gattino
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Messages
- 2,525
I hope this post doesn't appear too personal or morbid. I'm wondering if someone more steeped in the literature - or even personal experience - can clarify the issue of distinguishing between potential near death visions and pure confusion/delirium. Assuming such a distinction exists.
Without giving a full account in public my 84 year old mother has twice had prolonged stays in hospital due to UTI's, and is about to be released tomorrow. The accompanying delirious/confused conversational behaviour however has not disappeared with the infection..whether the delirium is lingering or has merely brought to the fore some kind of existing dementia is unclear, but in health terms she is not diagnosed with anything that suggests she is physically ill or approaching death at all.
What is of interest is that in the last week she has now twice insisted dead loved ones had been to see her in hospital. First my father (dead 10 years), today her own mother (dead 18 ). No reference to their being dead, or there being anyting odd about them being there is made.
In both cases they have shared the curious feature of sitting on the bedside chair without actually saying anything. Immediately, being aware of the subject of Death Bed Visions, they come to mind. But equally in both instances the idea is undermined by accompanying details when questioned..
The description of my father and the changing nature of the story when subsequently told suggests she may have confused a member of staff for him , in a delusional state. And the reference to her mother having been in the chair was bookended by references to one of my (living) brothers having been there instead.
This presents a number of possibilities that are hard for me to disentangle. 1) That she is having a well reported and "accepted" form of DBVs, as written up in the literature, though she is not known to be terminally ill. 2) That the dead loved ones are pure hallucination/delusion which are commonly experienced (are they?) by anyone with dementia/delirium. 3) Or that they are "real" DBVs but the details and recollection are muddled and altered by the confused mental state.
Of course I'm not asking anyone here to determine whether my mother is near death! (although she IS 84!) And neither answer is the wrong one in any case - if this does not fit the pattern of DBV it may be a relief, and if it does it may be a comfort. So my interest in classifying her encounters is hopefully genuinely dispassionate.
The question then is whether the incidents I've described, accompanied by no reference to their deathly status or even conversation, as well as being cloaked in general confusion, is in any sense typical of the phenomenon as generally reported, or whether it does not.
[PS none of the above presupposes the actual nature of DBVs - whether they are spiritual visitations or a product of the brain - merely that they are well established in the caring professions as a precursor to approaching death]
Without giving a full account in public my 84 year old mother has twice had prolonged stays in hospital due to UTI's, and is about to be released tomorrow. The accompanying delirious/confused conversational behaviour however has not disappeared with the infection..whether the delirium is lingering or has merely brought to the fore some kind of existing dementia is unclear, but in health terms she is not diagnosed with anything that suggests she is physically ill or approaching death at all.
What is of interest is that in the last week she has now twice insisted dead loved ones had been to see her in hospital. First my father (dead 10 years), today her own mother (dead 18 ). No reference to their being dead, or there being anyting odd about them being there is made.
In both cases they have shared the curious feature of sitting on the bedside chair without actually saying anything. Immediately, being aware of the subject of Death Bed Visions, they come to mind. But equally in both instances the idea is undermined by accompanying details when questioned..
The description of my father and the changing nature of the story when subsequently told suggests she may have confused a member of staff for him , in a delusional state. And the reference to her mother having been in the chair was bookended by references to one of my (living) brothers having been there instead.
This presents a number of possibilities that are hard for me to disentangle. 1) That she is having a well reported and "accepted" form of DBVs, as written up in the literature, though she is not known to be terminally ill. 2) That the dead loved ones are pure hallucination/delusion which are commonly experienced (are they?) by anyone with dementia/delirium. 3) Or that they are "real" DBVs but the details and recollection are muddled and altered by the confused mental state.
Of course I'm not asking anyone here to determine whether my mother is near death! (although she IS 84!) And neither answer is the wrong one in any case - if this does not fit the pattern of DBV it may be a relief, and if it does it may be a comfort. So my interest in classifying her encounters is hopefully genuinely dispassionate.
The question then is whether the incidents I've described, accompanied by no reference to their deathly status or even conversation, as well as being cloaked in general confusion, is in any sense typical of the phenomenon as generally reported, or whether it does not.
[PS none of the above presupposes the actual nature of DBVs - whether they are spiritual visitations or a product of the brain - merely that they are well established in the caring professions as a precursor to approaching death]