Preservatives and Hallucinations in LBD Patients

My mom has been hallucinating for the past several days. I give her the homeopathic remedy, Helleborus Niger, 4 pellets at a time to dissolve under her tongue; they eventually chase away the visions.

Her hallucinations aren't scaring her, unlike a year ago when she was woken with night terrors, sleep walking and talking gibberish. A huge difference is that now I understand her hallucinations, I can see a relationship between her hallucinations and foods she eats.

Two days ago I made her a salad and used a dry package of Good Season's Salad Dressing. I mixed it with my own oil and vinegar. I had a feeling that the preservatives would cause my mom a problem; I wasn't certain, so I gave it a shot, I wasn't sure …

Now, I'm sure.

Preservatives in premixed salad dressings, even the dry packages with herbs and spices, appear to affect my mom's brain function and she hallucinates. I am now on a mission to figure out how to make a salad dressing that tastes like Good Season's without the preservatives.

Hallucinations... maybe they are real?

I've decided to go along with my mom's hallucinations, telling her that I've banished the little kids or chased the strange lady away. I told her that I called the kids mother and reprimanded her for not keeping a better handle on her kids. My mom, I love her, she says, "Why did they tell you that they were coming here?"

"Ma, the kids like you a lot. Can you blame them? You are an awesome Grammy and they want you to be their Grammy." I said to her with the most convincing face and tone of voice I could muster up.

My mom replies, "Oh. OK. I can see why they are coming."

I continued and said, "I asked their mom to tell the kids to leave you alone because they bother you." She said, "Oh, they don't bother me, I just worry that they are going to get hurt."

That seemed to work last night to get her to go to sleep.

This morning, she was in another panic. There were 2 new girls in her bathroom. Again I told her that I'd check the situation out. I went into the bathroom and closed the door. I came out and said, "Oh, don't worry, the girls got lost, they were on the wrong street. You won't see them again."

I'm noticing that the less preservatives of any kind that my mom ingests, the fewer hallucinations she experiences.

Hypothesis: For better days and nights that are hallucination free, preservatives of all kinds must be eliminated from ones diet, especially if the individual is suffering from Lewy Bodies Dementia.

Observation: I have noticed that with my mom's condition, she is super sensitive to all foods that are not naturally grown. Preservatives will always bring on hallucinations; sometimes they are intense where she's freaking out, out of breath, panicked. Then there are times she believes that we have extra rooms or new kitchen appliances in her bedroom.

Last night, my mom went to bed clutching her purse for dear life. I went in to check on her and asked her why she was hanging onto her purse. She said something about the kids stealing her money.

I made believe that I was Nurse Sue and said to her, "Oh Josephine, your purse will be safer if you let me lock it up in your closet." It took a few minutes of coaxing but I got her to give me her purse but not without her throwing in, “… Well, I’ll check my purse tomorrow and all my money better be in there!”