GOOD LUCK!
I think the only reason I got to talk to the psychiatrist on day 2 is because he called me wanting to know her background so he could figure out the diagnosis. He volunteered the small bits of information. I haven't been able to talk to him since.
Mom doesn't trust us right now, and may never trust us again. We do not have POA.