Vivid dreams/hallucinations

[Joluu]

Hi everyone. Mum has recently started having really distressing vivid dreams . This morning she pressed her lifeline button as she was convinced I was dead and there was no one to look after her,last week she thought she was drowning. We see the Parkinsons nurse this week. Just wondering if others have found anything that helps with these problems.

[LuisRodicioRodicio]

Hi Joluu!

*Hallucinations.

I have only some suggestions from other caregivers:

KatieHelles wrote: “My step-dad has PSP and does have the odd period of confusion thinking that he needs to go to work or play rugby (with some determination sometimes!). This can be part of the condition and passes in time, it can also for my step dad be more likely to happen when he’s tired and overdone things or unwell with a virus/infection so again always good to try and check whether this is happening in the back ground. The confusion usually passes within a few days in our case. General advice would be to go along with the confusion where possible we would call a friend sometimes and they would reassure my step dad that rugby was cancelled today so he didn’t need to get ready. This reduced his agitation a lot as telling him he doesn’t play anymore just increased his distress unnecessarily. Also having lots of familiar prompts around might help him in the home photos objects etc.”

45purple wrote: Change of residence. “Hopefully when settled he will not be as confused just have to remember at his age it’s a big change for him being moved and he won’t recognize the surroundings.”

Hug and luck.

Luis

[Bergenser]

I have luckily not had this problem with my husband. My mother-in-law who had Parkinson's disease had several episodes with hallucinations - each time it was either an infection - or a problem with medication. These episodes were clearly different to "nightmares" or to confusion/dementia - the brain was "seeing" things that were not there - spiders, rust on the interior walls, people stepping into the road and getting run over by the car...Even when she clearly knew the hallucinations were not real, they would be scary or upsetting. She found it helpful to be reassured about what was real and what was not.

Most importantly the medication had to be carefully adjusted to minimise this side effect while maximising the intended effect. It was particularly difficult to maintain the optimal dose of dopamine and Amantadine, And I believe there was also an antidepressants drug that played a role in hallucinations.

This might not directly translate to what your Mum is going through; I hope the Parkinson's nurse can help figure out the issue.

Hope and hugs 🌻 🤗

[PrettySailor]

Hi Joluu

My husband has had vivid dreams disturbing his sleep for sometime. He also moves around a lot in bed, to escape from or fight the thing causing him distress. We have been told it is REM sleep disorder and he takes Melatonin, which worked initially although it seems less effective now. Some of the dreams have no obvious trigger but others are clearly a result of things he has seen on TV or listened to on talking books, so he is careful and tries to avoid subjects he finds make him anxious.

[Bertieandpiper]

Hi Joluu

My husband still takes Madopar after his initial diagnosis of Parkinson’s, As his condition changed he was going to sleep earlier in the evening and sometimes missing his early evening dose, however on these days he was not waking with the really vivid dreams he had been experiencing always around 11-12pm. Our Parkinson’s nurse was happy for this dose to stop and since then he sleep is much more restful. If your mum is taking medication it may be pertinent for it to be reviewed especially if it is Madopar which is not routinely prescribed for PSP.

Best wishes

[David750]

Hi Jokluu, yes my wife must have had vivid dreams as she would wake me at 3am saying the carers were at the door want in. Also she wanted to know why I had rearranged the kitchen furniture leaving the dishwasher in the middle of the floor - a kitchen she designed. Hallucinations are common with PSP. Our Parkinson's nurse warmed us about the likelyhood. Once, he said, a coil of wire left after the removal of a wall light fitting terrified a sufferer thinking it was a large spider