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Do you agree with my blog today? Should victims of LBD be told they aren't in reality? (Poll Closed)

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Total Votes: 79
10 Comments

  • Gladys Stefany - 15 years ago

    My Mom recently died from complications of LBD. After several years of dealing with her "altered reality", I can tel you there were times we told her that her perceptions/hallucinations were not real and there were times we went along with them. If the hallucinations or perceptions were frightening or worrisome to her, we reminded her that the doctor said that the protein deposits in her brain would sometimes create images that were not real. If they were perceptions/hallucinations that made her happy (like the time she was having lunch with her very long dead mother) we just went along with them.

  • Gladys Stefany - 15 years ago

    My Mom recently died from complications of LBD. After several years of dealing with her "altered reality", I can tel you there were times we told her that her perceptions/hallucinations were not real and there were times we went along with them. If the hallucinations or perceptions were frightening or worrisome to her, we reminded her that the doctor said that the protein deposits in her brain would sometimes create images that were not real. If they were perceptions/hallucinations that made her happy (like the time she was having lunch with her very long dead mother) we just went along with them.

  • darlene - 15 years ago

    I remember when my grandfather was about 85 yrs old (in those days, we said he was "senile" -- now we know it was most likely Alzheimer's), he thought I was my mother. He'd sit in his rocking chair in the kitchen while I did the dishes and he'd talk to me as if it was 30 or 40 years ago, about people I didn't know and events that were long gone. But there was no point in recalling him to the present, because he was 'way out of touch with the present. The past WAS his present and the disease had progressed to where there was no sense in trying to tell him what the year was, who I was, etc.

    Now with my dad, who's in early stages of dementia, we readily remind him of what he's forgotten or what he's confused about. It seems to help him focus on the present.

  • Raquel Asay - 15 years ago

    Same as Jacquelyne, I think it depends on the effect the "reality" -or lack of it- may have. Once, my husband woke up telling me "Remember last night when I went out?" (he hadn't gone out, we were watching TV). Then he told me he had gone out with a group of young people who "wanted me to do bad things. Then one of the girls approached me and tried to tempt me into -you know what. But I didn't want it, I told her I was married and I didn't do that -being unfaithful to my wife. I had to run away from the group, because the kept insisting". He was really upset, so I calmed him down, told him it had been a bad dream and that he never had gone out last night or I would have noticed, and that I didn't have any doubts that he was always faithful to me (which is an absolute truth). When he realized that it really had been a nightmare/hallucination, he was so happy!
    So, it depends...

  • Debbie - 15 years ago

    I agree with Dan. In my training, I learned that it is best to try to figure out the feelings behind the untrue statement and try to support the individual in what they are feeling in the moment. Maybe they miss someone who is gone, or miss a place they used to live. It is better to get the person involved in a conversation about that individual, or that place, rather than force them into reality. Because in reality, then they grieve the loss each time it is brought up.

    I worked in various psychiatric settings for 20 years, and bringing reality to a psychiatric setting is important. That was my job. But I found in working with people who have dementia, the goals are different.

  • Jacquelyn E.Vignola - 15 years ago

    If it's something good and would make my Husband happy and feel good we would go with it.If it was bad and was making him feel bad ,mad or aggitated I would try to explain that it was just a dream.I tried not to use delusion or hallucination.He did happen to be a person that tolerated Respirdone and that really helped.
    He died Nov. 15th 2007 after about 5 years of active LBD,3 of them with a firm diagnosis.

  • Marian - 15 years ago

    Why deprive somebody of a fond memory? Who is it hurting?

  • Susan - 15 years ago

    I think it depends on the situation. Although, most of time the reality of the moment is not harmful. It certainly is easier to go with the flow (and certainly never boring) than to try to argue a reality check.

  • Nancy Bigelow - 15 years ago

    When my husband speaks of his parents I never tell him they are gone. However, sometimes he straight out asks if they are gone and I answer, "yes." Usually I use "fiblets" and diversion tactics, when I can, to get through his many questions. There are times, though, when he is frantically seeking an answer to something and the only way to settle him down is to tell him the truth. An example is he has started looking for "the baby" and gets extremely agitated when he can't find it. I'm finally learning to tell within the first few minutes whether I need to give him a Seroquel to calm him down or if I can talk him around his questions or divert him to some other activity. More and more it's the Seroquel. He ends up much more calm as do I. So, generally my answer to your question is, "no" with an occassional, "it all depends."

  • Dan - 15 years ago

    First of all, I cannot speak about LBD, but I can speak about Alz. I voted no, but it does depend on where someone is in the disease. Early on, it makes sense to tell the truth - but later, when the patient won't understand or remember, it does not make sense. Another patient who writes about the disease said 'do not lie to us' - but the fact that he writes says he can understand. Being brutally honest, later he will not be able to - and the truth will hurt, and not help in any way. Why remind my wife, every time she asks for her mom, that she passed away 10 years ago?

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