My DH sometimes tells me a very wild story that I know cannot be true. At times I'll ask did he dream this and he'll say yes, I probably did. However, at other times he is so sure it is not a dream. He wants to know why I don't believe him. The latest was something he said happened at church (we haven't been to church in months) and someone asked him to leave. He seldom gets upset but he was a little upset with me because I didn't "remember" what happened. Is this all a progression of the disease? Nothing has changed with his meds.
Patsy...out of curiosity what stage do you think your DH is at? My husband did this early in his journey. Swore he had been in a house that we had never been in before and was angry because I didn't remember.
Mine is roughly 4-5. He had vivid and disturbing dreams he couldn't distinguish from reality early on, and lately has had a few more. He also "remembers" things that have never happened. We will, for example, be in a restaurant that we've never been in before, and he tells me where we sat the last time, then looks at me like I'm nuts for not remembering. I usually just say, "maybe you were with someone else." Often we're driving along and pass someone on a bike, or a jogger, and he says, "We pass that guy a lot." Not that I recall though.
Happens all the time. THere was a long period when he was convinced that today we were going to Pasadena CA where he was going to be awarded a medal at a ceremony. We're on the east coast. Pasadena is where CalTech is, and he got his doctorate there. No ceremony of course.
My DH has had 2, One last year about his sisters bank in Ohio going to "get"to us for something we had done but he couldn't say what is was we were supposed to have done. The other was a few months ago about the parking here at the condos. I think the sertraline has helped so I sincerely hopes it stays that way and I don't go crazy trying to tell him nothing happened or "lets wait and see what they do".
My DH has Lewy Body Dementia but not yet hallucinations. When the doctor asks about hallucinations he asks about getting dreams confused with reality, as if that were an early stage of hallucinations. My husbNd does cry out or act out his dreams (REM sleep behavior disorder) but he doesn't remember them
My husband had such a real dream that he was sure someone was trying to take his job. My problem with letting these things go is that sometimes they are very painful for my husband because he thinks people are against him. Other times I don't want to ignore him because he is holding something against someone for something he dreamed they did. This caused us a lot of trouble at our church. Is there absolutely no sense in correcting them?
Confabulation is not hallucination and it isn't lying. They put a story together which makes sense to them. You can't correct them, but you can tell the people at your church that he has dementia or Alzheimer's. Sooner or later you will go public and it is such as relief when you do it.
The fear that someone is against them or that people are stealing from them is common, and it happens early on, and continues into the late stages. Tonight my husband wanted to bring in the tables and chairs from our little patio because someone might take them. Somehow I doubt if anyone wants the $50 worth of old patio furniture that is out there. If someone is going to steal they will take the good stuff from a couple of houses down in one direction or next door in the other.
DH told me about a "problem" with someone he worked with and he was very upset this morning. I talked with him about it, he seemed OK but then he mentioned it again and said he'd like to punch that guy in the nose! I laughed and told him it would probably hurt his hand and not the guy's nose. He was very still for a moment (except for his fingers which he has begun to rub together alot), looked at me as though he couldn't understand and then he laughed! I laughed right along with him and then told him how silly both of them would have felt if DH walked up to the guy, punched him and then both would be in pain. It worked this time..rolling eyes!!
Thanks, admin for bringing the confaulation thread up..I'm going to read it now.
There is also a link to a wonderful short paper on the main page of this site that explains demented thinking better than anything I have read. You have to get past the first page where the author is asking forgiveness for writing a readable paper for non-professionals, but the rest of what she wrote is just wonderful.
It is about half way down the page, and it is called UNDERSTANDING THE DEMENTIA EXPERIENCE. You can also copy and paste it here. I would suggest that you save a copy, since it is a pdf file, on your own hard drive. It took me a while to read it because I needed to stop and think between sections. But that is one social worker/caseworker who totally "gets it". AND knows how to explain it to a caregiver.
Not my husband's dream, but mine. I dream all the time that I am lost. I dreamed last night, I was lost, as I was trying to find my way home, I found myself in this strange town. I noticed some teenagers standing around, when I looked closer I saw my husband as a teenager, I started to approach him, but a man stopped me, he told me not to say anything to my husband, that he would always be a teenager. I said, "Good, that way he will never have dementia" It was really a nice sort of dream until I woke up to reality.
This is something my husband said a week or so ago that is similar to the discussion but not totally...anyway you all may get a laugh out of it, I did. My dh was upset about a car being parked in front of our house. First he said...that car has been there for 2 days now and I don't like it. Second he said...that car has been parked in front of our house for at least 4 or 5 days...Third he said...I am tired of that car being in front of our house for over a week. Fourth he said...if that car is here another two weeks I am calling the police. This was within a 15 min. period.