The beginning of dementia? (long)

My Mom is turing 71 this year, has MS and is in a wheelchair. Like any 71 year old, she is not as sharp as she used to be, but something my brother mentioned the other day makes me think she may have the beginning signs of dementia.

A few months ago, my sister and BIL were visiting her. Shortly after they left, she said that a man and a woman came to her front window, knocked very hard and were yelling at her about a cat. She said they were saying "is this your cat? we found your cat." She said she called the police (not the NYPD, but the police from the gated community where she lives) and they never came.

At the time I believed her, because she lives in an area with a lot, for lack of a better word, weirdos. I have been over her house when someone has knocked on the door asking if there were rooms to rent. Someone also approached my sister asking her the same thing.

My sister came over this morning and told me that my mom said that on saturday night at 2 am, a man entered her house with a dog. she had fallen asleep on the couch and forgot to lock her door and woke up to use the bathroom. When she got out, the dog started to bark at her and the man kept apologizing saying he was in the wrong house. She said that he thought it was his friend's house and spoke with a thick russian accent (large population of russian immigrants where she lives...not to be confused with the weirdos i mentioned before...) She said she did not call the police or anything.

My brother thinks this may be a hallucination and the onset of dementia. While I have to agree it is possible, I also know her community and can also see something like this happening.

I don't know what to think. My Mom refuses medical treatment for pretty much everything now. She says that if anything is wrong with her, any treatment would just weaken her to the point of misery. She doesn't even get mammograms.

I'm so confused.

Thanks for reading this far.

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

Re: The beginning of dementia? (long)

I'm so sorry you and your family are dealing with this

I think your mom should be evaluated by a doctor. If nothing is wrong and she just has weird neighbors better to know and not have to constantly question her experiences.

Re: The beginning of dementia? (long)

Posted by BunnyWife

I'm so sorry you and your family are dealing with this

I think your mom should be evaluated by a doctor. If nothing is wrong and she just has weird neighbors better to know and not have to constantly question her experiences.

Re: The beginning of dementia? (long)

Is she on any medication that might be causing her to hallucinate? When my mom was sick and on pain meds, she would dream up the weirdest stuff and insist it was true.

ETA: I know how hard it is to have a mother who is sick and not making sense, and how worried you must be for her. Hope you're okay.

Message edited 5/19/2009 3:46:46 PM.

Re: The beginning of dementia? (long)

Also is there some way you can check with the police to see if she really called?

Re: The beginning of dementia? (long)

I agree with everyone else about having her checked out.

My grandmother developed a form of dementia which actually came from a series of TIAs (transient ischemic attacks - aka "mini strokes") as part of what's called small blood vessel disease.

i think some of the first symptoms were wandering/getting lost in familiar places, hallucinations - hers were never anything frightening, she'd see "workers" in the trees... or she'd take out cookies because the "kids" were coming over, things like laughing/crying inappropriately, etc.

What my grandmother had was fatal because basically the blood vessels in her brain were all being destroyed, so she ended up slowly losing parts of her personality and bodily functioning.

I pray that your mother doesn't have anything like that, but I do think it's best that she is checked out by a professional