My mom has been increasingly hallucinating that there are people, or a person, hiding in our backyard or near our yard's wall! What can I do?

I would simply answer this obsession with "OK, Mom, I will go check." Then do go and do some chores and return when some time has passed, and reassure her that you checked everything and nothing is there. Hopefully this particular obsession will pass quickly.
It is the guns that worry me.
I am assuming they are safely stored out of Mom's realm of knowledge and out of her reach.
I must watch too much true crime and listen to too many podcasts, because this would freak me out!

lotsokittycats, have your Mom's doctor check her for an Urinary Tract Infection. Such an infection in older people can cause hallucinations. These infections can be controlled with antibiotics.

Half joking - tell her they aren’t intruders - that they are the new security guards helping keep the area safer, when she says there’s one - look out and say “oh that’s Jim, he’s one of the guards mum”. If she persists that they are hiding rather than security just tell her you’ve asked them to check for any security issues....

Might take time to work, but worth a shot if you’ll pardon the pun !

Aricept sometimes works for paranoid delusions, but not always. Speak to her doctor about possible medications to help. In the absence of infection, it can be difficult to deal with this type of behavior on a regular basis. Don't argue with your mom as that will only lead to agitation. Try distracting her or changing the subject. If these delusions occur in the evenings, perhaps get her on a bathing schedule to coordinate with the time she struggles. Something, anything, that will divert her attention away from what she honestly believes is happening. Always try comforting her as she may just need reassurance that all is well. Have you tried letting her hold a baby doll when she gets upset? Many women calm down immediately when they see their "baby" who needs to be rocked, changed or swaddled. It may be worth a try.
Good luck!

My 90 year-old Dad thought people were coming into his room and taking things, I installed a inexpensive security camera to "catch anyone." Of course no one was entering his room, but he thought he was now back in control of the security of his room. I'd place a camera outside and tell her the police had a direct link and were constantly monitoring the yard for her. If they saw anything, they'd send someone out immediately. Yes, it's stretching the truth, but if it works for her, it's a easy fix and one that doesn't have to take you outside. I hope the suggestion helps.

My aunt heard music in the walls (unplugged EVERYTHING!),talked to invisible people, and told us about her friend who married a computer - only when she had a UTII.  I got her tested ASAP, in the ER when doc could not see her.

My neighbor was doing this. I found her one day hiding in my backyard behind bushes. I ACKNOWLEDGED her fears and comforted her. She felt safe and came out and let me walk her home. Telling her NO ONE IS THERE is not helpful. Your job will be much easier if you find another
to speak to her.

Get her checked for a UTI. Don't wait until next week, UTI's can become septic then you have additional problems to deal with. Take her to a 24 hour clinic. Or Call neurologist or her primary doctor to ask to have one ordered. Having results in hand will help with next week's appointment.

Take her out there with you. Ask her to show you the person persons because you know that shes hallucinating. Has she started a new medication? Does any of her regular meds have a side effect for hallucinations? Other than those suggestions I guess its best that yoy just ignore her stop entertaining the hallucinations and maybe shell get tired and start playing some other game. Good luck and God bless.

If she is Living with you, The only thing you can Do is Get used to it or Put her in a Facility that will Care for her. It gets wore where she may not Just Holler But Be a Bother. And you will Not be able to Control her.

This can be a symptom of Parkinson's disease and there are medications that can help. She needs to see a doctor to check this out.

Whenever this happened with my mom it was a urinary tract infection. She would scare me by waking me at 3 am, telling me the doorbell rang, or that she saw a man looking into her bedroom window, which was impossible. Some of her hallucinations were bizarre, such as seeing a woman's head spinning around on top of her TV. A round of antibiotics made this stop for awhile. There are other things beside a UTI that can cause hallucinations, so I would check with a doctor and also have her tested for UTI to rule out other things like Parkinson's.

My Mother had lewy body, and hallucinated all the time. Mostly auditory. I couldn't convince her they weren't real, to her they were very real. And sometimes frightening. The Dr put her on risperidone, and she calmed down and the hallucinations went away.

mmason, I agree in getting urine tested asap. Depending on your distance and relationship with her Dr’s office, I’ve been able to call in and request that they send a work order to LabCorp and we went directly there. My mother had another type of hallucination (she saw zoo animals in the trees) right before a ministroke when there wasn’t a UTI present.
So good you have a neurologist appt. next week after you’ve ruled this out!
You’ve gotten other great advice here. Good luck. 💐

Does your mother have vision problems from macular degeneration? Some elderly with severe macular degeneration have visual hallucinations from Charles Smollete’s syndrome. The hallucinations become more frequent as there is progression of the syndrome. My mother had this for about six years before she died. My MIL who lives with me has had three or four in the last month. She has early macular degeneration.

Your mother has dementia, and is at the paranoia stage. You may want to have her checked for a urinary track infection -- this sudden change can also be brought on by a UTI. Same thing happened with my mother. Be glad your mother calls you and not the police. Her paranoia could get bad enough that she starts to see you as the enemy, truly. Be prepared! If your mother starts calling the police, Adult Protective Services will be called in, then the "fun" really begins. They will expect you to solve everything in a very short amount of time -- as though anyone is prepared for this sort of thing! I would try to get someone to be with your mother during the day--a caregiver. She needs company to take her mind off of her situation, because she is frightened, rational or not. Fair warning: this is only the beginning -- your mother has dementia. It will get worse...start googling everything you can about dementia and its stages--you will want to know so you can stay sane. Blessings to you.

Have her tested for a UTI now. Do not wait til next week. You can take her to urgent care if she can’t get into her primary. If it’s due to an infection you don’t want to wait and it’s so easily treated. You can give her an over the counter Azo test as a preliminary but you’ll still need to have a dr prescribe an antibiotic when they do the culture.

Hallucinations are common with some types of dementia. You mention Alzheimer's it is possible to have more than one type of dementia or it is possible that the Alzheimer's diagnosis is a "catch-all".
That said other things can cause hallucinations.
UT
Medications
Double check with the pharmacy about medication interactions
Have her checked for a UTI

I do hope you have the firearms locked and in a location where she can't get to them. NEVER underestimate what a person with dementia can do when they get it in their head to do something. Even if you think she can't get to where you keep the firearms put another level of security in place. (Gun locked in safe..safe kept in closet...you should also lock the closet)

By the way if she is seeing movement outside it might or might not be a hallucination, she might be seeing branches move, squirrels running around gathering nuts, large birds. Keep drapes or blinds closed.
Change lights inside to LED's that are brighter and have a more white light.
You could also put up security lights outside so that IF anyone or thing is in the back yard a light will come on to illuminate the yard.

Please have your mom evaluated by a doctor. Many things can cause hallucinations: medications, infections, poor circulation, poor oxygenation, stroke, and memories of the past "appearing real".

My Gram, who lived to 98, had hallucinations when she had UTIs and once when she visited me in Colorado and her oxygenation was poor.

Until you can find and deal with the cause:

1 - try distracting her with another activity

2 - reassure her that you are "on guard" and won't let anybody or anything hurt her.

3 - realize that she is getting into a thought "do loop" where her mind keeps running along the same thought lines over and over and over again. When Gram got into these thought "do loops" about a family rift in the way distant past, I would acknowledge the sadness of this happening and change the subject.

4 - Make sure she has plenty of lights in the evening. As the sun goes down, being tired in the evenings and shadows may appear to be scary things which may be the reason for "Sun Downer's Syndrome"

My 93 year old dad is in the hospital for the very same thing. Monday night -- people outside, group of them, wanting to kill him. He still lives on his own and I have wanted to move him for a while now so he will not be going home. I am working on AL or memory care and we are telling him that his house is not safe for him.

My mother has always been what people used to describe as "high strung". After retirement, she relocated back to the state she was born. After years of working at least 2 jobs, going to church, some functions with ex-coworkers and shopping (she was an avid coupon-er before it became a thing), she slowly but surely stopped doing everything she enjoyed and cut herself off socially except for close family that had to come to her. Because of what her "normal" behavior had always been, some signs that should've been a red flag that something else was going  on were missed. She started constantly complaining about the thermostat for her central air & heat wasn't working. I had a constant crew of techs coming in to check the unit, only to be told everything was fine (it was the only way to get her to temporarily stop the complaining). Fast forward to this year where, during one of our daily phone calls, she tells me that a truck/car was flashing its headlights while at the intersection of her house and "moving the thermostat up/down". I was stunned and thought (prayed) I'd heard wrong. When I finally blurted out "Uh, what??", she repeated it. It became a mantra every day, all day & night! I had a security system installed in her home that came with a thermostat that could be viewed & controlled remotely, so I could see via the app that she would be up all night moving the thermostat up & down, and phone calls to me overnight was part of it. Trying to explain that that wasn't possible only lead to her getting mad, declaring I didn't love her, why would she lie, screaming and hanging up on me. At first trying to redirect the conversation would help (talking about my daughter or her small young grandnieces & nephews would have her laughing and the call would end on a good note). But after awhile, that no longer worked and she'd call me back within minutes with the headlights story. This summer, with temperatures in NC in the mid-90s and heat indexes of 105+ degrees, she literally ripped the thermostat off the wall and refused to leave her house when it reached over 90 inside. I had to have her taken to the hospital under an involuntary hold where she was eventually diagnosed with dementia with a psychotic break. All of that to say, what your mom is experiencing isn't going stop, it's going to get worse without medical intervention. While it's inconvenient to you, it's mentally tormenting your mom. Speak to her doctor about it immediately and, like some others have suggested, have her checked for an UTI as well. I wish the best for the both of you!

First of all, stop trying to convince your mother things are not what she sees. These hallucinations are as real to her as reality is to you. These hallucinations are a very huge part of dementia and while you don't say your mom has been diagnosed with it, she definitely has some sort of dementia. You should talk to her doctor about this and see if there are any medications that will reduce her hallucinations. Don't waste your time and breath trying to convince her she is not seeing things.

As Kathy4147 says, don't try to convince your mother that her perceptions are not true. Try asking her questions about these hiding people as though they are real. "What do you think the hiding people want to do?" "Do you think the hiding people need something?" She is at an apprehensive stage of life, but her Dementia is distorting how she is able to express her fears. Maybe her answers to questions will give you a clue about what she is really afraid of.

So much great advise here--I strenuously agree to take her to her doc or urgent care for a UTI test immediately. Then talk with her doc or specialist about her medicine or if it's her disease causing the hallucinations and how to help your mother.

One thing that helped with my mom was I pretended the hallucinations were real. Actually it was rather fun. If Mom saw a strange woman in the kitchen I asked Mom if the woman had Mom's permission to in her home. "No." I would go into the kitchen and loudly (for Mom's benefit) order her out of the house, that she didn't have Mom's permission to be here, then "escort" the woman out the back door and make a show of locking all the locks. Mom was satisfied and calm and immediately forgot all about it. Once Mom awoke with chickens in her room. I rounded them all up and "put" them in their coop. She was satisfied and went back to sleep.

You tell her physician - they have medicine that will help. Also, if Mom is on Benadryl - I had to take my DH off it because it causes hallucinations. Again, you call her physician about the hallucination.

Agree with getting a test for UTI and discussing that or medication with her doctors. You could start with a home test if they can't get her tested right away, but they should be able to send orders to a lab to have the test done without seeing her in their office first as a precaution. UTIs present odd behavior often.

Agree also that you really cannot convince her that these are hallucinations. To her they are real. I do like MountainMoose's solution - play along with the 'game', or DareDiffer's suggestion that they are security you hired to keep people out of the yard. Inconvenient as it might be, going out to "check" and "shoo" them away when she says they are there might work too. Sounds like this is daytime, which would be easier than at night! If you can use something else as a "weapon", not the guns, it might reinforce that you are "handling" the intruders. Whatever works (arguing, explaining, trying to convince her with words is the least likely to work.)

Install a motion detector. That can be both a safety device and if it doesn't come on, then where is the intruder? It could be a branch blowing in the wind as well. My neighbor's motion detector comes on all of the time when the wind picks up and the branches of the tree move, triggering it. Also, it has acted as a great safety precaution against prowlers, real and imagined!

Please don't argue with her. It wont help. Try to be as understanding as possible, show concern and let her know all is OK outside. Redirect to other things when these things occur. Trying to convince her what she is seeing is not real will only agitate. Please have a Doctor consult. Lewy Body Dementia or UTI could be the culprit. Main thing is, don't panic and don't get angry. If she wants to go to Egypt, in her mind, go with her. I know it is stressful observing someone you love behave this way. Good luck to you.

My LO was diagnosed schizoaffective, with vascular dementia a couple years ago.
She too has delusions, and was in psychosis, and she’d tell me about 3 men that were around her house.
Literally so so many different stories such as that.
Finally I got her to a mental health crisis center, and the Psychiatrist asked her if she wanted to come back to reality. My LO said yes so the Dr placed her on an Anti-Psychotic medication Risperdone.
Within days she came out of her delusions.
Eventually I got her to a Neurologist he prescribed dementia medication Namenda, and eventually added Ariceft and I finally got her to a permanent psychiatrist Dr who immediately took her off the anti-psychotic Risperdone that the earlier crisis psychiatrist placed her on. The new psyche Dr placed her on Trileptal for mood stabilization as well as an anti depressant medicine Lexapro and she was semi ok for about a year but then stopped taking her meds, or would just screw up her pill box.
To make a very long long story short she ended up once again in a constant deluded state from October to July, I couldn’t get the psychiatrist to place her back on a anti psychotic medication but instead he filled out lengthy paperwork stating she needed to be placed in a 24-7 secured facility.
She fell in June and broke her hip, she was so out of her mind, fortunately the hospital psychiatrist placed her on the anti psychotic medication Zyprexa and there was a wonderful Social Worker at the hospital who understood what was going too so a few days after hip surgery she was sent to a nursing home for Long Term Custodial Care, and rehab in the hip.
While there she was evaluated by a Neuropsych Dr., and then a few days later a Psychiatrist came in to also evaluate her. Both Dr’s stated she has Lack Of Capacity, and is now living in a Skilled Nursing Facility on there Residential side. She will never be able to live alone again, and I personally believe because she was left in such a psychotic state for so long that this in itself did some additional permanent damage.
Her dementia is getting much worse too and shes been in the nursing home for almost 3 months now, and has not once asked me about her home, her stuff or her cat not anything! It’s very sad, but I’m relieved she is safe and getting the level of care she needs.
My LO is only 67 years old.
So if I have any advice for you I’d say get her to a Dr to get the necessary medication to get her out of her deluded state, that’s of course if she doesn’t just have a UTI. Obviously It would be better if she just has a UTI.

One thing I used to say to my LO when she’d tell me crazy things like men are outside her home is that it must be frightening for her to feel unsafe., and then just assure her that you believe that she believes that ppl are outside but you are protecting her.
But don’t say mom there’s nobody out there.
Cuz trust me you’ll never get her to believe you. These are fixed beliefs in her mind and nothing you say will take them away.
Best to redirect her thoughts to something else .. like Mom it’s Tuesday ice cream day are you ready for your ice cream cone.
Anyway, good luck to you.

Please watch Teepa Snow videos on YouTube. They will help you.