hallucinations and brain injury

Posted by totto @totto, Jan 24, 2021

Has anyone else experienced hallucinations with their brain injury? I have not shared this with anyone until now except my mom as she took care of my dad with Parkinsons Disease and he got them from the lewey body dementia associated with parkinsons. They went away for awhile but then I had one again at 3am Friday night. They always come in the middle of the night. I thought maybe it could be one of my medications which the only one new I started after my brain injury last February was the Amitriptyline HCL 100mg each night. It is a tricyclic antidepressant also used to treat migraines which is what they prescribed it to me for. I did have my first hallucination after I was taking it and that was about 6 months after my injury. I googled it and it said that it can cause nightmares but nothing about hallucinating.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Mar 7, 2021

Hi @totto, I hate to see that your question didn't get any responses. Did you ever get to the bottom of your hallucinations? Did you explore a possible cause of the medication with your doctor?

Anne Moessner | @amoessner | Mar 8, 2021

@totto, I've been attempting to reach out to arrange a time to visit by phone, drop a note to my Mayo email and we will make it happen, I look forward to catching up. Our team is available to all those participating in this Trial, I suspect it can be hard to know when to post a question here vs. reach out to me or your local provider, here are some general tips that may help.

You’ve joined Mayo Clinic Connect. Now what? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/youve-joined-mayo-clinic-connect-now-what/

joan7 | @joan7 | Sep 8, 2023

My daughter had a Grade IV Brain Hemorrhage 40 hours after birth while we were still in the hospital. She currently suffers from many issues, however, one issue is most concerning. She has been diagnosed (by 4 doctors) with OCD hallucinations and severe anxiety. She lives with this constantly and the frequency of the horrific snap shots in her head get more intense as her anxiety increases. My daughter and I figured out that she started having these hallucinations back in Junior year high school at around the age of 17; she is now 27 years old. My daughter is going to join the OCD support group through Mayo Clinic. However, I want to approach this from a different angle.

***I feel her diagnosis is correct, however, does anyone know of anything that can be done to stop these hallucinations???

She has been on various meds which were of little help (she currently takes Hydroxyzine), and has seen quite a few Cognitive Behavioral Therapists for help and support. She has the tools necessary to use, but she is not consistent enough with using them because she forgets. I also feel her schedule on a daily basis is all over the place which doesn't help. I've always kept her on a pretty rigid schedule throughout high school and during her first year of college (she thrived when she had a routine and there was more consistency in her life). However, college became over-whelming for her at times. Especially when her courses were not back to back and there wasn't a consistent schedule for her. I slowly started to see her anxiety was getting the best of her. Since then she has not been able to over-come these hallucinations, and I worry that all the anxiety is taking a toll on her health. Again, any info would be greatly appreciated.

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