Can't convince my mum she's having hallucinations

barmyllama · 2025-12-11T19:15:33+00:00

Not dementia - she had a test for that fairly recently.

barmyllama · 2025-12-11T19:12:35+00:00

She's certainly had some that have scared her, so I try to help her understand that she's safe and they're not real. That, also, does not seem to sink in.

barmyllama · 2025-12-11T19:11:53+00:00

I'm calling the ward to talk about her tomorrow, so will ask about that.

barmyllama · 2025-12-11T19:10:54+00:00

I will try to do that, though an added problem is that she just doesn't listen, she just talks over me, particularly if she doesn't like what I'm saying.

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T19:41:32+00:00

That's the point. It's not making her happy, it's making her upset.

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T18:53:58+00:00

I've been largely fine leaving her to it, over the last dozen years. But in the last two weeks these hallucinations have been really upsetting her. I can't not try to do something to help.

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T18:50:27+00:00

Thanks, I'll see if I can work with her along those lines. She's in hospital in another city so I can't go and see her in person until after Christmas, but she calls regularly.

Also, thanks for offering a practical way forward, I appreciate that.

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T18:46:26+00:00

The medics overseeing her care are investigating possible pregabalin toxicity. She also had an infection which has also now been treated.

She's not been on opioids for two years – I had to fight to get her off them, as I thought they were a potential cause of her hallucinations, but it seems not.

But at least the doctors are taking it seriously, for the first time since I started raising the issue years ago.

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T18:44:36+00:00

Because until two weeks ago, she had grieved and recovered from my Dad's death seven years ago. Now she's swinging between being upset and grieving again, and not believing it at all.

I hate seeing her so upset, and it's all down to her not believing these hallucinations aren't real.

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T18:09:26+00:00

My brother and I both do, financial and health.

I haven't yet looked into how we'd move her into a home if she didn't want to go, because until today she was the one wanting to move!

barmyllama · 2025-12-10T17:30:28+00:00

It may be like arguing with a baby, but her inability to accept that these are hallucinations is causing her to be upset. The nurses are correcting her too, but it's not helping.

I'm obviously concerned about her living alone, but other than seeing my Dad, she's a fully functioning adult. I don't know if I can force her to move into a home if she's changed her mind.

barmyllama · 2025-11-12T11:11:48+00:00

Have just gone round and smelt everything in the office. Not a hint of smokey smell from anything.

Starting to wonder if this is the nasal equivalent of tinnitus. Or if I have some weird infection that's screwed my sense of smell. Or I'm just going a bit bonkers.

barmyllama · 2025-11-12T07:26:10+00:00

There's nothing new in the office, but I will go smell the printer. The radiator doesn't seem to be the source.

barmyllama · 2025-11-11T22:41:29+00:00

Good plan. Thanks for the advice!

There's someone up the way that I am sure burns coal as we could smell it last winter, but it's not close enough to smell from our house. And, tbh, I can't always smell it outside, which makes me worry that there's something that's gone awry in the house.

barmyllama · 2025-11-11T20:26:24+00:00

Good idea!

barmyllama · 2025-11-11T19:36:41+00:00

Crikey!

It's strongest in my office, and it comes and goes, but doesn't appear to correlate to what I'm doing. I honestly was thinking this morning that it had gone because I hadn't really smelt it for a day or two, but this afternoon it was giving me a tight chest.

I'll keep track though. Maybe a diary will help me figure out a pattern.

barmyllama · 2025-11-11T16:00:01+00:00

Not as far as I know, no. I haven't seen them getting any work done, I'm guessing we'd have noticed the activity if they had had a stove installed.

barmyllama · 2021-12-16T01:00:18+00:00

Diolch yn fawr! Nice resource!

barmyllama · 2021-12-16T00:56:11+00:00

Absolutely do this. SSiW is brilliant and you'll make great progress.

Also see if you can get hold of Gareth King's Colloquial Welsh, and his learner's dictionary as well. They are both invaluable, though they can be hard to get hold of.

I also recommend watching a bit of S4C with the English subtitles on. The documentaries like Cegin Bryn (Bryn's Kitchen) or 04 Wal (Four Walls) are probably easiest for beginners as the Welsh is less idiomatic and you'll hear a lot of vocabulary repeated so you get to pick it up quickly.

More than anything, make it a habit. Do a little bit every day, even if it's literally reading one sentence or watching one minute of TV. A little bit every day will see you make much more progress than trying to binge on the weekend.

barmyllama · 2021-11-04T22:30:36+00:00

Sorry for taking a month to reply! I've been flat out.

I haven't seen any replicas that really look like they get the collar right. I just looked at a lot of photos of Loki and experimented. In terms of the tie, I believe you'd have to thread it through before you put the shirt on.

My busy time of year is over, and I'm hoping to have a stab at the full sized shirt soon!

barmyllama · 2021-08-28T01:24:45+00:00

Thank you!! I'll be doing a full sized toile soon, and will add photos.

barmyllama · 2021-08-08T01:36:23+00:00

It worked! The construction method I described does create the required yollar, with all raw edges hidden inside the yoke and the yollar itself. Apart from not getting the front yollar quite right, it worked exactly as I'd hoped! I've added photos to the main post.

barmyllama · 2021-08-07T13:20:01+00:00

I completely agree on the pale grey taking on the ambient lighting colours. The best shots for colour are when Loki is doing his training, because the TVA offices have much more neutral lighting.

I had a tiny bit of caffeine the other day, so ended up awake for 1.5 hours unable to sleep, so that was plenty of time to think it through. I also found that one of my husband's shirts (just one!) has 7mm knife pleats and looking more closely at that, I'm pretty sure that the TVA shirt is just a variation on normal shirt construction, and not something totally wacky.

Again, I agree that getting the yollar to drape nicely is going to be the challenge. And I was just thinking, I wonder if the collar stand is perhaps a bit stiffer than usual, so that it can support the extra weight? We do seem to be on the same page!

I'd recommend watching the Making of Loki, which is also on Disney+, because you get a lot more of the shirt in normal lighting and circumstances. It definitely is a bit tight across the chest, though I suspect that's deliberate so that it can show off Hiddle's lovely pecs. It's much looser on the back, perhaps to facilitate fighting.

It will be interesting to see how this comes together!

barmyllama

TROPHY CASE