Interestingly, what lead us to having to put my grandmother in a retirement home was she became convinced her neighbour (older than her, and far less mobile) was plotting to steal from her. She heard them talking at night, conspiring, through the shared wall of their town home. She can’t hear you talking to her 10 feet away. But through the wall? But It was bizarre, she never made these kinds of claims and, she was adamant. So much so, my dad got her place swept, they investigated, because it was so out of the blue. Nothing. Finally it reached a point, something is wrong, and mom brought her to the hospital. She was getting dementia and was given medications.
Overtime, she needed less, and things stabilized, because - she got way better hearing aides. Turns out, while she was getting dementia, her hearing was also getting worse and the hearing aides weren’t working correctly, and to fill in the blanks, her brain decided to try and make sense of the noises it was hearing. It turned various sounds and, maybe muffled speech, into voices and words. Completely fabricating “conversations” she could her “through the wall.”
Even now, she’s much better, but you can tel instantly when her hearing aides aren’t functioning correctly. She is very withdrawn, seems easily confused about normal stuff, like what day it is, what time it is, etc. Help her get them working properly, and she’s completely different.
captainmouse86 t1_iz23sus wrote
Reply to Hearing aids might be an important tool in the effort to prevent cognitive decline and dementia. The use of hearing aids was associated with a 19% reduction in long-term cognitive decline. The use of these devices can even benefit those who have begun to show a decline in cognition by Wagamaga
Interestingly, what lead us to having to put my grandmother in a retirement home was she became convinced her neighbour (older than her, and far less mobile) was plotting to steal from her. She heard them talking at night, conspiring, through the shared wall of their town home. She can’t hear you talking to her 10 feet away. But through the wall? But It was bizarre, she never made these kinds of claims and, she was adamant. So much so, my dad got her place swept, they investigated, because it was so out of the blue. Nothing. Finally it reached a point, something is wrong, and mom brought her to the hospital. She was getting dementia and was given medications.
Overtime, she needed less, and things stabilized, because - she got way better hearing aides. Turns out, while she was getting dementia, her hearing was also getting worse and the hearing aides weren’t working correctly, and to fill in the blanks, her brain decided to try and make sense of the noises it was hearing. It turned various sounds and, maybe muffled speech, into voices and words. Completely fabricating “conversations” she could her “through the wall.”
Even now, she’s much better, but you can tel instantly when her hearing aides aren’t functioning correctly. She is very withdrawn, seems easily confused about normal stuff, like what day it is, what time it is, etc. Help her get them working properly, and she’s completely different.