about two years ago my dad started hearing things. We started playing doctor tag looking for the silver bullet. Mom keeps hopeing he will return to normal but she just keep getting her hopes bashed. has any one eperance with something like this he hears talking when he goes to bed even tells us the police came and took the kid next door to the funny farm. any pointers.

you may want to seek a neurologist-- often halucinations are early Lewy Bodies Disease. A parkinsons-dementia type of disease.

Hearing voices is part of dementia. Some do and some don't. I think more do than we know. The chemicals in the brain are unbalanced. The person actually hears the voices or sounds in their head, just as if they were acutually happening. This is what causes paranoia and makes them do strange things. The imbalance in the brain chemicals can be caused by a lot of things. As has been said even a mild infection can upset things in the ederly. Remember to always treat the person hearing the voices with respect and never tell them they don't hear them. Just that you can't hear them. Confronting them causes them to be aggitated and makes things worse.
Try to find a cause..example infection...and get a good diagnosis as to what is going on with your dad. There are many medications that can help with bothersome voices but you must be careful to not overmedicate. Many antipsycotics just make things worse...but some can be a God send. Also remember medications take time to work. They do not do the job overnight and you must be patient and give the drug at least a couple of weeks to get into the system.

Hi Kr, I'm sorry to hear that you have this to worry about.

My mom's dementia began with with hallucinations and delusions---and they were very well developed; quite florid! As she became a danger to herself, and then later to others as well, I was finally able to have her admitted for psychiatric evaluations.

It turns out that she has Lewy Body Dementia, but before that diagnosis was reached she had been differentially diagnosed over a period of a couple of years with "religious preoccupation", bi-polar affective disorder, very-late-onset schizophrenia, and dementia (of no particular type).

So the various dementias are a possibility, but if possible you should have your dad get a complete work-up. Sometimes something as simple as a urinary tract infections will cause hallucinations. Strokes and low oxygen levels are also a concern.

Hang in there---I know this is a difficult time for you! Try to get your dad in to see a doctor; read up on the different dementias (especially Lewy Body); and start learning about the dangers of some of the anti-psychotic drugs.

(((Hugs)))

Has he been given a diagnosis? Is he on any memory medications? Aricept, for example, can result in very vivid dreaming that they think is real. That effect seems to have worn off for our LO, though.

Our LO has had some occasional benign hallucinating such as hearing clocks chiming and complaining of burning smells. It took us a while to even identify it as such, but the doctor advised that it was just part of her disease.