This entry is written by Truthful Loving Kindness (yes, that is my full legal name) for publishing at http://www.truthfulkindness.com , so PLEASE address any questions or comments to that website, regardless of which website shows these words. 

Even with early-to-mid-stage symptoms, i have great difficulty when told that my REALITY is not real — but someone else’s reality is real. What i see, hear, smell, touch, and taste (yes there are also taste hallucinations) is unreliable.  … So …

it leaves me as a nothing.
it obliterates my sense of SELF
which is integral to my well-being.

This is true whether hallucination or simply delusion.  In EARLY stages, “orientation to reality” (“consensus reality” >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_reality ) can be helpful, because we still have the ability to reason-out the logical conclusions, but in mid-to-later stages it becomes much more complex on whether these efforts can be helpful or not.

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When i remember that i have dementia symptoms, then i can ask for your input, put ear plugs in (to figure out if it is sound hallucination), maybe take a photo (to figure out if it is visual hallucination).  … and even right now, sometimes i forget that i have dementia symptoms, and it is helpful (at this stage) to remind me that i have hallucinations.  

Later it will not be helpful to remind me that i have hallucinations.  it will NOT be helpful to try to orient me to consensus reality. 

it will be good if you have done a bit of practice with “improv” when i get to that point.  >> https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/how-improv-helping-patients-alzheimers-disease .  Improv techniques allow the care-partner to “step into my world” and go with the flow of ideas instead of forcing MY world to try to conform to the reality that does not exist for ME.

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Here is a 10-minute video that illustrates improv benefits when family or care-partner for a Person Living with Dementia symptoms.  It begins with the principles in Links above, but takes it a bit further.  ((However, for ME, i would prefer you do not agree to something that is not true; perhaps instead of “Yes and …” it might be better to say “Oh i didnt know that — and … ” .))

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Links:

In addition to the Links above, this one is good >> https://www.seniorsguide.com/alzheimers-dementia/improv-for-dementia-interaction-methods-for-memory-loss-patients/ .

Types of Hallucinations by Truthful Kindness at https://truthfulkindness.com/2020/01/26/hallucination-types/ ;  

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… For early-to-moderate stages i have gathered LINKS for dementia symptoms and Strategies (alphabetized) at >> https://truthfulkindness.com/about/d-info/links-sx-strategies/.  

. For more advanced stages Teepa Snow has excellent series called “Making Visits Valuable” beginning at >>… and Listing at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2E2lPBsUeBjA1Utglo8q6yANAijEf8cX .

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SHARE dementia awareness thru buttons below. Subscribe “FOLLOW” button is at the very bottom of the page, with “Category” Links, “Recent Posts” and “Archive”.  If you put your eMail address there you should get an eMail each time i write a blog entry.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of comments, but please filter your comments with truthful loving kindness to all concerned. … *** …  If there is an advertisement below, I have no control over what is shown.   My own full legal name is Truthful Loving Kindness. My current diagnosis is still Mild Cognitive Impairment, but my neurologist said I am in a unique position for helping because I have “one foot in each door”.  Text Copyright © Truthful L. Kindness on 27Jun2022. For the blackboard “Reality” image, i combined bird from photo by Sergey Lapunin at UnSplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/m4WGUwoLQlY ) in Kitchen photo by Paul Hanaoka at UnSplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/Dl6H4_nzBpE ).  Then added a screen shot of my calendar and a combo-pic for Guy and me in 1992 in contrast to 2017.  This was a ProCreate project using Alaina Jensen’s Chalk set.  ***  The door pic started with photo frm Stephen Poore on UnSplash, at https://unsplash.com/photos/SA3QGeKiKRk . then i added other stuff on top of it.
***  i dont mind re-posting of things i write, but if you re-post then i expect you to make it clear this is NOT written by you. My authorship as Truthful Kindness (my legal name) must be clearly identified, and provide very prominent Link to my website so that questions and comments can be addressed to ME personally at http://www.truthfulkindness.com . .
Tags: alzheimers, caregiver, delusion, dementia, hallucination, improv, person with dementia, PLwD, reality, symptoms, strategy.  S&S categ: delusion, hallucination.

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