<p>^He also has a video on TED on the subject of Hallucinations. He touches upon recent research that can pinpoint areas of the brain that are activated for ‘seeing’ faces vs landscapes or buildings.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why this isn’t common knowledge for health care workers, especially for those that work with the elderly. It’s sad to think they live in fear that they will be viewed as insane. Charles Bonnet Syndrome-spread the word.</p>
<p>There are other situations in older adults (not ones with sensory deprivation insuced hallucinations) that do cause visual hallucinations that the patiend is not bothered by. Patients with Lewy Body Dementia can develop visual hallucinations. They are sometimes something like seeing little children in the house or the waiting room, and not sure why they are there.</p>
<p>My dad, who has Parkinsons, sometimes “sees” people in the room with him. No matter what we tell him, he insists these people are really there. It just adds to his overall confusion.</p>
<p>I think my mother has had Charles Bonnet Syndrome. About a year ago, she told the nursing home staff that she couldn’t see, was sent to the ER, went through a battery of tests that showed nothing, and recovered her sight in less than 48 hours. About six months later, she had another episode similar to this one. </p>
<p>What was common both times is her saying she saw people sitting around her, a TV, a night table next to her. These were all things she would see at the nursing home if she could see. It took until the second episode before I started investigating what was going on. The first time, I just assumed she was confused over where she was and thought she was still at the nursing home so she was “seeing” things she would normally see. She also has dementia, so the ER staff thought she was delirious.</p>
<p>It was actually the son of another nursing home resident who told one of the nurses aobut Charles Bonnet Syndrome. She passed the info on to me. It certainly seemes like that was what was happening. Typically, someone without dementia will realize that what they’re seeing isn’t real, but to my mother she was convinced that what she was seeing was real.</p>
<p>She hasn’t had another episode in 5 months. Accoridng to what I’ve read, once the brain adjusts to the level of eyesight, these symptoms will disappear.</p>
<p>Mansfield, Lewy Body Dementia is a subcortical dementia that involves the substantia nigra and overlaps with parkinsonian symptoms <a href=“http://www.lbda.org/node/7[/url]”>http://www.lbda.org/node/7</a></p>
<p>I just got back to reading some of these posts. My mother is on oxygen and she decided one day to show me how safe it was so she whips out a lighter and kept lighting it about a foot from her face to show me that the oxygen wouldn’t explode. She thought it was funny. I was horrified.</p>
<p>There was just a fire in a local apt building from a young adult who was on oxygen. The person died in the explosion and multiple apartments were severely damaged. Take the lighter away!</p>
<p>shyanne, Yikes!!</p>
<p>Yeah, I know she could blow her and the house up. That is why I don’t go to see her unless I have to. She only did that to scare me because she likes to scare me. She is narcisstic and she says I don’t know anything so I avoid her. She wouldn’t have pulled that trick with anyone else. She is 85 years old.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is it really safe to cook with gas? I think she has been taking it off while she cooks, even though the doc said she must wear it 24/7. I agree that respiratory therapists or other resources could be a lot of help. My MIL doesn’t seem to realize that she is not the first person to deal with any of these health issues, and so does not ask or seek or want help. She was carrying her portable O2 canisters in a shopping bag and then also carrying a purse and generally getting all tangled up. She could not believe we found an O2 tote specifically made for canisters, with a hole for the tube,e tc that she could also use as a purse. She thinks she has to jerryrig everything, that there are no professionals that could make her life easier.</p>
<p>I don’t even think the doc has sent a RT to the house, or if he has, she has not mentioned it.</p>
<p>She does not have COPD but I am sure the resources will be similar for her. I just wish we could get her to advocate a little or investigate what would make things easier.</p>
<p>If there is a big concern about an explosion with O2, one can try using a Portable Oxygen Concentrator (POC). It just filters out the nitrogen in the air and makes the O2 you breathe much more concentrated. They use it in the military for field surgery, since even if it is hit by a bullet or two, there is absolutely NOT risk of explosion.</p>
<p>There are a lot of good things about POCs, including the ability to use them on airplanes, which I do regularly. I have many good resources about COPD and supplemental O2 if anyone wants to PM me, or you can check the website, [Hawaii</a> COPD Coalition](<a href=“http://www.hawaiicopd.org%5DHawaii”>http://www.hawaiicopd.org).</p>
<p>O2 is an accelerant, NOT something that generally will explode. IF it comes in contact with flame, it will make the flame burn hotter and faster, but it doesn’t spontaneously ignite or arc to reach the flame. There have been cases where people smoking cigarettes wearing O2 via nasal cannula have badly burned their faces, do that is definitely risky.</p>
<p>In our COPD support group, there is at least one woman who wears O2 24/7 and cooks with her gas range. The respiratory therapist and I suggested she wear the cannula so it hangs down her back when she’s at the stove instead of her front. I know several other folks on on-line support groups who cook with gas and wear O2 24/7. They just are VERY careful and none have reported any problems.</p>
<p>Don’t know about these audio or visual hallucinations, though can understand why they can be troubling and confusing for the person experiencing them and their loved ones. Have heard a few NPR programs about these.</p>
<p>I would not fool around with oxygen and open flame regardless of the precautions one can take. With an elderly person, who may be slightly confused can lose balance, get careless, be not so dextrous , this is a recipe for disaster. I think the gas line would develop a problem and the stove would get replaced with an electric one with the gas line in that area capped off. The potential for damages and catastrophe are waaay too high in such cases. Electric ranges are cheap enough that problems with the gas can be prevented. Very nice surprise birthday gift while Grandmom is visiting elsewhere. She’ll be mad as hell but will at least not blow herself up.</p>
<p>Not that electric is completely safe either. My MIL’s mother put her hand down on a red hot stove top, electric. There is a point in time when such accidents are really inevitable due to the degeneration of a person’s abilities and not just random accidents and that is when common sense needs to be exercised.<br>
My MIL’s bed is just a few feet from the bathroom door, and I have a contraption that we have set up so that at night she can walk her way between two bars to the bathroom door and the bathroom is so crowded that it is practically impossible to fall. She slumped once but there is literally no were to go. We designed it that way. She also has a bed pan, She can use the toaster and the microwave in the kitchen to make herself food and the microwave is set so it has a one minute default . That’s really all she knows about it. Still not 100% save but we have eliminated a number of big chance disasters. </p>
<p>My worry now is her falling down the stairs going upstairs when she has no business ever doing so, but getting it in her head that she should or down the basement. If we did not have our old dog I would put in for a guide dog for her. That is really what she could use.</p>
<p>I’m off tomorrow to get Mom moved into the assisted living side of the retirement place. I am making myself sick over it just anticipating the fight. dumb to borrow trouble. H and I are fighting about how to clean out her semi-horder house; it needs to be rented to bring in income to pay for said AL. (hoping that LTC insurance WILL kick in as they refused to pay on the retirement side, but implied that they would do something on the AL side maybe 60%… 100% is only when she is in skilled nursing. )
Anyway, wish me luck. I know we are so much luckier than many because we do have a place where she could ( if she would) have some happiness and she can afford it for a while.
It is still hard though.</p>
<p>Hope all goes well esobay. Thinking of you.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about it. I’m sure everything will go fine. I hope that your mother finds happiness and friendship at the assisted living facility. You’re a good daughter! It sounds like the worst part will be cleaning out her home.</p>
<p>We went through the same thing with my MIL. We had to get rid of all the junk in her house so we could sell it. She moved into a senior apartment for a year, then we moved her to an assisted living facility when her Alzheimer’s became worse.</p>
<p>Esobay, Is your mom in a continuing care facility where she moves according to her needs? Do you think this type of place is a big advantage over moving from one part of town to another?</p>
<p>I am in “respectful disagreement” with my brother and sister over what might be best for our mom. Due to her accelerating memory loss I think she should go directly into an assisted living facility, where she will be looked after and reminded about medications, eating, appointments etc. This would mean another move if she should start wandering or need to be in a more secure environment. My brother and sister want her to move to a continuing care facility, but these only take new people into the independent living sections. She would have to pass some sort of cognitive test to get in, and it’s a long shot she could pull that off. Once accepted she would be guaranteed the care she needs as it arises. But these places still involve a move for each change of care level, and I’m not so sure it is less disruptive than just moving to a new place. I guess some of the staff and residents would still be familiar, but my mom rarely remembers new people she meets now anyway. It’s also going to be hard on her if her applications are rejected by the independent living places, more confirmation that she is failing.</p>
<p>Momsquad … I know and sympathize with the dance with siblings. I wanted to make Mom take more help a long year before we got anything done. Bro was in denial. We both live out of town (from Mom) . It cost her some, but not everything, but it COULD have cost everything as she continued to drive without a license…</p>
<p>Anyway, the facility where she is has an independent living side which they can’t get qualified as assisted living because it has stairs (there is an elevator right beside, but the doorway leads to stairs). And it has an assisted living side which is qualified (according to the LTC insurance rules). There they have more hands on medically qualified and licensed care givers. And they can step up care on a point system ($200 a month a step approx). First level is just pills and reminders. Last level, I am not sure, but it does NOT go to full on nursing home care. So she would have to move once more. They are trying to build a full on Alzheimers unit but honestly I am hoping Mom won’t live to move in there by the time it is built. </p>
<p>At least by this move, she will still be able to eat in the main dining hall with her friends and since she is having some teeth pulled, she will have an “excuse” for them so she won’t have to lose face or admit she is declining. </p>
<p>For your case, you’d be surprised at what mental level gets by on the testing. Mom was “borderline” for the retirement side when she moved in. She could fake it really well. At that time, she never remembered to take her pills, even with reminders… or she took extra doses, she didn’t remember what she ate … it was terrifying … but her dementia was only “moderate” 20/30 on some mini eval that seems standard. Now she thinks thieves have taken things when she can’t remember where she put them. She can’t remember names, she can’t describe events some days… and yet, she still is at the 19/30 testing level. She will go into the level 1 care on the AL side. We had a caregiver who dishes out her pills from a locked cabinet. When she had the flu and we took the chance to leave her anti nausea pills out (take every 6 hrs), she took 3 in 4 hrs… so we don’t do that anymore. The only difference is that a nurse will dish out the pills and they will be able to take her to Dr. appointments. Since Mom forgets why she is at the Dr. if it wasn’t just a check up (I went with her for example when she had a yeast infection in her mouth… but she didn’t tell the Dr about it until I prompted her) So hopefully an aid will go with her and report back what the Dr. says. </p>
<p>Mom also gets stubborn, she was able to take the bus (provided by the place) to the dentist and told the dentist not to talk to me about the plan for removing the teeth (this was last Thursday) Today she doesn’t know what plan they made or when the next appointment is or what is going on. She kind of tied my hands but we will work around it. Just gives me more ammo to use to show why she needs to move.</p>
<p>Thoughts are with you, eso.</p>
<p>Thank you esobay, that all sounds very familiar. My mom fools people really well, as she still has a sense of humor and can carry on a reasonably intelligent conversation. I hope she’ll be in good form the day they give the evaluation.</p>
<p>So far my mom is very appreciative of my help with doctor appointments etc., she would miss them if I didn’t schedule them and drive her there. I can imagine how frustrating it must be for you to try to stay on top of things only to be sabotaged. Right now I am waiting for my mom’s doctor to call and let me know the results of her brain MRI. They sent her the report but she lost it. She signed a medical record release so I can access her information, and once I get online access I think life will be much easier. </p>
<p>Funny, just when my daughter’s records are no longer available to me I need to start managing my mom’s care. Sandwich generation indeed.</p>
<p>momsquad … I have the medical release for everyone except the dentist. It is SO important to have the paperwork in place. I have the power of attorney and the trust so I know I am lucky. Banking is on-line yay. Hope you get all the access you need.</p>
<p>The kickers for me are being out of town and having her sabotage. There is one person in her town that enables more sabotaging, but I hope to shut that down this trip. </p>
<p>Mom is appreciative that I drive her when I am in town, but she forgets some days that I don’t live there!</p>
<p>There is no possibility of moving Mom nearer to me, she was born in that town. And unless she has a grumpy day, she is actually happy in the place. She is with people who knew her parents and they don’t seem to mind hearing that same story every other day. She always has been social so it is good for her to be with people.</p>