Facebook delusions

OliviaDep

My LO spends most of her days (and nights) on Facebook and believes celebrities are communicating with her directly.  She has never really understood how social media works and my sibling and I have reprimanded her many times over the years for inappropriate or embarrassing posts.  Now it's become delusional in that she feels it is her "job".  She talks about the "people at work"and thinks she's worked there for 30 years.  On a few occasions, she also thought " people from work" were entering her house without her knowledge.   

We have tried to challenge her with questions to snap her back into reality, but she gets angry and dismisses us.  She is undiagnosed and refuses to believe there is anything wrong, so she will not go to a doctor.  We monitor and limit access to the extent we can but short of cutting the power cord on the computer, I don't know what to do.Oddly enough, she is in a happy place,  Normally, she is wound very tight and anxiety-ridden but she seems to have forgotten things that would normally worry her.  She always loved to work, and took a lot of pride in her job, and I've noticed a steady decline ever since she retired. Other than work, her lifestyle has been solitary for many years, Which makes me think these delusions are filling a void in her life.

Other than the weird delusions, I have also noticed memory loss and some confusion, especially as it relates to problem-solving.  I joined this forum because I have no experience with this and I am feeling completely overwhelmed.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. 

M1

Hi Olivia.  Red flags all over the place here:  it does not sound safe for her to be on the internet, period.  How do you know she's not posted her address and phone number, social security number, bank accounts, etc?   You probably need to remove access, and it may be by changing the wireless passwords or some other way to completely disable her access.  

My partner was never very technology adept and would only learn things when she had to.  As she declined, she became very susceptible to scammers of all sorts.  I came home one afternoon to find her on the phone with "Microsoft" and was giving someone remote access to her desktop computer even as we spoke.  I convinced her to hang up, but that was the end of that computer, because I wasn't sure how much access she had granted before I got her off the call. 

I know it's not easy, but it sounds like you really need to intervene here.  Maybe you could give her a tablet to play games on or something, but not anything with internet connectivity.

Phoenix1966

She isn’t refusing to believe. It sounds as though she has anosognosia. This is not denial, but a symptom that many people with dementia suffer from. It keeps her from recognizing her neurological deficits. You won’t convince her of anything.

M1 is absolutely correct in emphasizing that you need disconnect your LO from the internet. She could lose everything and/or potentially put herself in danger. 

You mention noticing the loss of problem-solving skills. If your LO does not live with you, you might want to spend a few days staying over and seeing how she manages her ADLs. And, most importantly, if you haven’t seen a CELA yet to square away medical and legal powers of attorney, you’ll want to get on that before there is a crisis situation. 

This is a good guide on what to potentially expect:

https://www.alzconnected.org/uploadedFiles/understanding-the-dementia-experience.pdf

Please keep coming back for advice or when you need to vent. She’s lucky to have you looking out for her. 

easy23

I really think you should try to get her diagnosed by a psychiatrist. She could have something called delusional disorder that would cause the facebook delusions. Antipsychotics are very effective in treating delusional disorder.

OliviaDep

Thanks for your reply. I stumbled on an article about delusional disorder and thought it was a good fit however, it did not mention anything about memory loss.  I just have not figured out a way to get her evaluated and her PCP has not been of much help.  I will keep trying!

harshedbuzz

OliviaD-

Your LO sounds fairly progressed in terms of the disease. I am sorry the PCP isn't more help, but this is really out of their area of expertise in most cases. So long as they have done the necessary bloodwork and imaging to rule out other causes, there isn't much they can offer. In your shoes, I might see about a geriatric psychiatrist for medication to dial back the delusional thinking.

When she says people from work are coming in, is this a delusion (belief) or is she actually see them (hallucination)? My father had both. Initially his hallucinations were auditory (he heard "the kids" playing upstairs) but over time he also saw people. 

It is pretty common for PWD to kind of time travel to the past. "Working" is not unusual in the middle stages. My aunt had been an executive secretary; once dementia hit the midstages, she took to filing her mail. Even circulars from CVS had a date rec'd and her initials on them. Checks from her investments, were photocopied and stapled with the original to the envelope in which they were sent, also dated and initialed but not cashed. There was a gentleman at dad's MCF who'd owned a restaurant. At meals, he greeted and seated the other residents and then insisted on bussing the tables when everyone was done. I wonder if she'd be happier attending a day program for PWD under the guise that she's working there? 

It's also pretty common for PWD to think they know celebrities and famous individuals. When I first joined there was a woman on the Spouse board whose DH bragged about having been married to Marilyn Monroe.

I, too, would disconnect her from the internet by whatever means possible. Change the Wi-Fi password or slip the device into airplane mode. My dad got into a lot of trouble with the internet; he took up day-trading and lost over $350K in a few months. 

HB

easy23

Since the truth won't work, maybe you can get her evaluated by telling her it's required by her job, or something like that.

OliviaDep

Thank you, everyone for your advice and suggestions. My LO has an appointment with her cardiologist next week and the doctor agreed to recommend a neurological evaluation as a follow up to a procedure she had last year.  I'm hoping it won't have the same stigma if it's related to heart health. Fingers crossed it works!