Mom calling out to her deceased Mother and speaking of other deceased family as if they were alive. Is this the beginning of the end?

Emily, my Mom is also on hospice care and is also detached from reality. Accelerated dementia. Same issue with limited eating and taking in liquids. Only a couple of times I heard my Mom call out for her dad and one of her sisters, yet I only see my Mom a short-time each day as she is in a facility.

Is your Mom picking at the sheets on her bed or picking at her clothes or trying to take them off? Is she restless and/or antsy? Does she talk about travel? My Mom told me the other day she was on a bus trip [never happened]. She will be awake and chatty for two days, and the next day zoned out.

My Mom's hospice group gave me an informative notebook. Info about what to look for as the time gets closer. I rather not post it here as it might scare someone into believing the end is near for their love one when it is something else like an urinary tract infection. Better to ask your hospice group.

Perhaps. No one knows for sure, but the talking with dead people is her long-term memory memories. Let her have them and enjoy the history. God be with you both.

My mother passed a few weeks ago and never did that though, with advanced dementia, she often thought my father and her parents were still alive, insisted she had a (phantom) cat and a man was sleeping under her bed but that was just the dementia.

I don't know if it's the beginning of the end but talking to dead family members can be a part of the process of the end.

I agree with freqflyer (as I do often do) and discuss these new behaviors with your hospice. If you look through all of the information that hospice gave you there's something in there about our loved ones talking to their dearly departed at the end of their life.

My mom used tell me that her brother had visited, he had been gone for years. This was in the last few months of her life. With Alzheimer's she became nonverbal after that. But the not eating is significant. I agree with talking to hospice people about what her behavior means. Pray hard and if anyone asks if they should visit now say yes. God Bless her. Be well.

Picking at the sheets and hallucinating can be a side effect of the morphine they are probably giving her. When my mom was 101 she had a fracture in her spine and was given morphine. Everyone thought she was dying - all the signs in the book, the sheet picking, etc. When she healed enough to stop the morphine, all those symptoms went away. She went on to live to 105.

I'm not religious, more a spiritualist, and I believe the spirits of those who have gone before return to help those here on earth cross over.

My 74 year old mom experienced an episode after a hospital discharge for a uti that made her stay awake for four days straight having conversations with imaginary and deceased family members. Her speech was slurred and she had erratic behavior. After the hospital gave her a strong sedative she slept and woke up normal again. She had all the symptoms of nonstop hand movements. Fidgety, silliness, taking off clothes and pulling at IV lines. When she came too she remembered many of the conversations I'd witnessed but she had been dreaming. I told her she was dreaming wide awake for four days Human brain is incredible. Good luck and stay strong during this difficult time.

I remember reading an article in AARP years ago that when the elderly are approaching death, they often talk of deceased family and friends as a sign of comfort and coping because they know the end is coming but don't know to acknowledge it in the present. This article also stated that hospice workers often dismiss this talk as dementia but really, what everyone should be doing is going along with this talk because it brings peace to the elderly that they're not alone. I don't want to scare you into thinking the end is coming for your mother. But I also think that unless you're mother is demanding to see the deceased family, maybe just going along with it is something you want to consider as you don't want to upset her by telling her that those family members are gone. My mother doesn't have dementia but I have heard her only recently, like in the last few months, mention seeing my father (who expired in 2007) or talking about going to a party with him. It's not constant talk, it's just out of the blue she'll mention this but not speak of it regularly, like once every three or four weeks. Or she'll randomly talk about her deceased siblings as if they were alive. It's hard for me to hear this (because it's so emotionally painful for me) but I do go along with it because I can clearly see in her eyes she's scared of me telling her that they're deceased; she doesn't want to know.

Careisgiving is very right one. I went through the same with my mom and I NEVER once discouraged her from talking about her sisters who had passed. I agreed with her 100% and never let on. Also my mom used to say she heard music like angels were singing. I NEVER heard any music nor did her caregiver at the time but I went along and said oh the music is nice mom even though there was NO music for me to hear. Let them feel safe and do not take away a pleasure they might enjoy even if you know It is not real. When you get to their age just remember as I do I hope no one takes that away from me.