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This is normal for an Alzheimer's patient.
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Yes...this is a part of the early stages of Alzheimer's. At least for my Dad. He would go into the bathroom and see himself in the mirror and tell my Mom that that guy was back and to give him his rifle because he was going to shoot him. Which means....my Dad did not recognize himself in the mirror; he had no gun in the house; so was returning to World War II when he was in the Army. So my Mom took to covering all the mirrors in the house with newspaper. All I can say to you is that....this too will pass. And it may not take too long. Hang in there.
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Hi there,
My mother is diagnosed with Dementia and is in a nursing facility. There is a full length mirror in her room and she frequently talks to her reflection. At times she does this when other people are in the room. She attempts to introduce her visitors to the person that is her reflection. She did start talking to the mirror months before she went into the nursing home.
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If she gets a CT scan they can usually tell (sometimes )the type. My mother has a diagnosis of vascular dementia ( brought on due to A. Fib ) . You can clearly see the areas with damage from the strokes but she also has a few small “ holes” so the dr said it’s probably actually mixed. I took her to the Brain Health Center at Cleveland Clinic for evaluation but I image most large hospital systems would have something similar
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When I was 12, my grandmother moved in with us. In the span of about 6 months, she went from being fully lucid to talking to her friend in the bathroom mirror. She was always disappointed when the friend wouldn't come out to play with her. The mirror was a source of social interaction and joy for her. I would encourage you to not be too disturbed by it, if it makes her happy. It disturbed me when I was a girl, but now I look back on it and am happy my grandmother was pleased to see her friend.
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To her she found a friend. I do not think it is odd. I believe it is dementia or Alzheimer's. Some people think it is someone else and get mad of why they are there. It is a good comfort to have the friend. In her world it is okay
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I have hundreds of videos of my mother talking to her long lost friend in the mirror!
Laughing & happy, so excited to see her, even trying to “get inside” the mirror to be with her.
In my experience, my mother was relieved to see a person she recognized and it brought her lots of security in an often lost & confusing world.
My only warning would be to say, if she is looking in a full length mirror then make sure it is secured well to the wall.
I once found my mother trying to pull a big heavy mirror down off the wall to get to her friend.
And once in the evening we were on a train and she recognized her own face out of many in the reflection of the window.
”oh hellooo, how are you! “She said with a beaming smile and then she turned to me and told me that she knew her. :)
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I remember being a Geriatric nurse long, long ago. We had staff regularly "orient" a patient to person, day, time, etc. : "What is the name of the President of the United States?"

As far as I was concerned, we should have given this unit, full of sad, lonely people, isolated by "caretakers" and locked unit doors, Christmas every day. Take your choice of holiday. Birthdays can be celebrated any day in the year, over and over. When the patient is that "disoriented" then why not let them live in a happy reality?

A dear, ancient little lady lay surrounded by a crowded room in what used to be called a hospital "ward". It was especially set aside for people that didn't have enough money to afford privacy - and so much more. The "women's lavatory" was a long room like you'd see at a trailer camp. No doors on the stalls. If you got up to go use it you'd have to step over wires from medical equipment and IV's. - A nightmare.

But back to this 100 year old angel. She had a sort of four-poster metal bed and saw kittens; millions of kittens all over the bed, lounging on the metal bars and plopping down onto her coverlet. My fellow co-workers, each in their turn, spent shift time straining to make her understand that she was seeing things and that there were no kittens. I finally got my time with her and I'll never forget the joy she experienced before her happy, peaceful death. "Look! See that fluffy white one!" the memory of her delighted laughter will always remain with me.

Forget trying to analyze or diagnose this behavior. Go to the Dollar Tree and buy gazillions of mirrors and plaster them everyplace. What price happiness? Substitute your mother's declining state of reality with the joy she's been blessed enough to supplant it with.
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TekkieChikk May 2019
One of the most touching things I've ever read here. God blessed you with abundant kindness that you didn't hesitate to share with that little "100 year old angel."
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This is an amazing and insightful conversation and I appreciate everyone’s sharing their experiences.
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I understand dementia ...

my question is ... she has a friend ... someone to confide in that understands her ... shes not alone.

Thats bad how ???
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Mmendall May 2019
No one said its bad. Maybe you should read before you comment.
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I had an elder who would see birds flying around her room. It was fortunate that they were friendly birds. I would ask her about the birds--which kind, the colour etc. I had another elder with a teddy bear that was thought to be alive. I would always address the teddy politely as if he could hear me. If she is comforted by the friend in the mirror, I would go along with it. It was very kind of you to get her more mirrors.
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Thats interesting, & it sounds comforting to her. My only info is that my mother 'talked to herself ' regularly: since I was a child. (I've never known anyone else who did that, nor do I know why). Mom held regular conversations (both sides) with herself whenever she thought she was alone. I wish I knew what caused it.
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disgustedtoo Jun 2019
"...regular conversations (both sides) with herself..." I do this, but mainly because I am the only person living here AND my cats don't carry on their side of the conversation!!! =^..^= (I berate myself for doing stupid things too!)
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