Worried about being eaten

GothicGremlin

Here's a weird thing.

A couple of weeks after our uncle passed away, Peggy complained to me that "the ladies" were going to eat Uncle N. She was really worried. My fiblet response to her was that I'd check with the memory care director and get to the bottom of things.

I didn't hear anything more about this until about a week or so ago (well before we upped her sertraline dosage). Peggy told me that the caregivers at lunch wanted Peggy to eat Uncle N. She was very indignant and scandalized about this. Her tone of voice was like "can you imagine that they wanted me to do that??" She looped on this for awhile until I was finally able to distract her.

Then nothing for days, until today. Peggy's friend M went to see her, and he sent me an email afterwards about it.

The incident happened right as they were getting seated for lunch. Here's an excerpt from M's email to me:

"I got her seated and they brought food right away so, I thought it would be good. As I was walking down the hall to exit I heard a commotion involving her and she had gotten up and said she was leaving. I met her at the door closest to the entrance and she was almost in tears. She said they were going to eat her."

We are all baffled by this. If this, or another issue is going to come up, it usually comes up right around lunch time - never at breakfast or dinner. So probably nothing to do with food in general?

Has anyone had their LO worry about being eaten? Is this just another weird Alzheimer's symptom?

SusanB-dil

Oh, gracious GothicG!  I can't think of anything even close to that one.

CatsWithHandsAreTrouble

Nothing to quite the extent of your sister but my mom has made some similar comments. Usually it's when she didn't quite catch what was said or what was spoken sounded similar to something else.  I'm trying to recall a particular incident but I cannot recall any. 

Usually we can just repeat the phrase and she understands the second time. If it wasn't anything she really needed to understand, we just go along with what she thought she heard ("oh that's silly, isn't it? We'll get that sorted out" etc.) and redirect to a different topic.

Maybe someone's saying a phrase that she doesn't quite comprehend and the recent news of your uncle is getting mixed up? Hopefully things will settle down soon for her. I wouldn't want to eat my family either.

harshedbuzz

GG-

I am so sorry you and your dear Peggy are living this.

My dad was very fixated on the death of my sister. There were times when he wasn't sure if she was dead or alive and would ask constantly by saying "she'd dead, isn't she?" and others when she was still among us. It was a bit like Schrodinger's cat-- you never knew what was in his version of the box minute to minute.

Later, he went through a phase where he felt as though he was in constant peril. The man couldn't recall eating breakfast but could not only recall what heinous crime happened on last night's CSI, he was convinced he was the victim. He also struggled with TWC and local news. I ended up setting up parental controls on his TV at home. Once he transitioned to MC, I did not put a TV in his room and staff preset the communal TVs to very innocuous fare.

If this doesn' pass quickly, I would be asking about a geripsych consult. We found meds helped dial back some of dad's more terrifying delusions. 

HB

GothicGremlin

Yeah, it really is a weird one. And it seems to be a lunchtime thing. I can't figure out (yet) what's different about lunchtime than breakfast or dinner.

At first I even thought that maybe it's the Walking Dead because she likes that show, but it hasn't been on for months so I know she hasn't seen it. She only saw it a few times during its last season, so it doesn't feel like that's the cause. Needless to say though, I've made sure staff knows not to let her watch it if reruns come on. I've changed the default channel from AMC (that's where that show lives), to something innocuous - just in case.

Cats - thanks for that, I'm going to ask around and see what I can find out.

HB - there is very much a component of Peggy not being sure who's alive and who's not, so that's similar to your dad.  I'm already thinking of the geripsych consult. I spoke with her last week and that's when we upped Peggy's sertraline meds. But these are delusions she's having, not depression, so I'm thinking there are probably new meds in Peggy's future.

The latest development, as of this morning, is that Peggy told her friend D on the phone that our aunt, (married to our uncle who just passed away) is young and not old. That's completely new.

I don't know if this is so, but it feels like she's going over a cliff again.

abc123

Dear Goth, I'm so sorry this is happening. Poor Peggy and you too. Are the seating arrangements different at lunch time compared to breakfast and dinner? Is anything at all different at lunch time? I'm racking my brain trying to think of what could be the cause of this. Is there a new patient that's mean to Peggy? I hope this goes away soon. Sending you & Peggy both peace and love.