hallucinations or the dead?

CHANGEinWAVES

My grandmother is very ill... and she keeps saying she sees her twin sister visiting her (she died 5 yrs ago). She says she looks very nice and young.

Usually this would be dismissed, but when her mother died the last thing she said or did was say her husband (who had passed years before) was in the room and came for her.

We jokingly tell my grandmother to tell her sister she's not ready... but honestly it's freaking me out a bit.

Any thoughts?

Brain of J.Lo

I remember that when my grandma was receiving hospice care at the end of her life, the grief counselor told my mom that this it's very common for this to happen. I am torn between believing there is something to it...that it's real and that our loved ones reach out to us to bridge the gap between life and death, but I'm also skeptical.

I hope your grandmother is taking comfort in these "visits", whatever they are. My grandma began talking about her husband who had died in the 1960s, but never was clear about whether or not she had seen him. She wasn't very lucid at the end because of alzheimer's.

One night, my dad had very vivid dreams/hallucinations that his mother was there and talking to him. She had died almost 20 years before this. The next day, he had a stroke that basically should have killed him, but by some miracle, didn't. (He did die about a year later.) We always attributed this to his brain "misfiring" and whatever before he was about to have a stroke, but I couldn't help but think about that after hearing what the grief counselor said.

I really don't know what I believe, regarding the afterlife. I don't know if there is one...but I do hope there is something after all of this.

Who Princess

How does she feel about her sister "visiting" her? Is it reassuring to her or upsetting? Does her sister talk with her during these visits?

I don't have any idea whether the visits are real or not. I'd like to believe that things like that can happen but I also think there are probably logical explanations too. When my mother was very ill and hospitalized about 6 years ago, she nearly died. She told us several times that there were angels on the ceiling watching over her. She seemed to find it very reassuring so I let it go at that. At one point she was telling her doctor about the angels and he lied and said that he saw them too. She got very irritated with him and said "No you don't!" We were all so afraid that she was going to die (so was she) that I thought that anything that was comforting to her was OK. It may have been hallucinations from the medications but for all I know there really were angels in there. My mom is very religious and a lot of people were praying for her.

There have just been too many stories of people being visited by their loved ones who have died for me to think that it's impossible for it to happen. I don't know what's going on in your grandmother's situation but maybe it's helpful for her to see her sister looking young and healthy as she remembers her.

I've been thinking about you and wishing your family strength during your grandmother's illness.

CJMST3K

the title of this thread made me think it was about grateful dead concerts.

norm

it's normal b....for the last month of my grandma's life she would talk about her husband (died 30 years earlier) and her late sisters etc....funny... at one point she had it in her mind that i was married and having an affair with her caregiver :shock: my grandma watched a lot of soap operas

JaneNY

I consider myself an agnostic, and I can't say about anyone else, but I can tell you I had a sense of my Dad in his chair in the living room, in the apartment after he died, when I had to go and take care of his affairs and slept in his bed where he died. (It was either do that or sleep on the floor). It wasn't scary - I woke in the middle of the night, went out in the living room, and the light by his chair where he used to sit was on, and I just had a sense that he was there. I remember thinking 'its just Dad, he won't hurt me', and to this day I don't know if it was just some weird thing due to being recently bereaved or what. There are strange things that can't really be explained.

CHANGEinWAVES

whoprincess wrote:

I've been thinking about you and wishing your family strength during your grandmother's illness.

thank you.

redrock

CHANGEinWAVES wrote:

My grandmother is very ill... and she keeps saying she sees her twin sister visiting her (she died 5 yrs ago). She says she looks very nice and young.

Usually this would be dismissed, but when her mother died the last thing she said or did was say her husband (who had passed years before) was in the room and came for her.

We jokingly tell my grandmother to tell her sister she's not ready... but honestly it's freaking me out a bit.

Any thoughts?

My husband's grandmother was 'on her way out' but fighting it. One day when we visited her, she said her cousin came to see her the day before and that morning and that now she was 'fine' and 'relieved'. That night she died peacefully with a smile on her face.

I believe something happened which was not a hallucination. We just don't know.

Peace and strength be with your grandmother.

JaneNY wrote:

I consider myself an agnostic

I don't think believing in these kind of things has anything to do with religion. On the contrary - for Christians, wouldn't it be 'heresy' talking about a 'ghost' coming back from the dead to see/speak to a living person (unless this person is jesus!).

arq

The brain it's a very complex, , maybe she see things maybe not, but for her are true and if that give her peace or make her feel better in a difficult time let it be.

The Juggler

CHANGEinWAVES wrote:

My grandmother is very ill... and she keeps saying she sees her twin sister visiting her (she died 5 yrs ago). She says she looks very nice and young.

Usually this would be dismissed, but when her mother died the last thing she said or did was say her husband (who had passed years before) was in the room and came for her.

We jokingly tell my grandmother to tell her sister she's not ready... but honestly it's freaking me out a bit.

Any thoughts?

aww man....why u gotta remind me of my grammy passing a couple years ago?

she did the same thing. she kept saying she saw my pop pop in the room. i remember my mom saying other relatives did something similar before they passed as well. so this is probably common...

hope your grandmother's okay...