My dad has been in the hospital for two days for bronchitis. All of a sudden today he starts hallucinating really bad. The staff has assured me they aren't giving him any new mediciation that he doesn't already take. He has Parkinson's and dementia. Is it normal to have them?
My mother's dementia is quite mild and she does seem to hallucinate, I think. Sometimes, I think it's caused by other things, such as family drama which stresses her, but I'm not certain. But also, many people in this forum will say that being in the hospital is quite traumatic and brings these kinds of things out, even more.
What I'm saying is this: don't rule out infections and such but if you don't find anything, just keep in-mind that this does happen and could happen, again. Just be on the watch for it as it can cause him to wander off or do things that could be destructive/harmful.
dont dispute the hallucinations, just downplay them as harmless as much as possible. my mom told me once the bike shed was on fire. i told her ike and the short bus were both sitting in the front yard safe so let it burn.. it helps to be a little nuts yourself for this task..
Visual hallucinations are one of the core symptoms of Dementia with Lewy Bodies. The hallucinations tend to occur early in the dementia. So, this may be part of the dementia package, as vava51 says.
Hallucinations are also common in urinary tract infections in elders. Testing for this should be done, in my opinion.
I spent a few days in ICU and hallucinated and had neither dementia nor a uti.
If this persists beyond his hospital stay it should definitely be discussed with the doctor who is treating his Parkinson's.
For good information about Parkinson's Disease with Dementia (PDD) visit the Lewy Body Dementia Associaion's web site, LBDA.org
If you wouldn't mind coming back and updating us on how this all plays out for you, we can all learn from your experience.