Seeing bugs?

[Lookingforhealing]

My husband, who was diagnosed three years ago, has recently been hallucinating and in particular, seeing bugs that aren't there. Sometimes he sees bugs in his food and will refuse to finish his meal. I don't recall seeing this topic addressed before. Does anyone else see bugs?

[ion_ion]

It is first time I'm hearing this. And only 3 years with PD!? Maybe is something else or maybe the medication can cause it.

[kevowpd]

I suggest you a) read the following and b) ensure that your husband is well hydrated.

parkinson.org/Understanding...

[Lookingforhealing in reply to kevowpd]

Thank you for the helpful link.

[AlanaS7]

Yes, My mother would see bugs in the carpet..I think it can be a side effect of medication. Mum doesn't see them now but at times can see other things such as pets that have passed.. Our neurologist has mentioned that if they don't bother you it is best to accept them. Mum only saw the bugs for a few weeks and then they went away..

[Lookingforhealing in reply to AlanaS7]

Thank you for sharing your Mum's experience about pets. My husband has "felt" a cold nose nuzzling his legs at night. We don't currently have pets, but maybe he was imagining our pets who passed.

[LeharLover62]

Yes my husband does. This can be caused by a reaction to a specific medication. Has he made any recent changes? It can just be a reaction to a med like amantadine or neupro, for instance.

For my hubby, it’s when he has too much dopamine, (lately he sees spiders, but once he thought there was a bug on his lip in his sleep and woke and bit his lip so badly we had to go to the ER!)

Definitely report it to his neurologist as well.

[Lookingforhealing in reply to LeharLover62]

Thank you.

[MarionP]

This (hallucinations) happens with PD. Harmless if that's all he's experiencing, so getting used to it is the way to go in that case, it's just an associated symptom. If it's very frightening, a little therapy with a psychologist or psychiatric social worker could help with coping. See a psychiatrist about whether a very low dose of an antipsychotic would help (very important that side effects not create bigger problems).

Last couple of years I have been getting floaters coming up from a bit of bleeding in my retinas and sometimes they are accompanied by little moving wisps of light. Retinal surgeon examined my retinas and told me not to worry, it's not serious and is in part simple aging, and there is not a lot to do except avoid situations where you are excessively straining (say, perhaps on the toilet is an example). Said to just get used to them and don't bother about it and pretty soon you don't even notice. It's the worrying that is the problem. Also I tailed back a bit on my daily aspirin and asked my doc to up my blood pressure medicine as it was borderline high anyway, and since then I've had few issues.

What kevopd said here is good. The more I remember to stay well hydrated, the fewer little painful charlie-horse dystonia spasms I get.

[Lookingforhealing in reply to MarionP]

Thank you.

[SilentEchoes]

My mom had hallucinations of cats mostly. She would sometimes see people or thought there was someone outside the window and wanted to investigate. She wasn't frightened by the hallucinations. I think we manifest what we are most emotional about, what we love (she loved her cats) and what annoys us. Hallucinations are a symptom of Lewy body dementia.

This link from MJF might be helpful.

michaeljfox.org/news/what-r...

SE

[jeffreyn in reply to SilentEchoes]

"Hallucinations are [also] a symptom of Lewy body dementia."

[pmmargo]

Be very careful if they suggest nuplazid, it looks like it has and continues to harm a lot of people. Best Wishes!

[Lookingforhealing in reply to pmmargo]

Thank you for that warning. Although sometimes medicines are necessary, I have always been scared of the side effect.

[SilentEchoes in reply to Lookingforhealing]

Seroquel caused TIAs in my mom.

[DrewE]

Eye floaters sometimes present as bugs.

[margaretmotley]

I'm sorry about your husband's experience, that is not an easy thing to deal with. My mom started seeing bugs about 2 years post PD-diagnosis. According to her neurologist and our research, it is not an uncommon hallucination/delusion in Lewy Body Dementia, which was what her eventual diagnosis was. She thought bugs were on the carpet, on her bed, and crawling under her skin which she would try to remove by digging into her skin with tweezers. She saw cats and "little people" too, but these were usually more pleasant encounters. Seroquel helped to lessen the hallucinations. Sometimes we we would just tell her that the bugs were gone (we learned NOT to argue with her about the existence of the bugs). I hope this helps.

[Lookingforhealing in reply to margaretmotley]

Thank you for sharing your mom's experience. Several people have mentioned Lewy body dementia, which frightens me. I can deal with the physical aspect better than the mental.

[sprildiver]

Hi, I have every sympathy. It is very frightening. My problem is shadows?? They can turn into anything and often make me jump when they come towards me quickly. I also seem to have the ability to see completely different things in the most ordinary objects.

Very strange, but who knows how these Parkinson's brains work. Mine is certainly a mystery .

😘 Good luck with your battle.

[pmmargo in reply to sprildiver]

The ability to see different things iin ordinary object shows you have good imagination. Just remember the eyes and brain can send you anything and it is not real unless you have verified it is. Having grown up with extreme nearsightedness nothing was distinct and I had to be careful moving around. I think it is only a hallucination if you trust what you see and I recommend that you verify stuff instead and don't get the label (which can be hard to get rid of)

[Lookingforhealing in reply to pmmargo]

Thank you for your encouraging words.

[Lookingforhealing in reply to sprildiver]

Thank you for sharing. No matter what we go through, it does make it a bit easier to know we are not in this alone.

[pen1]

Yes! I am quite used to being unable to decide whether some thing is a small dark speck on the floor or a bug. They often appear to have lots of legs and to be moving however I am fortunate enough to know that my brain is likely to be playing tricks and so i don't usually mention it and just assume that it probably isn't some strange bug Does your husband have other vision problems? I started seeing double about a year ago and i also see two dimensional things as 3D. Eg marks on the ceiling appear to be dangling on threads and writing appears to hover above the page. Is your husband able to accept that his brain is playing tricks. If he can be helped to develop insight it would make life easier for both of you.The trouble is is that medics often go straight for drugs when hallucinations appear and that's not always terribly helpful

As a psychologist I knew what to expect which made it much easier to deal with.

Otherwise it's difficult to expect someone not to believe the evidence of their own eyes i This something that should be talked about much more

[Lookingforhealing in reply to pen1]

Thank you for taking time to reply. It helps to have a psychologist's perspective. My husband hasn't mentioned any other vision problems. Like you, he thought that he was seeing a bug moving. When I asked him, "Where?" he would point to a piece of lint. Sometimes he perceives a dark spot in his food as a bug and it turns out to be spice. You're right about medical professionals going straight for drugs. I'm reluctant to mention the hallucinations to the doctor. It seems like doctors are trained in med school to dispense drugs for every problem.

[Hidden]

My wife, diagnosed probably Levy Body, was put on Sinemet and Memantine.Result, a lot of hallucinations, small people, insects and other things. Even worse was the unrest and confusion. She started to pack personal stuff, run out in nights and called the doorbell at neighbours and woke them up, stopped to recognise me. Refused to enter our car when we should go to the neuro because her husband, me, should drive her there.

The neuro explained that it was typical for LBD and wanted to increase the dose of C/L. The situation was impossible to handle so I had to slowly take the meds out and what happened? All these weird symptoms disappeared very quick.

My personal reflection is that schizophrenia is related by too much dopamine, whilst PD too little. Maybe those who get hallucinations don't

have too low level of dopamine? And thus should have a different diagnose?

[Lookingforhealing in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for sharing. That's interesting how the weird symptoms disappeared after you took her off the medicine. While medicines have their place, they also cause scary side effects. Sometimes I think we have to determine what to take and at what dosage for our own bodies.

[GymBag]

1 interaction with a combination of drugs which can worsen over time

2 It most probably is not Schizophrenia, it is Hallucinations big big difference

3 Get his eyes checked PD causes muscles around eyes to make them different focus. as he moves he may observe inanimate objects moving

4 Cataracks

5 Alergy to a medication

I had surgery and they gave me strong Codine which we now know is very bad for me .

A bat flew down the hallway . I could hear it coming . It landed on my bed and crawled up my bandages. I demanded that the nurses remove the bandage because I could feel him moving. When they took off the bandages I could see Ronald Mc Donald outside my window laughing at me. Dead people visited me an it took 3 days to wear off.

[Lookingforhealing in reply to GymBag]

Thank you for sharing your experience. That sounds frightening. Glad to hear it was temporary and wore off after 3 days. Medicine sure can have scary side effects.