Hallucinations and dementia

My Dad was diagnosed with PD 14yrs ago. His only symptom was a off and on tremor in his hand. He was able to cope and function very well. Then hallucinations started,  seeing things and people. He realized they weren't real and took it in his stride. Then the blank facial expression gradually appeared and an off and on drooling.

Through all this he was still Dad: could do things,,,carry on a conversation.

However, in the last 3yrs we've watched him decline even more. He's now 78yrs old and physically he's not bad. Fine motor skills seem to bring on the hand shaking,,,he's stooped over,,almost looking at the ground and sometimes I see a shuffle in his gait.  Mentally, he's really lost ground.

He really can't carry on a conversation, at least with us.

Sometimes he talks better to the make believe people then with us.  He can spend hours putting socks and shoes on and off or he'll change his clothes 3 times a day for no reason. If he becomes restless,,,,Mom knows it's going to be a bad day or night.

I could go on, but hope you get the picture. What I was wondering is if anyone knows if dementia is caused by PD or in my Dad's case,,,,just a natural progression with age. His meds have been changed through the years but there was never any significant improvement.

He's become a handful for my Mom and my 2 sisters and myself try to help out where we can,,,but if there are any caregivers here that can offer any tips, I would really appreciate it.  Thanks,  Lorry

My mom had dementia from a stroke and doctor said it was a chemical imbalance.

Lizzy4451,

Thank you for your response, insight and suggestions. I have looked into support groups but there are none close enough to where my parents live. But, I will check out any close to me.

Dad was put on seroquel for the halluncinations but it had him up and wandering all night. So Mom halved the dosage and still no good,,so she stopped it. The only other meds he takes are sinemet and benztropine. His neuro prescribed Aricept for the Alzheimers a few weeks ago, but there is no improvement.  I guess there is no magic pill, although the neuro said there are many pills to try.  Personally I feel there is no going back, he's lost too much ground mentally. The goal now should be how best to take care of him and keep him safe and how to keep Mom well. She has given up so many of her activities to take care of him and the isolation is taking it's toll. But, we are working on this,,,,whatever we can do to get her out is a plus.  She has always put other's needs before her own and deserves so much more then a few hours here and there.  We do what we can, right?  Unfortunately, it never feels like enough.  I will keep trying though!

Thanks again

Lorry

Donna ,

Welcome to Healing Well,It very well could be the meds ,and a change or adjustment might be necessary.I am on mirapex ,sinemetand comtan,and had to stop taking mirapex at nite .I would get nitemares and vivid dreams.These stopped when I stopped my nite dose.However everyone is different with the same med.I would say this :Don't stop either mirapex or sinemet abruptly this is very dangerous,and you need to work with your mothers neurologist.Your mother can request a report from the dr.with each visit ,and this might help answer your questions relative to the progression of the disease.I wish you and mom the best.If you have any questions feel free to email me or stop by the forum again welcome the light is always on here.Ed

lorry i hope u will find someone here to help u........

hi, i am a caregiver of a parkinson's patient. she has this disease for 19 years now. i've been with her for four years and i have experienced almost everything in this discussion. first, my patient cannot walk due to surgeries. she has severe dystonia on her left arm and hand. we get botox on this arm every 3 months. second, she is taking about 8 sinemet, 5 sinemet CR and 4 mirapex for parkinson's, and some other pills for pain, arthritis, etc. last year, she had very severe hallucinations. she would talk to these people who we could not see, complain about scribbles on the walls, see little people, people having sex on her bed and somebody stealing from her. we discussed it with her neurologist. she took abot 8 seroquel a day. so, her neurologist replaced it with zyprexa. her hallucinations went away in about a week. and to my astonishment, it never came back. also, we asked he neurologist about her life span, and the response was, she can live as long as possible because she has a healthy body. it's not the parkinson disease that will shorten her life but infections or other complications she may get. i hope my insight and experince will help a little bit.

Caregivers,  There appears to be a great deal of difference from one person to another in how PD progresses.  As a PD patient that has always been my biggest worry, how long before I can't walk, how  long before this and that?  Although I have retired I hope that I am still contributing something to the world somehow.  Although it isn't as easy as it used to be I am still here at the keyboard and hopefully still making a little sense.  Sometimes my better half thinks that I am spending too much time at this, but I explained to her that I am trying to keep my mind active and that is important.  Staying as active as possible, both physically and mentally, seems to be the key.  I got the wild idea a few days ago that I would start a blog and I suscribed to something on the net that would help me begin.  I realized immediately that I was in way over my head technically and backed out.  So we do have to be careful about decisionmaking among other issues.  If you haven't seen it yet please see the thread called "last stages".  Don't let the words scare you.  There is a lot of info there for caregivers and you can choose what you take from the reading.  I will do a burp, excuse me, bump to bring it back to the top.  Hey, sometimes you gotta laugh or cry and I prefer laughing.    

Post Edited (gtmriviera) : 5/20/2010 5:06:48 PM (GMT-6)