Has anyone ever heard of this????

Worried about mom

Yesterday, my mom saw her Doctor in her AL facility.  The doctor called me and said she was pleased as it looked like mom had "made a friend" as she saw them walking around. I was so relieved as she has made no friends there yet! About 30 minutes later, I got a frantic call from my mom saying she had been "kidnapped"!!  She said there was a lady who asked her to go sit on the porch (this is true as the front desk saw them go out).  Then she said the lady "put her in her car and drove her out of the facility" (not at all true as none have cars and she never left the building).  She said the lady wouldn't let her come home.  She said she finally brought her back and she got back to her room to call me.  Mom has had delusions, but not like this??  I asked her if she had dozed off and she said "I just got back!"  She was hysterical.  I know we are supposed to sympathize with our LO in these situations.....but how do I acknowledge and agree she was kidnapped?  What happened?

DrinaJGB

Your mom is having delusional hallucinations due to dementia. Her brain is damaged. This is what happens. It is a hard thing to deal with. SO sorry.

Iris L.

I would advise you to stop TV crime shows and other disturbing media, they can be triggering, although delusions can develop without known triggers.

Medications maybe suggested if the delusions are disturbing to the PWD.  Consult a geriatric psychiatrist or geriatrician for these specialized medications.

Iris 

harshedbuzz

I agree with Iris on this. PWD dementia can be very prone to suggestion and triggered by what they watch on TV.

It might make sense to move her to a dementia-informed MCF where staff controls what shows are on the communal TVs and discourages TV in the residents room. 

My dad struggled mightily with this before I put parental controls on the TV to keep him off the channels that air mom's beloved crime dramas. I also she down TWC and all 24/7 news which also upset him. Before that, when I visited he'd report being kidnapped and even murdered the night before which was often the plot of mom's show. It struck me because he couldn't remember what he had for breakfast.

When we moved him to MC, we did not install a TV. There were 4 "neighborhood" TVs and one in the main meeting room at the MCF that were set to fairly banal shows at all times. MeTV reruns, game shows, sports, and old movies for the most part.

HB

dayn2nite2

Agree that content on TV could be influencing her.  I didn't put a TV in my mom's room and the common area always had Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Golden Girls on.  Never any news or crime-type shows.

She also might have overheard some aides talking about a local kidnapping or similar among themselves, although generally aides know not to discuss that stuff within earshot of the residents.

Worried about mom

Thank you all.  One thing I do know is that it isn't the television.  She will not watch it anymore.  I don't think she can "follow" anything that is on.  I'm just wondering if she is now living in her own new reality all of a sudden and won't be back??

mommyandme (m&m)

I think I’d reply with something like “wow, that sounds really scary!” and “I’ll talk to the director about this” or something as if you’ve got her back. Nothing there concurs with her delusion.

Worried about mom

That is a good idea.  Thank you!

scarfire

my mother is in her 7th year of dementia. she still likes to read but really only follows a few pages of the book at a time. books definitely trigger her delusions so we are careful about which books she reads. the only TV i allow her to watch are the old gameshows on amazon prime (password plus, super password and supermarket sweep).  even those gameshows can trigger delusions at times.