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My mother recently had a very negative reaction to a medication (paranoia, delusions, agitation, etc.) and was hospitalized overnight. That seemed to totally tip her over the edge into dementia, which in hindsight I realize has been happening for some time. She is better now but is hearing music, noises in her head, which she says is "driving her crazy." It might well be caused by her medications (she recently started a very low dosage of Seroquel....and she takes a lot of meds), but I was wondering whether or not this could be a part of the dementia?

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Yes it could be part of dementia depending on what type of dementia she has and at what stage. I am not familiar with the Seroquel and how that med may react or interfere with her other meds. I would talk with her dr. or make an appt with a dr. who specializes in geriatrics. My experience is with Alzheimer's. My father had it, he had hallucinations in the moderate stage. My mom now has Alz too, she is at the mid stage and hallucinations have not happened at this point. From what you say, this is early stage dementia and it could be lewy body dementia. I don't have information on it other than what is on the web, but a visit with a dr. who specializes in geriatrics would be able to help you with this.
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Does she have a hearing problem? There is something called MES ... Musical Ear Syndrome.
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She wears two hearing aids AND spends a lot of time in total silence....worrying about things past and present. I've read up on MES and told her about it and that she needs outside audible stimulation. I have gotten her a radio and Talking Books (which is a wonderful service for the blind), but she won't listen to either for very long at a time and only when I insist. I'm not sure of what else to try......and if I suggest it, she's most likely to reject it!
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I decided to check in on line, about my mom, with dementia and as of maybe the last 5 or so months that I am aware, is hearing music and a man humming in her ears, usually at night! The reason I found out about this is I have been sleeping in her room, and at night she would mention hearing the music and the man singing in her ear, and it was loud! I asked her how it makes her feel? She said it was very nice! She likes it! :) Then today while having lunch with her in the house she do you her the music? and I said no....but i believe you hear it! Mom is on namenda and aricept for over 6 or 7 yrs! She is still aware of her surroundings enough and places people etc....But this was something new! I definitely dont hear anything when she says it!
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doc usually likes to see the elder under the care of a phsyc doc . it would seem that a lot of meetings with phsycologists / therapists are just a moneymaking scam but they are doing the groundwork for the prescribing phsyc doc .
my mother would not see a phsyc doc . fortunately in the last 3 months of her life haldol injections administered by hospice kept her fairly calm but the hallucinations never really stopped . by moms own admission the haldol injections provided needed relief .
a hospice aid told me i should just take mom for a little ride and end up at phsyc docs office . poor dumb girl doesnt realize that manic depression is also called the brilliant madness . youd need a heck of a nights sleep and a big breakfast to pull one over on my mom ..
in her last 2 weeks of life hospice would like to have admitted her to a facility so they could work with medications . i finally asked hospice nurse how much improvement did they expect from a dementia patient in the final dying stage ?
i think a facility would have disoriented her and added agitation to the mix .
the caregiver job seems like the pivot man at a circle jerk sometimes ..
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Dem so sorry for her i have ringing in my ears since an accident its enough alone to drive you buggy! i was told to listen to "white noise" it does help me you put the radio between stations so you hear a fuzz this is white noise it does drown out the tinnitus for me i dont know for your mum worth a try?? i had to take pills to sleep at night its a nightmare! i was asked in tests if i hear music? voices? I thought this was strange to ask but now i see some hear music some ringing oh god love her so annoying!
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Actually just remembered certain painkillers would make it worse ibuprofen? yes the meds could have been the cause also do you know if she banged her head or ear lately i fell and banged my ear and its been ringing since?
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My husband is 79 and is has been experiencing hallucinations for a while but he lately hears music and gets very distressed that i don't hear it. His hallucinations have been getting worse especially at night andvthe music he hears both day and night. He takes donepizel and memantine. I am at my wits end because sleeping at night is becoming impossible. One doctor told m e to give him Zanax and another told me not to. I don't kn o w what to do. Anybody have any helpful suggestions.
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Looking for MES support group.
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I'm 67 years old with early onset dementia. However, this singing started long before the diagnosis. Sometimes it's in both ears which is very agitating. I lie in bed and just cry. People don't understand. I was a very active person and did lots to help other people that needed any kind of help! It's day and night, sometimes just night. If I'm in a crowd or out shopping, I don't hear it. What's up with that? I feel like someone is controlling this whole bazaar thing. I'm at my wits in. Tomorrow I'm going to Target and buy some Silly Putty and stop the ear hole up!! If that doesn't do it, will keep trying. Life is bad enough, then you get this crap near the end! Hell, just let me go. I'm ready! Pure misery!
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ill bet its those obnoxious doobie brothers ..
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Susie, could it be tinnitus? Have you mentioned this to your doctor?
Some people get relief by drowning the sounds with white noise... kind of like how you don't notice it when you are in a crowd.
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My mother is 91 years old. She has been hearing the same 2 songs usually between the hours of 3am and 7am. It is always the same 2 songs. She says that it is so loud that it vibrates the room. She will go to every room in the apt and even in the hallway and parking lot and says that it is so loud that it is filling up the room. I spent the night sleeping on the floor to see if it was real. She woke me up at 5am saying it was very loud but I heard nothing. She gets very agitated and accuses people of doing this to her to run her out of her apt and threatens them with the police. I am at my wits end.
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This can happen in people of any age. If you have tinnitus, there is a change that your brain will try to make sense out of the noise, and you experience it as if it is music. Like others have said, white noise, or even a TV on can make it less bothersome. Hopefully its good music....not like Justin Beiber or something...

Angel
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My late 92-year-old mother was hearing music--always the same song--and accused me of playing the music to drive her crazy. She went around the house unplugging everything because she thought I had rigged up a system to pipe the music into her bedroom. One day when I wasn't home, she collapsed but managed to call 911. On the way to the hospital, she experienced cardiac arrest, but they were able to revive her. Turns out she needed a pacemaker--the signals from one chamber of the heart to the next weren't getting through most of the time, and her heart couldn't beat properly. She wasn't getting enough oxygen! Once the pacemaker was put in, she stopped hearing the music, and she was able to realize what was causing it.
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For a couple of years my Dad complained of noise in his head. But, never to a health care professional.

I learned of this in August of this year...and told his Doc. They did a head scan and discovered he had hydrocephalus! So advanced there was no longer anything treatment. Get a head scan,
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My mother is 91 years old. She lives in Assisted Living. About six months ago my father had to move to a Nursing Home. When he left my mom started hearing music at night. (She can't hear anything without her hearing aid at night.) She said a man was in her room all the time and she said a truck drove around the building all night pumping air condition or heat into the building. She wanted to move. We moved her back to the Assisted Living she liked, but it's all the same. Once in a while when I talk to her about MES, she says, oh, it's all in my mind. But the next day she thinks it's real again. She's also completely blind. With her hearing aid, she can hear a little bit, if you talk at the right volume, close to her. I'm interested in the pacemaker comment. I'm at my wit's end and the Assisted Living facility is getting tired of her pushing the button all the time. I feel so bad for her. Has anyone had any therapy that helped? Thank you.
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I remember when my Mom got a new hearing aid, for some strange reason she kept hearing "talk radio" at a certain time, usually around 4pm.

Hmmmm, interesting, since I had notice around 4pm when I used my landline, there was that "talk radio" show bleeding through. So in my Mom's case, what she was hearing was real.

The hearing aid place adjusted Mom's hearing aid and whatever they did stopped the radio.
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