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While talking to my mom, she'll come up with some off-the-wall comments and then go back to "reality" and I'm not sure what to think. Last week, before I left on our trip to the midwest to visit family, I was talking to her and she said "I don't even know what kind of place this is that I'm in - is it a house or ??? I know I'm not the only one here, because I hear other people talking, but...I don't know...." I was taken aback and didn't know what to say. We then continued our conversation & she asked me about our upcoming trip, etc. It was almost like a momentary "lapse" for lack of a better word. I immediately got her nurse & asked her if she had noticed any confusion, and she said she hasn't noticed confusion, per se, but that she is definitely talking "differently" than she has in the past. She said the doctor has routinely assessed her and that he didn't list anything specific in that regard, and that it could be the pain meds. She said she had given her a percocet about 1/2 hour before I arrived, so thought maybe that's what it was. She then followed me back into her room & asked her a few questions - Mom answered them just fine, and the nurse was satisfied with her responses but said she would talk to the Dr. & alert him of my concerns. I have to mention she also talks a lot about her deceased sister - thinking she is going to come & visit her, before she realizes she is dead, and has mentioned seeing a black cat that wanders the hallways (there is no cat on the premises) and she can't figure out who it belongs to. I don't know what to think, other than I hope it's the pain meds talking because I don't think she or I could handle dementia on top of everything else going on with her.

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I stopped in & saw her again today - she was talking normally and kept right up with the topics of conversation. I asked her how her pain was, and she said "it's still there & getting worse - I noticed that the pain pills work for a little while & then it gradually wears off - actually, it's almost time for another one soon." I told her that I definitely noticed a difference when she is talking shortly after taking one (loopy, like the other day) and now - when it's almost out of her system. She asked me what I meant, so I told her - of course she didn't realize there was any difference between the two. I asked her about the "black cat" she was talking about the other day, and she just said "yeah - every once in awhile I swear I see one out of the corner of my eye - it must just be a shadow or something." So who knows... I guess it's the pain meds. I left a note with the nurse to run it past the doctor this week.
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When Dad was in the hospital having a hard time, we kept a journal of everything that was "out of the norm". We would keep it by day and time, and just make notes of his actions and/or comments.

Hope all gets better for you and your Mother! Keep you in my thoughts and prayers..
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If not already done, have the doctor check for a UTI
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I am going to talk to the doctor & just run it past him. I told my kids & anyone else who visits to just go along with whatever she is saying at this point - no sense in correcting her & making her feel bad, ya know? She has said some silly things in the past, but it seems to be more often now - she'll run "fantasy" statements right alongside "reality" - sort of melting the 2 subjects together, so sometimes it's hard to follow her. "I was having a really hard time sleeping last night, so the nurse brought me this juice today..." My daughter said "oh - does it have sleeping medicine in it?" My Mom said "No - they just brought it with my lunch". My daughter sat there for a minute trying to connect the dots, then realized she was just running sentences together...haha!
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Sounds like this is a recent symptom. I would think most likely the pain meds; however, I would check with the Dr. And see if there is possibly no type of infection. My father talks about my mother when he has an infection. UTI's are extremely tough on the elderly. =} Good Luck
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My mother hallucinated when she had hip replacement surgery. She returned to normal when she got home. I would worry more about repeated questions, and forgetting significant recent events. (Seriously, do you remember what you had for breakfast today? If not, who cares?)

If we manage to live long enough, I think 90% of us would get dementia. Don't stress too much.
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Funny - I had looked up side effects of percocet previously and did not come across the above. I'll have to talk to her dr. about that though.
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Well if you Google percocet and look at side effects (I was on drugsdotcom), this is the third one listed that I found: "confusion, unusual thoughts or behavior". So it could definitely be the percocet. That's a pretty strong medicine for a frail person.
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