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How Do You Handle A Loved One Who Constantly Makes Up Elaborate Stories?
It's probably Confabulation: because the Hippocampus is damaged, the mind is essentially "filling in the blanks" of missing information with something plausible (to him, anyway). In most cases, it's not a big deal; but it's good to let family and friends know what Confabulation is. And when it has come up in situations where accuracy of information matters, what I've done is quietly let people know what Confabulation is, and that the inaccuracies are not intentional, and provided the correct responses.
These two articles may be helpful:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/responding-to-co...
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/confa...
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Oh gosh. Confabulation is so disconcerting. I was horrified when my mum, who was in a locked psych unit, told me she'd been out for a walk by herself one day! She hadn't. The psychiatrist explained it to me thus: where there are gaps in the memory, the brain makes stuff up to fill those gaps. The tales can become very elaborate. Every instinct tells you to correct them but, honestly, I came to the conclusion that there's little point. Sometimes I just respond with, "Really? I don't remember that."
There's no irony in that at all!
Awww, @A myALZteam Member, I'm sorry. The hallucinations can be very tough.
@A myALZteam Member: With confabulation, the patient is "filling in the blanks" in their memory, with something else that's in their memory, and which is plausible. It frequently occurs when they're asked a question. The response is incorrect, but sounds like it could be right, and the patient isn't trying to give a wrong answer.
With a hallucination, the patient is "seeing" something that isn't there, or "hearing" something that isn't there.
My husband experiences both and has for at least 5 years.
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