What is going on?

Saw doctor today and she is now being treated for a UTI. Hopefully this will take care of the odd behavior. Time will tell. Thanks for the responses.

Oh, sounds like a UTI. My mom’s UTI delirium was picking strawberries off the floor to get ready for a party. It was horrible to watch. Another time she couldn’t figure out how to get into her bed, and thought a mirror was a window. After the antibiotics kicked in the next day she was back to “normal”. I would suggest getting her tested ASAP. It might take a trip to the ER or urgent care to do the urine test.

It may indeed be a urinary tract infection, like rocketjcat said......they can act totally bonkers with one of those, that's the truth. If not, has she been prescribed any new medications lately? When my mother was put on a vertigo patch behind her ear, she suddenly started seeing mice running on the floor when there weren't any. Her dementia in general was taken up several notches after this Rx , so I had the patch removed and she went back to "normal" within 2 days. The patch was an antihistamine/drying agent which was the culprit.

Possibly a lack of blood flow and lack of O2 to a blocked brain area. Before my stroke I hallucinated, Later I knew I was hallucinating because my cats and dog weren't reacting to what I saw, which was happening as I was having the onset to an undiagnosed TIA mini-stroke, that would happen more than once due to stress exacerbating an unknown blood clot in my MCA .

An ischemic stroke eventually resulted. Based on my experience I would schedule a consult with her neurologist consult who will likely schedule with an MRI CT scan, to obtain specifc answers, since Dementia is a generalized term, for memory issues.

Hallucinations pure and simple. Many dementias can cause them. They are common in some parkinsons and common in Lewy's dementia. Speak to a doctor. Problem is that even when there is a dx, the drugs for hallucinations makes the balance worse and the balance drugs often give more hallucinations. Don't honestly know any good drug therapies, or have not hear of them. CBD oil with doc's permission sometimes helps with some picking and scratching and compulsive stuff I am told. No personal experience. Do discuss with her doctor next visit.

Overlook it, It gets worse, This is probably the beginning.

Get her checked for urinary tract infection (UTI) especially for any changes in behavior. Get her to the emergency room or doctor to rule out a physical cause. UTIs are very serious. Changes can be catastrophic.

Maybe she has eye floaters? I’ve had them for a while & they sometimes look like cobwebs..so I go to retina specialist to check them every year. Hugs 🤗

Wow everyone, thanks so much for all the great ideas. As to her vision, she sees an ophthalmologist about every 3 months due to glaucoma which he is keeping pretty well controlled. But I do wonder often when she confuses silverware for instance, is this the vision or the brain? I don't think we will ever really know.
The good news however, since starting the antibiotic she hasn't killed a "bug" or knocked down a "cobweb." So I think that problem is solved for now.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts. Much appreciated.

My Dad has Lewy Body Dementia the end stages. In the earlier stages he had hallucinations, I daughter would go along with it for example he has a piece of lent or a string in his hands or little bugs on his dinner plate I would just say " here Dad let me have that I'll throw it away " and he was fine with that. My mom and Dad had an understanding (early stages) that when Mom said there's nothing there or what you are seeing is not really there he would say ok and forget it. It's a tricky subject like I said in my experience I went along with it it seemed to work for us. But with dementia everyone is different thank God my Dad never had any scary horrible hallucations that I know of and never a foul word. I wish you luck! This is a hard road we are going down. Too me it's the saddest thing I have ever experienced. Hang in there!