What do you do when your mom believes there are insects on her?

You can't argue or reason her out of a delusion, but maybe you can give her some comfort by going along with her. Buy a brand of body lotion she hasn't used before, tell her you looked it up on the internet and this is the best thing to repel insects. If nothing else a nice lotion rub ought to be soothing and it should comfort her to know you are trying to help her.

As NancyH suggests, I'd also mention this delusion to her doctor.

My mother thinks there is "grit" growing in her hair & she must scratch it out to keep it from growing down in to her eyes. She has scratched a lot of her hair out. At one time she was sure there was a piece of plastic growing out of her right elbow.

I am reading a book " A Care Givers Guide to Lewy Body Dementia". I have learned that hallucinations are also a symptom of lewy body dementia.

JeanneGibbs is right. It is best not to argue or try to convince your mother that the insects are not there. They are very real to her. When my mom starts her scratching I distract her with a cup of ice cream (her favorite) or something else that involves using her hands.
The book I am reading has some very good information about different meds & their effect. But if you have not already had her evaluated that would be a good first step.

This happened and still happens to the person I am a care giver to. It does not have to be Alzheimer’s. It can also happen to people with Parkinsons/Dementia. 40% of people with Parkinson’s get this.
My patient was convinced he had bugs in him and his eyes. He sent samples to 2 different labs and samples came out negative (of course). He said lab did not know what it was doing.
While the neurologist was adjusting his medicine, my patient started seeing people in the house at night. He started to feel they were going to tie us up and hurt us. I was watching him and I had him stay in my room at night until we saw the neurologist in 2 days but that night he was convinced we were going to get hurt so he told me he was going to the bathroom, but instead went out of the house at 1:30AM in only his underwear in freezing snow, we live in Maine. I had to put clothes on and when I ran out side, I could only see tracks. I knew he had only minutes to live. I called 911 and they found him. This probably happened in about 15 minutes time. We live close to everything. He was taken to the emergency room, warmed up and stabilized.
He was assessed and referred to hospital in the area that deals with these things. The head Doctor there prescribed Seroquel for the hallucinations and Melatonin for calming him down and sleep, so that I could take him home. The Seroquel WORKED but they had to up the dosage. Dosage depends on the person.
This Doctor is a member of American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry
And specializes in:
1. Mood disorders in old age
2. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
3. Insomnia and sleep disorders of aging
4. Hospital and nursing home care of frail elders
So, my suggestion is you need to see a Neurologist that specializes in Geriatrics and a Psychiatrist that specializes in this also.
Your mom’s symptoms could get worse so please do not wait.
These Doctors will work together. I have spoken to other people that have this problem of delusions and they have been given Seroquel also.

Hi, I agree about the paranoia, but the experience of feeling insects is also related to some of the drugs she is already taking! Many anxiety drugs have internal body sensations - and ultimately can cause tardive diskonesia (sp?) or internal ticks and reactions. I read once about the experience of people seeking suicide, and read of the indescribable intensity of internal pressures from the shifts of the medications inside the body. That is sad, and needs our understanding and calm, trying to solve it by routines. One elderly lady used to scream and swear - and by taking the focus off of her swear words, and taking time to listen and notice time, I noticed it was worst when someone was about to touch her for daily care; another lady screamed when others would touch her to help her stand up. In both cases, being kind and patient, maybe keeping a gentle sense of humor about the day, backing off and then trying again notifying them that I had to touch them to get them clean, and moving gently ahead with the cleaning treatment - when that treatment was over, after being done smoothly, we could all relax and skin pricks and insects were forgotten. I have always worried about the internal side effects of those drugs, which so many people solve by adding other drugs.

Awk! I have bugs on me! Help! Oh yuck! I just watered my plants and closely inspected one that is not thriving. Oh dear, it has an insect infestation, and I've felt itchy and uncomfortable ever since I saw them! Does that happen to you? You deal with an anthill in your driveway and then you feel bugs all over you? Mind you these plant bugs are so tiny I had to find them with a magnifying glass, and I could probably have a whole colony crawling on me without even feeling them and the little buggers wouldn't have any reason to latch on to me when they had a perfectly good plant to sustain them, even if they could figure a way to make the transfer. I still feel crawly critters! I've washed my hands 3 times in the last 5 minutes and I'm going to give in to my paranoia and go change my shirt.

Knowing that even imaginary bugs are very disturbing I feel very sorry for Andretti34's mom. I hope some relief is found for her!

Hi, I remember when I first became a caregiver to my mother 5 years ago and the many times she woke up screaming saying that there was water all over the apartment or looking around the house for her beloved pet that had been dead for many years. She also use to see family members that had been gone for years. When I saw your posting of the insects it reminded me of a lady I met in P. R. who was a caregiver to man who also felt something crawling on him, in his case they were shrimps. I felt it very necessary to respond to you and to other caregivers that are experincing the same. What she did was she got a bag and made believe she was removing the shrimps from his body while saying, "you darn Shrimps, get off my old man!" and made believe she was removing them and putting them in the bag and discarding the bag, she said that seemed to calm him down. She said she would do that every time he complained about the Shrimps being on him. I have found that the best way to deal with an alzheimer's person is by not contradicting then, because in their mind what they think and feel is their reality. I hope this information helps you in dealing with your love one. I also recommend a book written by Nataly Rubinstein, titled, Alzheimer's Disease and other Dementias. The Caregiver's Complete Survival Guide. This book is a true Blessing and very informative. Good Luck!

Lots of good advice is given. Personally I think you need to discuss this with your medical professionals. While hallucinations are common in Alz patients there can be a number of issues which cause this and your medical professionals are best to advise you.

it MAY have a physical basis. have her checked out. liver problems can cause itching. neuropathy pain can feel like stinging or biting. i'm post menopausal and i still get itching, stinging, biting pain, or the feeling as if i am being crawled on by hundreds of ants.

I tried searching for this particular delusion/hallucination and dementia, and wasn't coming up with much. As Ferris1 says, it is associated with paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and several other diagnoses. Then I found an article in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, VOL. 22, No. 1, titled "Delusional Parasitosis as a Presenting Feature of Dementia." The author feels the instances of this symptom in dementia may be underreported. (People often go to a dermatologist with this complaint.) In 10 cases that were handled by a psychiatric clinic, 2 patients turned out to have dementia (which had not been diagnosed before this symptom brought the patient to the clinic.) The author suggests that especially elderly women who have this complaint should have a thorough evaluation to see if dementia might be present.

Just thought it was kind of interesting and worth sharing.

Andretti, Is your mom on ativan? They gave that to my mom in the hospital to calm her down before sending her to rehab. What they didn't do was give her the meds she needed for Parkinsons and she was off the wall without them, so they dosed her with ativan and she spent her first week in rehab seeing bugs everywhere! She refused to eat because they were in her food! The nurse at rehab said it is a very common reaction to that particular drug and they made sure she did not get anymore, but it still took a week for the bugs to go away. Mom is also on Seroquel to help her sleep through the night. She has no problems with that, except she can't tolerate it during the day as it makes her very dopey. Definitely find out if any of her meds can cause this, but it may just be the dementia rearing it's ugly head. Good luck!