I'm new

September 18, 2002

Do any of your

loved ones have these vivid hallucinations and how do you handle the

problem? I've taken a broom and tried sweeping them out the door, but that

is only a short term stop gap.

My mom takes Risperadol .25mg twice a day. It used to be only at nighttime

but now that she had her surgery its moved up to two times. Also if you have

a pet dog maybe keeping the dog nearby as a sort of protection. Hopefully

like my mom he knows these are only illusions and not real, it helps a great

deal if he is aware. Good luck, Shirley

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September 18, 2002

Do any of your

loved ones have these vivid hallucinations and how do you handle the

problem? I've taken a broom and tried sweeping them out the door, but that

is only a short term stop gap.

My mom takes Risperadol .25mg twice a day. It used to be only at nighttime

but now that she had her surgery its moved up to two times. Also if you have

a pet dog maybe keeping the dog nearby as a sort of protection. Hopefully

like my mom he knows these are only illusions and not real, it helps a great

deal if he is aware. Good luck, Shirley

_________________________________________________________________

MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:

http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

September 18, 2002

Marilyn

First...that is my mother-in-laws name and I adore her. Welcome to this

group. You will definately find a ton of information and stories as

well as hearts bigger than this disease...shoulders wider than the

world. My dad is 5 yrs into this disease (from time of diagnosis). In

the beginning he used to have the hallucinations, terribly. I remember

a mother snake in his apartment...scared the bageebies out of him. He

has always been TERRIFIED of snakes. I believe he has hallucinated

since then but hasn't talked much for quite a while. Even the past 4

wks., we are lucky to hear a yes or no from him. In that respect I will

be of little help. Just keep in mind that medications can play a very

important role in this disease. There is a fine line in finding the

perfect combination, but don't give up. There is help in medicating the

symptoms. Please keep asking questions and venting and you will be

soothed by the flooding of responses from this wonderful, caring group.

God Bless you and as all others in here, you are added to my ever so

growing list of prayers.

Sandie

Des Moines, IA

September 18, 2002

Wonderful to see your name in here. Wishing you well and keeping you in

my prayers. :-))

Sandie

Des Moines, IA

September 18, 2002

Hi . I am sorry to hear about your Mom. My MIL has this and had it

diagnosed just this last year, but her symptoms have been present for about

5 years. She too was having horrible hallucinations. Some so bad that

before she moved to assisted living, she was calling 911 to report 2 ladies

wanting to steal her socks! It was horrible. The hallucinations and

constant talking to herself seemed endless. Finally, we got on the perfect

medications. My MIL used to be on Remeron, however, that was removed last

fall. Now she takes Risperidal (.5mg), Aricept (10mg), Paxil (30mg),

Seroquel (200mg), and vitamin E. Since they added the Seroquel she is like

a new person. Some of these meds (like Aricept) take a good 3 months to

reveal their full effect. So it is important to give any new med a chance.

I wish you the best of luck with this disease. We had our downhill slides

too. It seems they come, they go and this trend continues on for a long

time.

Take care. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

RE: I'm new

I wanted to comment on the hallucinations. This seems to be

the most problem for my Mom. I was just interested to the

comment of electrical shocks. Mom just went thorugh a siege of

thinking the kids were shocking her all the time, complaining of th

the little wires they were always snapping, etc. I find it

amazing that so many persons on this group all seem to follow

very close the same symptoms don't they. Mom has had this

disease diagnosis for about two years and she is on a real down

hill slide right now. The med she takes is Remeron and then

vitamins E- C and that is it. She is not doing well and the

only other thing was Aricept and she was sleeping about 18 hrs

a day on it.

She begged to wake up and that (Aricept) removal did wake her up.

She does not function very well though as hallucinations and

disorientation are getting the better of her. Joanne

September 18, 2002

Barb

In answer to your question of " anyone else seeing our LO hurting

themselves " yes my dad has. He seems to be one big " arm bruise " . I am

sure, since he had been at the hospital and not the former nh, that it

is from flinging his arms around. Even when the staff would have to

change him and he would accidently hit them or his bed, he would bruise.

On a positive note...

The hospice nurse and social worker met dad yesterday and he has seemed

to have sucked them in with the " Big Blue Eyes " look he gives. The

nurse even said, " Merle, Sandie is right, you do have big blue eyes, "

then quietly commented under her breath...wow, that look he gives.

Seemed to tug at her heart. What a positive change in the people in my

dads life!!

Barb - I wish you well with Bill and this journey. You are such a

trooper dealing with all that you have in this short time. Love hearing

that at times you just set up with Bill, giving him time, and how that

calms him. Wonderful job!

Sandie

Des Moines, IA

where we don't keep an ax in the trunk...no need in Iowa...hehehehe

September 18, 2002

>In answer to your question of " anyone else seeing our LO hurting

>themselves " yes my dad has. He seems to be one big " arm bruise " . I

>am sure, since he had been at the hospital and not the former nh,

>that it is from flinging his arms around.

Thanks for the reply Sandie, am just curious about self injury. So

often staff is blammed for bruises that are self inflicted, happy to

see that you are not doing that, although all bruises should be

reported.

I went in and checked out the web site for NH that you gave earlier.

As I was waiting I was thinking that it would be real helpful if we

could find out the results of state and federal inspections...and low

and behold that is what is on the site.

Found it very interesting and helpful, for those of you looking for a

nh this should be your first step. It isn't going to tell you the

general atomosphere of the place but gives you an idea of what areas

there are problems. For instance, high number of bedsores could mean

that the staff is not turning or moving resident every 2 hours (if

they are unable to move themselves). Or that they are not looking at

condition of skin, bedsores start with a red area on the skin, and

usually can be stopped at that point. If there are a high number of

incidents and it says they have been corrected check to see that the

correction was on-going.

Another thing it gives is how to contact the Ombudsman for your area,

if you already have a LO in a nursing home and are unhappy about

something and do not get any help from the staff or administration

contact the Ombudsman...it might help.

Was so happy to hear that the staff at the new nh seems to be real

caring and loving, something both your dad and you need at this time.

Was also happy that you and your brother are together at this time,

you will need each others strength. Take care, Barb

September 18, 2002